We haven't flown Tiger in AGES - well, not since the road got washed out during the big storm back in November, at least. Because we can't drive to launch until the road is repaired (probably not till September of this year), I purchased a 10-ride punch card for the Tiger Shuttle online for $130. When we arrived for the 12:30 run, Michael Miller was mowing the grass at the LZ but he came right over and got us loaded up and on our way. I was kind of surprised that he would take just the two of us up since the trip involves three separate vehicles to get to launch. We were the only pilots on launch until two more arrived, pilots from Bellingham and Cleveland, OH, who had never flown Tiger before. After a brief introduction to the site for the newbies, C.J. and I launched. The wind was stronger than we had expected and C.J. was concerned about the velocity increasing over time. After flying for a while, she went out into the valley and searched for sink to get down to the switch-y LZ. It took me a while to get comfortable but eventually I was able to get over to the end of the North Ridge and return low to the Dome and Last Chance where I caught a cycle and got back over launch. Once more I made the crossing over the House Thermal to the North Ridge and this time was able to fly up the ridge a ways before bailing over the south side and heading for the LZ.
Okay, so C.J. got a flight on her birthday - that was a traditional part of the celebration. But, wait, there's more! By 1845 we were heading back to Issaquah for dinner at JaK's Grill. We're shooting for 1930 and thought we'd get there and sign in and try to get a table for the 9-10 people we expected. Patti was next to arrive, and then Beth and Ernie and Andrei. Irina arrived later along with Chris and Patricia. No rush,
since we didn't get two adjoining booths until after eight o'clock. No problem, because, as usual the food was worth waiting for. C.J. and I split the large filet mignon and it was just the right amount. On the other hand, Andrei and Irina got the 40 oz (!) porterhouse steak and barely ate half of it. After dinner we grabbed an ice cream cake from Baskin and Robbins and went up to Andrei and Irina's home on the plateau for dessert. I didn't have any big birthday presents for C.J. but I did give her a musical card " It's not about how old you are , it's what age you are" and the song was "Age of Aquarius" from "Hair". I had finally transferred a photo of C.J. to the 1993 Women's Fly-In t-shirt - the one with several pictures of "Women who fly" including a blank frame labeled "me" and gave her the shirt wrapped in bear paper.
since we didn't get two adjoining booths until after eight o'clock. No problem, because, as usual the food was worth waiting for. C.J. and I split the large filet mignon and it was just the right amount. On the other hand, Andrei and Irina got the 40 oz (!) porterhouse steak and barely ate half of it. After dinner we grabbed an ice cream cake from Baskin and Robbins and went up to Andrei and Irina's home on the plateau for dessert. I didn't have any big birthday presents for C.J. but I did give her a musical card " It's not about how old you are , it's what age you are" and the song was "Age of Aquarius" from "Hair". I had finally transferred a photo of C.J. to the 1993 Women's Fly-In t-shirt - the one with several pictures of "Women who fly" including a blank frame labeled "me" and gave her the shirt wrapped in bear paper.
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