Summed up well thank you.

Thanks to everyone for their detailed and frank responses. You
confirmed that flying tops the 'expensive hobby' list. I knew it, I
just couldn't face up to it.

I can see that for recreational pilots, flying is all about the
experience. It cannot be justified any other way financially except to
a minority or those with so much monet it doesn't matter.

My view is that I will need to put a cost to the experience and see if
it can still be done. E.g. Ask myself if the rewarding experience is
worth $5K to learn plus $300 a trip with say, 5 trips a year. (The
other trips I will miserably drive in a car!). So, in essence, is my
hobby worth $5k startup plus $1,500 a year?

Possibly. That's fair for a hobby. Plus the family gets to enjoy it.

Somewhat worrisome is that I get the feeling from reading aviation
newsgroups that many would-be pilots enjoy the fantasy but either do
not appreciate how much it actually costs to pursure this hobby or
will try from day one to take short cuts on the costs. Either
fantasizing about owning a cheap do it yourself kit plane or imagining
that their expenses will actually be a lot less that what experienced
pilots who have actually owned and run one or more planes have found.

For the sake of saving money I would like to cut some corners too but
I recognise that you simply do not do this with any pastime played
more than 10 feet off the ground. Fortunately l have the benefit of a
good friend and commercial pilot who so far has been to 14 of his
collegues' funerals (Alas, such is the crazy, agressive world of
general aviation that never reaches the maintream news).

I don't know where I am going with all this. Last weekend's flying
experience sparked my interest again. I went sheep mustering in
outback Australia, driving animals out of the trees sideways in a 172
at 100 feet and twisting along river backs looking for stranded sheep.
Although not conventional flying by any means it reminded me of how
much fun being in the air is and the perspective it offers.

I'll keep reading, listening and learning. I dream of sailing along
with the family off and landing in exploring remote places around
Northern Michigan and Canada must be worth the experience.