A Perfect Flying Day

On Friday, I had the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the fun and beauty
of general aviation, and thought I should share it with you all, just so
you don't feel sorry for us next summer when it's 110 degrees hot here!

We had some out of town visitors from Minnesota, here in the Southwest for
the holidays to thaw out. We took off late Friday afternoon for a short
aerial tour of some of the Arizona sights. We headed north to Sedona, and
made a pass over the airport and through the red rock country. The views
were fantastic in the late afternoon sun. Then we headed south toward
Cottonwood and Jerome, and then back down the Verde River canyon toward the
Phoenix area. This river valley makes its way through some of Arizona's
rugged backcountry desert mountains and is quite scenic - places that can
take half a day to get to by 4WD. Then we proceeded south over Horseshoe
and Barlett reservoirs and back home. The weather was clear and sunny,
temperatures here in Phoenix in the high 70's with light winds. The plane
was running good as we cruised along throttled back to around 120, and our
visitors were totally impressed. It doesn't get any better than this!

Mike