Day 6 - We Made It To PEI!

We had a bit of fun getting to the airport this morning.  We thought initially that we would just get a taxi from the hotel, but when we talked to Pat & Lon they said that cars would be available to take us to the airport starting at 6:30.  We decided to head down at about 6:15 to make sure we'd get a ride and found people leaving already!  We quickly got in with another club member who had rented a car yesterday and got going.  The only problem was... none of us knew the area and none of us had brought a map!  We ended up going about 20 minutes in the opposite direction of where we needed to be going!  After getting turned around, we finally made it to the airport about 30 minutes later than we had hoped.  We couldn't have asked for a better flying day though, it was absolutely beautiful! 

It was fun flying over all the fields all lined up so perfectly.

Figured I would throw in another picture of us flying.  It's been nice to have so much time together.

We were excited to fly over Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park in Maine.  Lennard hiked this mountain when he was younger and thought it was pretty neat to see it from the air.  It was interesting flying over US airspace too!  Glad they finally acknowledged us... we really didn't want any visitors flying up beside us!

As we were coming in to Fredericton, Lon & Pat and Wayne & Linda were ahead of us, so we decided to detour and do a quick flight over the farm where Lennard grew up.  It's a little shocking how little time it took to fly over the farm and then be back in Fredericton when it's a 45 minute drive!  I loved being able to see the farm from the air.  We are hoping to go back sometime this week and get a few more pictures at a lower altitude.

I loved seeing how excited Lennard got flying over his old stomping grounds.  As soon as we crossed the border in to New Brunswick I pretty much put the maps away and Lennard pointed out every spot as we flew over it.  This is the Saint John River.

Coming in to land at the Fredericton airport.  Definitely a huge accomplishment for Lennard.  He's wanted to fly home ever since he got his pilot's license.  It felt so good to be back in Fredericton... even if it was only for a few hours.

We made it to Fredericton just in time to have Ben & Marni pick us up at the airport and get to church before it let out.  We were able to see so many of our wonderful friends.  Seriously makes me miss our ward family here.  We love Ben & Marni so much.  They are such an amazing couple. 

We didn't get pictures of everyone, but we managed to get one with the Moeller family before we left.  Carl & Nicole lived with us for a while when they were expecting their oldest... it's hard to believe their kids have grown up so much!

We had a nice lunch at the Diplomat.  Lennard wasn't excited at all (could hardly get him to stand still for the picture before he raced in!)  We were both starving as we hadn't managed to get breakfast, so getting a buffet lunch at the Dip hit the spot.  It also gave us a chance to visit with Ben & Marni a bit more.  

Unfortunately, we had to get going before too much longer, so they took us back to the airport, checked out the plane and then we took off for our final destination of Charlottetown, PEI.  It was fun to be able to see both sides of the island at once!

Here's the start of the Confederation Bridge!  It was tricky to get a good picture when we were up so high, but hopefully we'll get more this week.

Here's a bit of PEI.  I love it!!!

Coming in to Charlottetown.

We got in later than most, so it wasn't busy when we came in to land (which was nice!).  They were so amazing welcoming us to Charlottetown.  Everyone was so pleasant.  As soon as we landed, there was a guy directing us towards the fueling station, then another guy took over and got us to the pumps.  Immediately everyone was welcoming us, checking out the plane and asking us how the flight was.  Once we were fueled up, another guy directed us to where they wanted us to tie down.  Another guy was right there with a van to take us from the plane with our luggage to meet the shuttle to the airport.  It was very impressive!

I took a quick shot of the the terminal as we were taxiing past.

Here we are, all tied down and ready to head to the hotel.  It is fun seeing all the other planes.  We ended up missing the open house for the public, but at least we are here!

The hotel is great.  We had a bit of a maze to go through to actually find our room, but now that we know where it is, it's not too bad.  There was a big opening banquet last night.  They had a wonderful dinner of either meat lasagne or seafood lasagne, salad, bread and desserts.  Lennard says it definitely beats the opening 'banquet' in Whitehorse of pizza!  They had a slideshow going of pictures that have been taken so far and then John Lovelace made a bit of speech thanking all the sponsors, etc.  It was a nice evening, although we were very ready for bed by the time we got there.  

More stats... 3 hours 40 minutes flying time.  551 nautical miles.  2 more cities.  Made it to our end goal!