Six.

IDS Center in 2013.

I’ve been reading old blog posts this evening. My husband has patiently listened as I read him prose I find particularly witty; he has the patience of a saint.

While going through old blog posts I found a bunch of entries from 2013 when I went on a solo long-weekend vacation in Minneapolis. The trip marked a couple of firsts; it was my first time in Minneapolis, it was my first time flying in first class, and the trip marked the first time I would stop in a random town in Minnesota and cheer a homecoming parade along with natives I didn’t know.

The folks in the midwest are very friendly. I’ve always known that.

The blog entries from the aforementioned trip can be found starting here.

When I read blog entries from a few years ago I always find myself remarking about how I used to write longer blog entries instead of just belching out a few paragraphs. Things have decidedly change with the full-tilt ramp up of Social Media; I guess I should be happy that I’m still writing in a blog at all. 95% of the bloggers I used to follow gave up long ago. The few that still write in their blogs on a regular basis are always a welcome relief from the bits and burps of 280 characters.

My biggest takeaway from the trip to Minneapolis was the flight back home to Syracuse (our home airport at the time). The Delta Connection flight had to do go-arounds in high winds to land on runway 15, which is one of the crosswind runways. As others were tense and nervous during the go around procedures I was loving every minute of it and it was at that moment I decided that I had waited long enough to become a private pilot. I contacted the local flight school within a week and before the end of that month I had my first lesson in a 1966 Piper Cherokee 140.

I’ll probably blog about that experience again on the anniversary of the actual lesson.

I’ve been in a particularly pensive and introspective mood over the past couple of days; feeling much like I did in the days leading up to that solo vacation in 2013. Earl and I have a vacation planned for next week and I’m feeling like it’s going to be a great little adventure for us.

We’re never too old to seek new experiences, push our boundaries, and try something new. And we’re never too old to stop writing about it.

Here’s the blog entry where I talk about the landing.