As you know, we're taking a breather in 2017 in order to collect ourselves and get settled into life in Washington. We look forward to resuming tour activities with you all in 2018! In the meantime, there has been no shortage of Parkwest-related adventures. We got to visit Team Big Bird in January and tour the Reagan Museum with them. Later, this Cat Herder found herself back East visiting the Seneca Squad: Mike, Ginny, Ed and Laura. Since then, I've enjoyed a fun overnight with Stan and Sharon to watch the painful loss of Gonzaga in the basketball finals and, just last week, I found myself having fun in the sun (and rain) with Garney, Robin and Shane in Nashville--on the ground, in the air, over water. Somewhere in all of that, Mike and Ginny have embarked on several adventures of their own, including landing N678MG at Cape Canaveral on the space shuttle runway! What a trip! Future Parkwest plans include a visit from the Hollowells and an eclipse party with the Alpine, Wyoming contingent, both in August. Anyone else heading out our way? You're welcome to visit. We've got guest space for humans and airplanes alike.
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Parkwest ended last fall's Desert Safari tour in beautiful Bluff, UT. At that time, the locals were on the edge of their seats wondering if Bears Ears National Monument would be established or not, and pondered both the positive and negative impacts such establishment might mean for their quaint, off-the-beaten-path village.
In December, then President Obama proclaimed the Monument, a 1.3 million-acre chunk of land that includes beautiful landscapes, Native American cultural sites, the Valley of the Gods and Moqui Dugway, and it completely surrounds Natural Bridges National Monument, where we toured by Jeep. Like most national news in the past 6 months, the designation came with controversy. Native Americans and conservationists applaud the move; Republican leaders at both the state and national level are considering ways to rescind the designation. Read more here. A recent trip back to the Midwest came with two great visits: one with Dorothy Leddy, the wife of the late, beloved Parkwest pilot Jim, and Stan and Sharon at their beautiful Minnesota home.
Who other than the Dardis's would be so prepared on the night of the basketball finals? Stan cranked up the large screen t.v., Sharon prepared game snacks galore, and they even corked a bottle of Gonzaga-label wine. How's that for a warm welcome for this new Spokanite? Mike and Ginny's beautiful and historic home hosted the most recent Parkwest gathering. Cat Herder was on the East Coast and enjoyed two nights at The Willows, their pride-and-joy, scenically placed on the Miles River waterfront in Maryland. Ed and Laura flew up from Virginia to join us, and a nice day of sun, fun, food and shopping was had by all.
Sorry to miss seeing fellow residents and Parkwest friends Charles and Diane. Next time! I like the PhotoMapo app--first introduced to us by Don Lee of Alaska Floats & Skis--but why does it have us at "-3 altitude"?! We have many memories of flying into Furnace Creek over the years. Most are good, some, well, less so.
Like, waiting for the fuel guy to come unlock the pump when it's 120-degrees F. Or wondering if we will survive the near-death experience on Red Pass compliments of Pink Jeep Tours. Or, racing down to the airstrip at night amid the flashes of lightening, monsoonal rain, and wild winds to find more than one plane yanked free of its tiedown and missing cowl plugs and pitot covers. Or, checking back in to the Ranch TWICE because some freak storm system had us weathered in at one of the driest spots on Earth. Or, the emergency change of plans to land at Stovepipe Wells because a jet misjudged the Furnace Creek runway length just before we arrived. I could go on and on. Anyway, I liked this guy's road trip to Death Valley from LA. He found even more charm and quirkiness to experience in California desert.
Fun footage and news from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park!
Thanks to Paul H for sending along!
"The following is a very rare piece of film, 100 years old. It shows Baron Von Richthofen, doing an external prior to a mission, as well as his putting on a flying suit prior to flight in cold weather (if you look close you will notice Hermann Goering). The Baron was shot down on 21 April 1918 by Roy Brown of the Royal Navy Air Services, a prelude of the R.A.F. The Aussies also claim that one of their machine gunners on the ground shot the Baron down. UK & Aussie Doctors, after the autopsy stated that the fatal bullet was shot from above. The author of this has been very involved as a Director of the Roy Brown Museum in Carleton Place, the home town of Roy. Many letters have been written over the past 3-4 years and finally Roy Brown was inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame on 4 June 2015. And to think this film is almost 100 years old! If you are interested in history or aviation, you cannot miss this footage. It was just posted on line, and I've never seen anything like it. It's from 1917, and it's an up-close and personal look at the most legendary combat pilot who ever lived, the infamous Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. Watch the extremely rare, extremely old footage and re-live history. ULTRA-RARE footage of the most famous fighter pilot ever." Yesterday, Cat Herder and Collin had the chance to visit Kris and Ernie in California, and tour the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. Whatever your political persuasion on this presidential inauguration day, you have to admit it's kind of fun to imagine the possibility of a Salmon-Fay administration! ...all that Parkwest has brought to our lives. Years ago, at the conclusion of a Southwest Safari tour, a Florida customer said to me, "Marisa, whenever people ask you what you do for a living, you must tell them one thing: you are a Memory Maker." And I know he was right because not only did I work hard to make lasting memories for our customers, I ended up making tons of them, happy ones, for myself as well. I realize that so much of mine and Collin's collective consciousness of the past 18 years involves Parkwest Air Tours--the flights, the friends, the memories... So it is with great sadness that we lose a member of the Parkwest family, as we did this week with Carolyn Scott. I offer a few photos with Carolyn from the various tours that she and Garney have flown with us throughout the years. We missed the family festivities, but we finally made it to Colorado yesterday, in between snowstorms in the Inland Northwest. Here's a selfie taken from the cockpit of the Centurion, somewhere over Idaho. As one friend duly noted, Luna's caption might be: IS ANYONE FLYING THIS THING?
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AuthorCat Herder (aka Marisa) has been guiding pilot tours in the American West for over twenty years. Keep tabs on your Parkwest pilot friends, National Park news and other tidbits here! Archives
November 2018
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