Fun Stuff

Good news and bad news... Everyone asks for bad news first, so here it is: I do not have a photo album done for Dover yet. Good news? Vegas is finally finished! :) Here you go, let me know if the link doesn’t work: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=388730&id=701905001&l=232251b201

The first fun thing that has happened since my last blog is that I finally got my Mini back! It had been in a garage for quite a while getting a rusted floor panel replaced, and I am thrilled to have my bright yellow baby back. It is definitely a smile-inducer when the weather is cold and gray. I was worried I wouldn't remember how to drive stick after it was gone for so long, but it actually came back pretty quickly and I am having a blast driving it around. What a fun little car. I'll have to get another picture of it on here so you can smile at it with me. :)

This past weekend was the most relaxing since before Red Flag, but included a lot of fun stuff too. On Friday, my squadron had a Hail and Farewell at the base skating rink. Yes, a skating rink, and no, we are not in middle school. I was intrigued by the idea, since I used to love flying around the mile loop at the park at home on rollerblades, but I haven’t rollerbladed regularly in at least three years. I was also worried that it was one of those things where everyone would be too cool to get out there and skate. So I went, but wasn’t expecting much.

As soon as I walked in the door, however, it was like those three years evaporated… I saw people circling the rink and all of a sudden could NOT wait to get out there! I was thrilled to find that a) the rink rented rollerblades in addition to regular skates, and b) there were already people from my squadron lacing up! I couldn’t get my skates on fast enough, and probably looked like a kid on Christmas morning when I stepped out into the rink with my friend Alison and picked up speed. I forgot how much I love rollerblading! The rink was pretty tiny, so I couldn’t get going too fast without crashing into a wall, but it got me dreaming about going all-out down those beautiful quarter-mile long stretches at the park and wind flying past my ears… amazing feeling.

So, I think I am going to skate in a rollerblade marathon. You're laughing. Don't worry, I did too when Martin first sent me the website link about how Berlin runs a rollerblade marathon as part of their marathon weekend in September. But after Friday afternoon, I really want to do it!!! I would love to get back into skating regularly, and it gives me an excuse to go explore Berlin... what better combination could I get? The only issue is finding somewhere to train around here. Alison (who I think is in as well), jokingly suggested the flight line as the only long flat paved surface we could come up with, but I'm not sure that would go over too well with base security. We'll just have to keep brainstorming...

On Saturday, a bunch of people from the squadron went out to dinner and a couple pubs in Cambridge to celebrate Greg's last weekend in England. It was a great time, I missed those guys while I was in Vegas! Today was Greg's last day at work, and it was really sad to say goodbye. He is the last in a string of people to move away in the last couple months, and the weather flight "family" feels smaller every time. At the same time though, the timing amazes me, how this happened at the exact same time that the Vegas trip introduced me to so many new people and new friends... like God knew I was going to need an "extended family". :)

No plans for this weekend yet, but I'm on weather standby so I can't go anywhere too far away. Maybe I'll finish my Dover photo album! ;-)

Race Postponed

So... the Dover Half Marathon did not happen on Sunday, thanks to ice and snow covering the course. The race organizers are working to reschedule it and we have not heard a new date yet. I must admit I was not devastated by this news, as I mentioned already that I was not as prepared for the race as I had hoped to be. So more training time for me, woohoo! Plus, even though the race was cancelled, we didn't get the news until we were already down there and I still got to spend an amazing weekend in Dover. Such a beautiful place... I am excited that I have an excuse to go back again for the real race!

As I mentioned before, friend and fellow runner Martin was my travel buddy for this trip, and our first stop after leaving Lakenheath on Saturday morning was actually in Canterbury, about half an hour from Dover. Canterbury is famous for Canterbury Tales, of course, and the Canterbury Cathedral, where people make pilgrimages to the shrine of martyred Thomas Becket. We parked near the cathedral but walked through part of the town before reaching the cathedral gate. I really liked the town, and we found an amazing restaurant for lunch where we enjoyed fun British food like sausages in Yorkshire puddings (I'll save the picture for the photo album...). After lunch, we spent a good couple hours exploring the inside and outside of the cathedral. I'll get a photo album online at some point, but here is the first view of the cathedral from walking in the gate:

It is HUGE, and the inside looks even bigger. There are gorgeous stained glass windows on every side, and they looked so bright inside even with cloudy skies outside. This was actually the point in the trip when we got the news about the race cancellation, via a call from the race organizer. No reason to turn back since we were already in Canterbury and had the hotel rooms for two nights in Dover, so on with the adventure!

Our hotel in Dover was an adorable guest house run by a very sweet older couple. And yes, by "adorable" I mean the rooms were about as big as a closet, haha, but I would totally stay there again. The owners were very friendly, the place was very clean, and breakfast was great! It was evening by the time we arrived from Canterbury and got checked in, so we then headed out to explore the town of Dover and find dinner. We were within walking distance of Dover Castle, and here is our view from walking around in town the first night:


The next morning, I was really excited to go hike the famous White Cliffs. My excitement was only dimmed somewhat when we got there and found the trails icy and snowy. The day was actually sunny, but this created the additional problem of melting snow = MUD. All of these factors made the hiking rather interesting and much slower than expected, but we made it through with only minor bruises and muddy jeans and shoes... so I'll consider that a success. :) Here is one of my favorite pictures of the cliffs:


We hiked all the way down the face of the cliffs on the trail I had found on my October visit, and explored the rocky beach. The most exciting part was discovering a small cave hollowed out into the cliff wall, which we had to scale some not-so-steady rock piles to reach. It was SO worth the effort, however. The view was incredible, and it made me think how cool it would be to camp out in that cave and wake up to the sun rising on the cliffs. But unfortunately, I am pretty sure camping is not allowed there, plus it would have been soooo cold! Here is a picture of me standing on a very large rock I scrambled up on at the beach (Martin gets the photo credit here, as well as credit for being the first one to climb on the rock, slightly more gracefully than I did):


After ascending the trail back up the cliff face, we continued on to the South Foreland Lighthouse. (This was the one I did not have time to get to in October.) It wasn't open, but we walked around it and I got this really good picture:


We made it back to the car by mid-afternoon, and after changing into dry jeans, socks, and shoes, we headed out into Dover again to find a late lunch. This time we took the recommendation of our hotel hostess and went to a really cool coastal-themed restaurant on a marina. The rest of the evening was spent walking around the town and taking in all the sights and unique shops and pubs.

Monday morning (hurray for President's Day!), we checked out of the hotel and were off to Dover Castle. We spent several hours exploring the wartime tunnels and every nook and cranny of the castle. I was slightly disappointed that the roof of the castle was closed due to ice, since that had been one of my favorite parts (amazing views!), but Martin reminded me we could come back and go on the roof when we return for the rescheduled race. We left the castle around mid-afternoon, and planned to stop in the town of Sandwich (yes, as in the "Earl of") for lunch.


Unfortunately, Sandwich fell very short of our expectations. The small town was pretty dead - most of the shops and restaurants were closed, and we saw very few people walking around. Also, there were barely any historical markers or monuments, and nothing to tell the story of what put Sandwich on the map, which was really weird. So much untapped marketing potential! Anyway, we decided that it was best to just go back to our new favorite restaurant in Canterbury, since we were still in the area. This proved to be a great decision, as the food and atmosphere were just as good the second time around.

We got back to Lakenheath Monday evening, and I went back to work on Tuesday morning. This week is a very busy one work-wise, as I have still been playing catch-up from the Vegas trip and also am working the forecast counter on day shift due to our current manning situation. Looking forward to the weekend for the chance to catch up on some sleep, plus Saturday night is a group outing to celebrate Greg's last weekend in England, as he prepares to move back to the US next Wed. I will be very sad to see him go, but I'm glad to have one more fun weekend first. For now, it is off to bed with me, early wakeup tomorrow!

Back In England

This is going to have to be short and sweet since it is almost midnight here and I have not packed for the weekend yet, but I wanted to let everyone know I was alive and back in England. :)

The last few days of Red Flag were awesome, and I was a little bit sad to leave all the excitement, but I am very happy to be back at Lakenheath with my friends here. I have hundreds of pictures to sort through and will try to get a "Best Of Vegas" photo album online by next week. The trip back was a disaster from start to finish, but since there is a happy ending (my luggage and I eventually got back to England, though not together or on time), I won't go into detail.

This weekend (Sunday) is the Dover Half Marathon, and though I am not as prepared for the run as I'd like to be, I am still excited about spending the weekend in one of the most beautiful places I have been in England. I can't wait to see the White Cliffs and Dover Castle again, and I am also planning a visit to the famous Canterbury Cathedral nearby. My Vegas travel buddy Martin is also running the half marathon, so I will have a travel buddy for this Dover expedition as well. :)

Better get to packing, and I will make a serious attempt to be a better blogger next week. Happy President's Day Weekend!

Red Flag

Whew, what an exhausting and amazing week (and a half). With working 14-hour days beginning at 4am, hanging out with my parents the first weekend and friends the second, AND trying to fit sleep in there somewhere… blogging never made it to the top of the priority list. As expected, Red Flag is incredible to be involved with… mainly because it is just so BIG! There are over a hundred aircraft here for the exercise, more than double that number of aircrews, and of course support personnel numbering over a thousand. This includes aircraft and people from USAF bases all over the world, plus we have a squadron of RAF aircrews with their Harriers.

Green Flag was great to do first because it was just our fighter squadron from Lakenheath, and it gave me a chance to get to know all the aircrews and squadron leadership better. At Red Flag, I am doing mass briefs every day to an auditorium of over 100 people, as well as fielding questions and support requests from every aircraft and mission type going out. It’s busy and exciting and like a firehose of learning. I’ve gone to every planning meeting and debriefing I can to pick up on every aspect of what is going on out there on the ranges.

With only minimal work commitments the first weekend, I was able to enjoy my parents’ visit and do some sightseeing. On Saturday, we went to Red Rock Canyon, one thing I was desperate to do while I was here. We got there in the later afternoon, so we didn’t have time to do a hike before the sun set, but we drove around the 13-mile “scenic drive” from the visitor center and got out at all of the overlook points to take pictures. Here is one:


Other highlights of “Parents’ Weekend” included the live stage show “The Lion King” at Mandalay Bay, watching circus acts and playing Skeeball at Circus Circus, enjoying the view from the top of the Stratosphere, and the music-synchronized fountains at the Bellagio.

This past weekend, I expected to be somewhat more relaxed with maybe a little more sleep… but I guess you don’t come to Las Vegas to sleep, do you? On Saturday, a group of us embarked on a mission to conquer the rides and roller coasters of the Strip. We began around noon with the Manhattan Express roller coaster at New York New York. CeCe and I sat in front and enjoyed the amazing views while hurtling through loops and corkscrews above the Strip. After a long lunch at the Hard Rock Café, we took a photo-op break at the famous “Welcome To Las Vegas” sign. Next up was “Speed: The Ride” at the Sahara, a roller coaster famous for launching you from 0 to 100-something in a matter of seconds… then at the end of the track (yes, the track ends), you do the whole thing in reverse.

It was dark by the time we headed for the Stratosphere, which meant another gorgeous view from above of the city all lit up. You know, they call Paris the “City of Lights”, but I would think Vegas must be somewhere in the running. Thanks to a military discount, we got unlimited ride bracelets for the 3 thrill rides on the top of the Stratosphere (1152 ft high). Try Googling “Stratosphere rides” if you want more detail, but basically the 3 rides include 1) dangling you off the side of the building while spinning, 2) a bobsled dive over the edge of the building, and 3) launching you skyward from the top of the building. Pretty awesome. We spent a good couple hours re-riding and just enjoying the view.

On Sunday, I was determined to explore some of the more outdoors-y sights of the area. My friend Martin from intel was the only one brave enough to attempt this venture with me, but he was an excellent travel buddy, especially since he grew up in the Vegas area. We first headed southeast to the Hoover Dam. The scenery on the drive was spectacular… massive rock formations, sheer cliffs, spiky Joshua trees, bright blue Lake Mead – I was lucky Martin was nice enough to take pictures on my camera while I drove, or I might have driven off the road. We parked on the Nevada side of the dam and walked across the lake side to Arizona, then back across the other side. Pictures do not really do the size of the dam justice (you can’t possibly get the depth perception of standing at the top and looking over the edge), but here is a pic from the lake side:

We ate lunch at a tiny diner in historic Boulder City – so much fun to find small-town experiences so close to a city as big as Las Vegas. Then we set out for Mount Charleston, an 11,918ft peak in the mountains northwest of Vegas. As we climbed higher, we stopped at several overlooks to take pictures. The snow along the side of the road got deeper and deeper, and by the time we reached 7000ft elevation, it was plowed several feet high on the road shoulders. It was late afternoon and the sun was on its way down, but we were determined to attempt a hike, even in the deep snow. Here is a picture of the trailhead sign (which I would assume is normally at eye level), and Martin next to a No Parking sign (which I would assume is normally taller than he is):

The hike was quite an adventure, and could have easily made it onto America’s Funniest Home Videos if recorded. Any misstep from the narrow packed trail resulted in sinking or tumbling into the several feet of snow below our feet. On the way back, dark was quickly overtaking us, but walking faster only caused more slips and falls. I wiped out pretty hard at one point and came up covered in snow, then Martin slipped and performed a hilarious juggling act trying not to drop a couple pinecones he was holding (while falling). So much fun… who needs casinos? ;-)

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And so we have now entered the second and final week of Red Flag, which is bittersweet. I will miss the excitement of the large-scale exercise and being around so many aircrews and airframes, but I am also looking forward to going back to England. I miss my weather flight, my Bible study group, my house, and my cars, to name a few. This has been an amazing trip so far, and I am looking forward to making the most of the next 3 days.

Green Flag begins

The last few days have been pretty crazy with bad weather and long hours... but this exercise is SOOO interesting! Since my move from an Operational Weather Squadron at Barksdale to a base weather flight at Lakenheath, I have loved actually being a part of the flying operations and interacting with the pilots who come in for weather briefs. But Green Flag takes it even another step further: I am physically in the middle of all the planning and debriefs, so I know exactly what is going on and how the weather is affecting every part of their operations. It has been like a firehose of learning, and I love it. Spending so much time around all the aircrews tunes me in to what they are concerned about and what information they need most from me. Plus, they are just really interesting to hang out with! They talk about flying a lot, so I have learned so much about their career field, training, operations, and plenty of war stories.

CeCe and I moved from our hotel to base lodging today in preparation for Red Flag, which is a bummer because the fighter squadron is staying at the hotel, so it will be a lot less convenient to hang out with them. However, there are some pros, like being able to run on base whenever I want and not having to drive 30 min to get to and from work. I have been enjoying dinners at restaurants I miss in England, like Panera last night, where I was reunited with the amazing Sierra Turkey sandwich and bought several specialty bagels to use for breakfasts. Still on the list to accomplish in the next 2.5 weeks: Papa John’s Pizza, Quizno’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Macaroni Grill, Red Lobster, and several others.

Another thing I have missed in England is good music, and I have been in heaven since plugging into XM radio on the flight over and in our rental car here. As much as I love England, and as fun as it is to listen to the British DJs talk, I must say their music is fairly awful. It is all dance/club/rap/R&B and weird combinations of those. I am extremely thankful for my FM transmitter to play my MP3 player in the car on the way to work. Here, I turn on the radio and hear Daughtry, Nickelback, Shinedown, etc… and it is glorious. I heard a brand new song by Lifehouse (my favorite band) yesterday and nearly drove off the road, I was so excited.

Weather has been up and down here, but on Saturday I squeezed in a run at a beautiful 57 degrees. I got lost while trying to follow an on-base running route, but ended up running past the Thunderbird hangar and saw 9 gorgeous T-birds parked in a perfect line outside. So cool! The jury is still out on whether I would ever want to be stationed here, but it is a pretty awesome TDY location so far. We have been too busy to do any sightseeing, but I think we will have a day or two off this weekend in which I hope to rectify that. So no more pictures for you today, but hopefully soon.

In Vegas, baby!

This is going to be a long one, but I was wayyyy too tired from traveling to write the first night, and we were out last night, so just consider it a double. :) Our trip to get here was LOOOOOONG, but ended up being pretty awesome. CeCe and I hopped on a bus at 4:30am from Lakenheath to London Heathrow, and realized we had another travel buddy, squadron-mate Martin from intel. When we finally made it to our terminal and checked in for the flight (man, LHR is huge... I think we walked about 10 miles inside the airport), Martin turned on the charm with the desk agent and got a free seat upgrade to United's "Economy Plus" section. He told CeCe and me that we should try to get the same, so we decided to ask at the gate. I HATE asking for stuff like that, but gave in this time knowing that I currently had an awful seat that would have made the 11-hour flight to San Francisco fairly miserable.

SO worth it!!! We were successfully upgraded for free, and I even got a window seat! When we boarded the plane, we discovered even more perks. Economy Plus is just behind Business Class, and is advertised as having more leg room than Economy, which I am not sure is worth the $100 upgrade price tag... and apparently a lot of people agree with me, because the section was more than half empty. CeCe had a row of 5 seats in the middle to herself, and stretched out across them to sleep for most of the flight. I had my window seat plus the seat next to it on the aisle, which was amazing to have room to spread out AND I didn't have to ask anyone to move to go to the bathroom (usually the only downside of a window seat). There were spa packages on our seats with a bunch of toiletries, a thick pair of socks, earplugs, a sleeping mask (you know that thing that covers your eyes), and a nice pair of headphones instead of the hard plastic earbuds.

Despite the perks, 11 hours is still a really long time on an airplane, and I was ready to be done before we were even halfway there. Argh. But near the end of the flight, the scenery began out my window. I have heard that Iceland and Greenland are beautiful from the air, but unfortunately it has been dark or cloudy every time I have flown over them. The clouds broke up once we got over Canada, which was an interesting landscape. Flat and snowcovered, dotted with frozen lakes and streams, and not really any civilization in sight. I decided to watch a movie (because Canada is HUGE), and the next time I looked out my window, we were over northern Idaho. WOW. Gigantic snow-covered mountains as far as the eye could see, so majestic I almost forgot to breathe. My nose was glued to the window for the remaining two hours of the flight. More mountains through Idaho, Oregon, and northern California, some with snow and some without, broken up by rivers and deep gorges. As much as I love England, there is something about the mountains of the Western US that makes me fall in love all over every time I see them.

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Airplane windows are by far the worst medium through which to take a picture... the thick double pane always turns pics blurry, plus they are usually scratched or mottled with ice crystals, making it impossible to focus on what is outside. I don't have any good mountain pictures (the poor quality just would not do them justice), but as we flew into San Francisco on the California coast, I was lucky enough to catch an incredible bird's-eye view of the Golden Gate Bridge! Again, apologies for the poor quality, but here it is:

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After a 2-hour layover in San Fran, we were back in the air bound for Las Vegas. And the jaw-dropping scenery continued. The sun began to set behind the coastal mountain ranges as we flew southeast, providing me (in my window seat on the right side of the plane) an unobstructed view of the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. As the sun touched the horizon, it lit up the mountain peaks like a blazing fire with the most vibrant colors of yellow, orange, and red all at the same time, colors no artist could ever duplicate. I watched in awe as the sky glowed behind the jagged profile of the mountains. As the sun disappeared, the horizon began to slowly dim, like an ember in a campfire. Unbelievable. God has always been and always will be my favorite artist.

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It was dark when we approached the city of Las Vegas, and the massive expanse of city lights centered around the Strip was a pretty spectacular sight to see as well. We were picked up at the airport by one of the pilots from the fighter sqaudron, and then after we got checked into our hotel, we headed out to dinner with a group of them, including my friend Jake from OCF. To CeCe's and my delight, they agreed to our suggestion of Olive Garden for dinner, so we got to cross off our #1 on the list of restaurants we miss in England.

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The time difference started hitting me while we were eating (it was about 5am in England), and I think I was asleep approximately 30 seconds after we got back to the hotel (luckily I made it to my room and bed). Plans for the next day included several briefings, training, and orientation on base at Nellis. When I stepped out my door just prior to 8am the next morning, I stopped dead in my tracks. Two reasons: a) it was bright daylight (sun doesn't even begin to rise in England in winter until after 8am) and b) this was the view from my doorway:

Mountains! And they are everywhere! I'm glad I was a passenger instead of driving around all day, because every horizon has these huge mountains and I couldn't take my eyes off them. It definitely feels like a desert, though, it is so dry you feel the need to constantly drink water. I'll skip over the details of the briefings and training since that would bore you (though maybe my rambling about other things does too), and just say that we ended the afternoon with a trip to the BX and commissary to pick up some things for the hotel rooms (we have kitchens), then came back to get ready for a dinner out with the squadron.

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They got a couple taxis the size of small buses, and crammed most of us into those with a few groups following in vans. We went to a German restaurant called the Hofbrauhaus, and it was incredible! It is supposed to be a replicate of a restaurant in Munich, and from what I saw of Germany back in September, I think they did an incredible job. Here is a picture of the inside:

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Cavernous decorated ceilings, long wooden tables, costumed beer maids, huge mugs of beer, and a live band made for an awesome atmosphere. Plus, it was really cool to get to hang out with a bunch of new people and get to know some of them better over dinner and a drink rather than the weather counter. After dinner, we walked across the street to the Hard Rock Cafe and Casino and hung out there for a while. I didn't gamble, but it was fun to watch some of the guys play blackjack and craps (a game I still do not understand). I headed back to the hotel around midnight with a group of people, so it was not too late a night.

We have today (Saturday) off, but I am still not sure what I am going to do. CeCe and I will probably head to the gym pretty soon, and there is a BBQ at the hotel for dinner, but those are my only plans so far. One of the pilots who used to live here was telling me about Red Rock Canyon and how cool it is to hike, so I'd love to do that, but he had already promised some friends he'd play golf today, so it'll have to wait until the next day off unless I find someone else to go with. I'm also hoping to meet up with college friends Jeremy and Laura at some point, so maybe I'll get in touch with them today. For now it's off to the gym!

Vegas-bound

...but only temporarily. :) This Thursday(ish), I will be leaving beautiful snowy England to spend 3 weeks in the infamous city of Las Vegas providing weather support to one of Lakenheath's fighter squadrons participating in Red Flag, a huge exercise at Nellis AFB involving aircraft from all over the world. I am really excited to be involved with such a large-scale operation, and am looking forward to the experience and some sightseeing in Vegas. There are two of us from the weather flight going, and CeCe and I have extensive plans to catch up on American things we miss in England (mostly stores and restaurants).

I think it is going to be easier for me to leave England this time than it was back in September for a couple reasons. First, I have had more time to convince myself that it is actually not a dream that I live here. It was just so soon last time... as dumb as it sounds, I was afraid I'd wake up to reality and wouldn't get to come back. Second, since I am going with one of our flying squadrons, it feels like another adventure on this assignment, or that I'll have part of England there with me in the form of CeCe and our F-15 aircrews. Plus, I'll have the added bonus of visiting college friends stationed in Vegas, and my parents are planning to fly in for a long weekend in the city.

I have soooo much to do before I leave! This weekend was a wonderful one spent with friends, which I will never regret especially since three of them will be gone when I get back from Red Flag, but the lack of productivity will make the next three days very busy ones. The Christmas tree really must come down today, the house needs some cleaning, I am going in to work very early tomorrow to help launch our first round of jets leaving for Nellis, and at some point I need to get both of my cars back from the garages at which they are being worked on (long story), etc etc. So it is back to busyness for now... next blog will probably be from the good old U.S. of A!