Remember last week when Len and I drove to Wisconsin? During our adventure, we stopped at every little airport along the way. As a small aircraft pilot, I swear that man can detect a windsock within a 50-mile radius!
At Dacy Airport in Harvard, Illinois we parked next to the grass runway (yes grass, not blacktop or cement) and watched a biplane practice touch-and-goes. It was pretty darned cool! Especially since he was taking off directly into a very strong wind.
While appreciating the pilot’s skill and finesse, we were listening to Rod Stewart’s “Great American Songbook” collection when all of a sudden he sang, “Fly Me to the Moon.” Quite apropos for the moment!
Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
If you could blink yourself to any geographic location on this planet, where would you go?
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan
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Smiling at Len and you stopping at all those windsocks and admiring little airplanes. And singing… Where would I fly today? Fort Myers Beach, San Diego or New York City. In a flash. Thanks for asking. 🙂
Kathy – And I’d be the big bump in your suitcase 🙂
Laurie, pretty little bi-plane, I swear it is a dead ringer for the one we see here at times. Maybe they are cousins. I’ll take a free, all-expense paid trip to St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, where I doubt they will ever take a pollen count, in Atlanta today the count is well over 9000. I’d love to smell some cool, salty breezes while I stand at Cabot’s Tower and watch the ice bergs slowly drifting South.
Sandi – If Newfoundland is anything like her sister island — Nova Scotia — then that’s a FANTASTIC destination!
Cape Cod, methinks… Tim’s uncle used to have a little single-prop airplane – it was fun watching him take off for parts unknown. It would be cool to see a grass runway – thanks for getting the picture of one!
Barbara – Cape Cod it is! Len (an excellent pilot) has taken off and landed innumerable times on grass runways. When I’m his passenger, my white-knuckled self closes her eyes and thinks, “Oh please make it quick!”
To see my daughter and grandson in West Virginia, William and I were watching the Green Lantern and I said if I could have one super power it would be to fly, then I could visit my daughter and grandson whenever I wanted for free so if I were to blink myself anywhere, it would be to them.
Katrina – Love your answer. That would be a fantastic super power! I often ask clients if they could be any insect, bird, fish, or animal for a day, what would they choose? Many people choose a type of bird because of the freedom that flying evokes.
I remember those small town airports Laurie, very cool. And Fly Me To The Moon has always been one of my favs. Where would I blink myself to on THIS planet? Hummm, have to think about that for a while, but it would likely have a white sand beach nearby and a lot of ocean!!
Alison – Me thinks you can’t go wrong with white sand and a beach. I love Rod Stewart’s three-pack-a-day-and-whiskey-laced voice. He could sing “ring around the rose” and it would buckle my knees 🙂
If I had a pilot’s license, I would fly around the world stopping at every exotic location, every town with a castle and every beach! Can you tell I’d like to see the world, the whole world and nothing but the world? 🙂
Mywithershins – If you’re gonna dream, dream BIG 🙂
Laurie I LOVE that he stops at all the little airports – I think that’s just a great memory. Let’s see if I could blink & be anywhere in the world today…I know you think you know what I’m going to say….but no, not Disney. I think I would blink & be somewhere in Europe. France, Italy, not sure exactly where. But someday I’m going to take that trip to London, Paris & Rome that I’ve always wanted with my girls.
Chris – You got me! I would have bet money on Disney! But Europe with your daughters will be heavenly!
Dorothy says that she … if you go out looking for happiness you don’t have to go any further than your own backyard. My backyard is filled with the Blessings of Family and the Blossoms of Spring!
Sheila – And ya gotta love the wisdom of Dorothy 🙂
Hi Laurie,
How cool – had no idea you FLEW to Wisconsin. Boy if I could blink myself somewhere – hmmm, do I get more than one blink? The beach at Turks, La Jolla beaches, or the mountains in Colorado Springs area.
Hugs
SuZen
SuZen – We drove to Wisconsin and stopped at little airports along the way and back (although Len is a pilot). I’m not familiar with the beach at Turks, but very familiar with La Jolla, and love every speck of Colorado. I’d be hard pressed to make a choice between the latter two. Maybe because it’s a magic blink, you could go to ALL of them 🙂
How cool to have that song come on at the appropriate time! Where I want to go depends on my mood. I could go for Santorini right now for some relaxation on the beach and beautiful sunsets.
Fergiemoto – Greece is on my bucket-list!
I suppose I would blink myself back to Haiti. It’s tough to choose between a place I love and a place I have never been but long to be. If I were to choose the latter, I’d have to blink myself to Capetown, South Africa.
Great post, Laurie!
Hugs,
Kathy
Kathy – I say go for the gusto — BOTH of your destinations sound wonderful!
Reflexology……
Then Barbados
Kim – Better yet, reflexology IN Barbados 🙂
Sounds like you had a lot of fun!! I would go to Europe and stay for a year! Just me and a sketchbook. Totally selfish!!! 🙂 Hmmm that was fun just saying it…
Terri – Not selfish at all because it would be extremely productive and the rest of us would benefit from it 🙂
My Jazz Band and I play “Fly me to the Moon” for our contest! I love that song! 🙂
Rachel – It’s so good to see you here! Please let me know the next time your Jazz Band does a performance that family and friends can attend.
Hi,
You certainly did have a wonderful road trip, and to hear that song at that moment must of brought some smiles in the car. 😀
I would love to be at the ancient ruins in South America, and explore till my heart was content. 🙂
Magsx2 – “Explore till my heart’s content” is a wonderful mantra! Ancient ruins in South America make it doubly so 🙂
‘Anything you are not changing, you are choosing’. Nice line of thought to consider!
Teeceecounsel – I’m glad that it struck a chord with you. Thank you for letting me know.
For the better part of eleven year I worked summers and weekends driving an airport limousine to the metropolitans three hubs–Newark, Kennedy and LaGuardia. Needless to say I had many layovers waiting for flights to come in to pick up passengers, and when I wasn’t reading or nodding off I walked over to the glass windows to watch planes land and take off. Hence I know the feeling of awe and exhilaration that’s part of this observation process. Of course I do well understand the difference between looking at jets cutting through wind and the small planes that you watched, which take off and land with far more visible effect. Anyway, I know the allure Laurie, and love this post.
If I blinked I’d like to be in the U.K. For all sorts of reasons it’s the place I’d want to visit, especially since, inplicably I haven’t done so yet in my life.
Sam – A limousine driver with eleven years of service under his belt has enough material for an outstanding book! I’ll be the first one in line to purchase my copy — autographed, of course 🙂
Hi Laurie,
Your picture of that biplane brings back memories of doing a vertical takeoff in a big AN2 biplane into a 30knt headwind, and using just enough power to have it go straight up. It was owned by a friend (Neville) and I was invited to join him on the pickup run (taking a commercial flight to Estonia, then spending 6 weeks flying the old biplane back to New Zealand). In the event, Ailsa got pregnant with Jewelia, and my spot was taken by one of the other buys from the club. That particular aircraft now lives at Wanaka.
I can’t choose where I would blink to, it is a dead heat between the top of Everest on a clear windless day, and the bottom of the Mariana trench in a big plexi-glass ball with lots of lights. And only on the provisio that I could blink myself back home in an instant.
Ted – I’m the photo stirred up some good memories for you. And you know what…I can just SEE you on the top of Mt. Everest! I know you can do anything you put your mind to so I hope it’s on your bucket list 🙂
For me it would be Ankor Wat, Cambodia. To see the temple….amongst the wilderness and forest.
Savira – Very cool dream location! Thank you for sharing it here 🙂
I think I solved my problems with WordPress. Fingers crossed that this works. You write such cool posts that it was painful not to be able to comment.
Leanne – You go, girl! I’m so glad it worked 🙂
I would blink me back and forth to Flagstaff, Arizona. I’ve only been there once about 10 years ago, but there is something about it that still calls to me. Flagstaff is en route to the Grand Canyon and I wish I had stayed for a few days back then to find out what was calling me to visit. I may take a short trip in August to find out. It has everything to do with spirituality, our ancestors, the native people who live there, and the great wilderness both physical and spiritual.
Barbara – Once you find out, I want to know, too 🙂
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I would blink myself back home to my cozy little cabin. I’ve been away for 2 weeks now and am ready for a little piece of home. 🙂
Dana – I wish you could just click the heels of your shiny red shoes together and be there 🙂
I hadn’t thought about watching planes land and take off for quite a while … in the olden days (you know, about twenty years ago), we used to take the kids to watch pilots landing and taking off, just for the fun of it. I’m not sure where I’d blink myself, but I’m pretty sure there would be mountains close by. Hope you have a good week!
Nancy – mountains, Mountains, MOUNTAINS! I’ll be there too, (but I promise to be quiet so I don’t disturb your tranquility)…
ahhhh my kind of roadtrip Laura….!
sounds like a little piece of heaven watching planes land and take off,
we do it all the time LOLs
where would I go…
where my heart is home….
back to PendleHill England…..
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful trip with us..
Take Care…
You Matter……
)0(
maryrose
LadyBlueRose – Just the words said aloud — PendleHill, England — sound healing 🙂
that is exactly what it did for me!
it showed me how to fly without wings attached
Hope you are having a great day!
Take care…
)0(
maryrose
LadyBlueRose – Hooray for wing-free flight 🙂 Thank you for your comment.
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Love the older planes – they’ve got such character! My dad worked for Boeing for over 30 years and totally gets a kick out of those…will have to show this to him 🙂
Anne – Boeing would have been a fantastic company to retire from! My dad, husband, sister, nephew, and several uncles are pilots. I think it runs in some people’s blood….
I think you’re right (funny that my mom worked in Wardair’s accounting department way back in the day!) Now my little guy is also saying that he wants to be a pilot (unfortunately, he’s totally colour blind, which means that particular aspect of working in the airline industry is off limits )
Anne – Your son may not be able to become a military or commercial pilot, but that doesn’t mean he can’t become a civilian pilot. According to the FAA, to become a private pilot you don’t have to prove your color vision as long as you don’t want to fly above the clouds or in other IFR (Instrument Flight Regulations) situations. He may have a few restrictions, but if he loves to fly, this may well be the way to go…
Thanks, Laurie! That’s really good to know! We’ve never said, “You can’t do that” (who wants to crush a 5 year old?) but it’s nice, going forward, knowing that he may be able to pursue his dreams when he gets older 🙂 (That’s if he doesn’t decide to become a full time Jedi in the meantime….big decisions in his little world at the moment!) 😉
Anne – Jedi never occurred to me! Between ages 5 and 10 I wanted to be a world famous magician (this, after seeing David Copperfield in Las Vegas), an international spy (after reading Harriet the Spy), or a mad scientist (after setting the garage on fire https://holessence.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/short-storyflash-fiction-challenge/).
That’s a great story!! (And a very pretty pic too!)