Summer Weekend in Connecticut

We were invited up to my brother's house in Connecticut for the weekend. The forecast was sunny and perfect - up there. As usual, I woke to fog and low clouds. I'm convinced that Southeastern Pennsylvania has the worst weather in the country for flying. It seems we are always trying to get out of bad weather here to get somewhere nice, or sitting in the sunshine somewhere else worrying about getting home through the bad weather around our airport. 

This has given me real motivation to find the time to get my instrument rating. For now, we waited until 11:00, when holes appeared in the cloud base. We launched and proceeded on our way north, having just confirmed with my brother that there wasn't a cloud in the sky up there. 

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It's actually very pretty flying above the cloud deck.

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It's also very reassuring to have all that positional awareness from the screens on the GRT.

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As promised, the clouds start to break up as we cross the Hudson River in New York. We descend for a better view. We could see the bridges and were just able to see New York City's skyline.

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Katie and Sean in the back.

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There it is - Robertson, 4B8. As promised, it is severe clear up here.
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Short final.

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The cousins, Callie and MacKenzie, are waiting on the ramp.

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My brother, Mike, grabs a bag and we head over to his car for the short drive over to his house. This trip has become routine. It is WAY better than the 5-6 hour drive we used to do once or twice a year. The flight takes only an hour and I have even flown up just for the day. This is the kind of convenience I dreamed about when building the plane.

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After a nice visit, we head back home on Sunday afternoon - again going from clear weather to our crummy local weather. 

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Proceeding on top of the cloud deck again, making sure we always have a hole nearby if we need to descend.

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As we get close, we descend through the clouds to begin our approach.

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Back on the ground at Chester County. Again less than an hour travel time.

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We pull up the car and put the plane away. The kids know the routine at this point and pitch in. In a few minutes, we are on our way home with nobody worn out from a long drive. This is the way to travel.

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