Taking Flight

What a super cool way to kick off our weekend.  This is us, after our helicopter tour of the Superstition Mountains and East Valley.  It was so awesome. Really awesome.

Ryan, me, Dad & Mom

I was the lucky one who got to ride shot gun with our pilot, Carl, since I brought the camera.  Nice.  The view was spectacular.  So here I am, snapping a quick self-photo at 120 miles per hour somewhere high above the mountains.  I'm not sure what our elevation was.  I took a bunch of pics (of course), but here are just some of the cool ones I'm sharing.

Near the beginning of our flight (we took off from Falcon Field Airport).  This is a view of Red Mountain and the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canals. Ryan pointed out that he mountain bikes along this canal path out to Red Mountain.  He thought it was pretty cool seeing things from this perspective.

More of the canals and dams

The dam at Saguaro Lake

Saguaro Lake...being out on that boat down there would have been pretty sweet too.  It's been far too long since I've water skied and I miss it.   We need some boat friends :)

Canyon Lake

Weaver's Needle - up close and personal

Flying above Flat Iron - if you look close, you'll see 3 people on top of the Flat Iron.  We did a low fly by and they all waved.  I loved seeing the top from this view since I've hiked this peak before and know what an incredible climb it is to reach the top.

My mom and dad loved the trip too.  

Can you see the Phoenix on the mountain back there?  I've already signed up for the Phoenix Half Marathon on March 3, 2012, and the race will begin at the Phoenix on the mountain and end somewhere around Falcon.  I'm pretty stoked about it already.

Our freeway system heading back into town towards Falcon Field

Good back seat riders for sure.  It was cool wearing these headsets because we could all communicate with each other during the flight.

Ryan and my dad chatting it up with our very knowledgeable pilot, Carl, who was a great tour guide in addition to being a great pilot.  He told us a lot about the history of the area which was neat to hear, especially since all four of us are Arizona natives.  Turns out he is also a scoutmaster, so he was telling Ryan about cool places/hikes to take his scouts as we flew around the East Valley.

Thanks, Carl, for a great flight, and thanks, Mike & Shari, for the fantastic Christmas present.  What a cool memory we'll always have.