The Coast Is Clear

That's what Tuesday's weather report said, and it just so happend that I had scheduled the day off!

With a day of great weather shaping up, my favorite plane open all day, and Matti and I excited about a day flying, I was off to walk Audrey to school for her first day of 2nd grade.

The sky was clear when we left home, but still overcast at 500ft when we arrived at Twin Oaks. The clouds were forecast to break up quickly, so we talked with the Starks, relaxed in the comfortable chairs located in the pilot’s lounge, took a walk around the airport, and within an hour the clouds had lifted.

Our first stop was Tillamook (TMK), to see the museum ( www.tillamookair.com ) and have lunch at the “Air Base Café”. The Tillamook Air Museum is located at the airport in a WWII blimp hangar covering over 7 acres, and is believed to be the largest existing wooden structure in the world. You can taxi right up to the hanger, with its 120ft high door. About as good as a fly-in lunch spot can get.

From Tillamook we flew a short distance SW to Cape Lookout, and turned north to head up the coast. It was a perfect day for flying past the coastal headlands, beaches, and towns, as well as Cape Meares and Tillamook Rock lighthouses.

As we reached the Columbia River we turned east over Ft Stevens, which saw active service from the civil war through WWII, and was fired upon by a Japanese submarine in June of 1942, but was ordered not to return fire. The fort’s concrete batteries remain, as does a recreation of earthen walls of the Civil war fort, and were cool to see from the air.

A stop and go at Astoria Regonal (AST) and we climbed out over the town of Astoria, turning SE over the Coast Range to return to Twin Oaks.

The trip back was beautiful, seeing an area of the Coast Range that I’d driven through many times from the air. Short final back at Twin Oaks became a bit exciting as a road grader working on the taxiway extension turned and crossed the approach end of the runway (don’t these guys look?), a quick burst of power kept us well above it, but did make Matti jump a bit in his seat.

On the trip home from the airport I picked up Audrey, who gave a full report of a very good first day.

Some days are just good from start to finish.