Lurray Caverns, Virginia

Being a plane owner, Russ no longer settled for going to places we could simply drive to.  He selected places where we could get there easily by plane when it would have been an all-day event otherwise. 

                                               

For this weekend's adventure, we flew to the airport closest to Lurray Caverns.  (The caverns offered shuttle transportation from the airport to the caverns.)                                                 

While Russ has his instrument flight rating, this was the first time I'd flown with him where I couldn't see anything.  It was really unnerving for me to be flying through clouds knowing we had mountains on both sides of us and that a wrong reading of his instruments could lead us "to fail to maintain altitude"  (FAA "investingation speak" for crashing into a solid object.

Russ did his best to distract me from the weather (while still keeping a close eye on the instrument readings.  Here he showed me his "namesake" for the navigational beacon.  (Notice our airspeed was much slower than it had been with the tailwind when returning from McGuire AFB a couple weeks ago.)

But this is what I saw when we finally descended below the clouds.  The area was beautiful with the fall foliage in an array of colors.  I was glad at this point that I hadn't asked him to head back to our starting point.

 

 

It was pretty cold in the caves, so I was glad I'd brought an extra jacket.  But it was pretty need to see all the features with the electrical lights wired in.  There was a point in the tour when the guide turned off the lights for a minute.  It reminded me of Tom Sawyer being lost in the caves.  "Head toward the lights" takes on a whole new meaning.

 

Russ always has to do something silly looking.  He's really a little boy trapped in a man's body.

The reflections on the pools of water are so pristine it's difficult to tell where the ceiling leaves off and the pool of water begins. 

What a great day!

McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey

Some of Russ' Air Force Academy classmates were stationed at McGuire AFB in NJ.  What would have been close to a 6-hour car drive was less than a 2-hour flight.  So we were able to make a short visit.  Russ is demonstrating his fine stroller handling skills while his friend Kori Delwich adjusts the hat on her daughter.

It was during this trip that the "Team R" concept came to being, thanks to Kori dubbing Russ and me as "Team R".

While those of you who aren't suitably familiar with the Piper Cherokee to be impressed with a 144KT speed, I just thought I'd point out that this was an early "record" for this aircraft.  (I think Russ is the record holder for the top three speeds submitted for his type of aircraft.  Perhaps that just means there aren't a whole lot of pilots submitting their tops speeds.)

This was the front that we were riding with the really strong tail wind.  Russ mainly wanted to take pictures of lots of clouds to show his dad how excited he was looking at slides from his dad's time in Korea.  With this much excitement out my window, can you understand why I was suitably impressed with our speed?

Air National Guard Convention in Nashville, Tennessee

Russ had a convention he had to attend in Nashville TN.  And thanks to his status of "pilot/plane owner" he now has more travel options available.  Rather than fly commercially to Nashville, he was allowed to fly his own plane with the reimbursement rate being what the government would have spent on a commercial ticket or the actual travel cost (whichever is less).  Since he had an empty seat on the plane available, he invited me to go along.
Here's Russ filling up the plane at an airport along the way in Knoxville TN.

After Russ' meetings the first day we walked to a park near the hotel.  Russ was being pretty risky with which spout the water was going to come out of.

We sure had fun getting a "suitable" shot of us kissing.

For the ice breaker social, Russ practiced NOT breaking anything.

As the Grand Ole Opry was right next door to the hotel (The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center) where the convention was held, we walked over there to check things out.  Too bad there weren't any shows scheduled during the time we were there.

It was a great trip for me since I didn't have to work.  I think Russ had a good time, too.

Mama Mia! Concert

As with any relationship destined for success, we've been learning how to compromise.  Russ is more of a hard rock fan while I tend to favor country music and "easy listening."  (Granted, I do enjoy Def Leppard and other '80s "big hair bands", but I tend to stick with what my ear drums will thank me for in the future.)
So when a group of people from the Air and Space Expeditionary Force Center bought a group of Mama Mia! tickets, we joined in.  Naturally, with both of us being the frugal people we are, we didn't buy tickets right off the bat.  But when someone backed out of the play and offered her pair of tickets at a significant discount, we decided to try the "cultured" theater opportunity.
We weren't allowed to take pictures of the performance, so here's a photo of us.  I think this was the first time Russ saw me wearing jewelry.