Friday, February 1, 2013

Quick trip to NJ

Since my trip to NJ right after Christmas was such a short one, I didn't get to catch up with some of the people I wanted to see. Rather than be grumpy about missing people, I decided to head right back up to NJ a couple weeks later to see how many people I could visit. I still didn't get everyone, but I got a lot of them!

The weather was much nicer for my drive, so I made really good time. After grabbing lunch at my parents' house, I hopped back in the car to head to one of my favorite places - Cross Keys! As my original home airport it will always be special, even if I don't get to go there as much as I used to. (Well, I'd have to basically move there if I wanted to be there as much as I used to be.) I met up with Bob and got to fly one of my favorite airplanes...

...the Aerobat!!   :)

And now for something completely different: some video!!

A snap roll at the top of a loop (also called an avalanche). This is one of my favorite maneuvers; you have to dive down to 140kts to have enough speed to get through the whole thing and the snap roll starts when you're upside down. I like how Bob said the camera weighed about 10lbs toward the end.  :)

A two-turn spin into a loop.

I have another cool video of the approach into 17N but for some reason I can't get it to upload here, so it'll be in a later post with some other recent flying I've done.
After beating up the Aerobat for a little while, I met my buddy John for some delicious sushi. We used to get sushi a lot when we were flying together (plus it can be tough to find good sushi near my house in VA), so it's always nice to catch up over some tasty fishes.

The next day I went shopping and grabbed lunch with my mom, then stopped out to visit Granny for a bit in the afternoon. I don't get to see her very often, either, so I try to stop by whenever I'm in NJ. It was nice to catch up!  :)

A trip to NJ wouldn't be complete without hanging out with my friend Kristen. We met at the mall for dinner and window shopping. 

 The most important part of window shopping is trying on the skankiest shoes you can find. We are classy ladies. Also, why are the skanky stiletto boots always so oddly comfortable?

 I also found a gorgeous jacket at Forever 21. I almost bought it, but since I'm not personally a big fan of wearing roadkill I decided to pass.

 Kristen also introduced me to Charming Charlie, which has more accessories than I ever knew existed in pretty much every color known to man. I tried to jam as many rings on my fingers as I could. Now I'm a pretty lady!

I had to head back to VA the next morning so I could be at work that afternoon. I grabbed a quick breakfast and some coffee before leaving, and tried to figure out how to stuff Mr. Big Kitty into my bag without my mom noticing.

 One day you will be mine!!

I made really good time on the drive and even tied my record of shortest time door to door (3 hours, 8 minutes). Since the weather was so nice, Mark and I took our lunches outside and ate on our porch before heading in to work.


Overall the trip to NJ was really nice! I still have some more people I want to catch up with that I missed this time, but hopefully I'll be able to head up there again sometime in the next few months.

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