This weekend, the Blue Angels returned to Melbourne for the Great Florida Air Show. This is the first season that the Blue Angels are flying the newer F/A-18 “Super Hornet” jets. A few weeks ago, they were in Fort Lauderdale and they were being live streamed by air.show. The weather was a little low and cloudy and, for some reason, the Blues looked a little sluggish. I was wondering if it had to do with the fact that the newer jets are 20% larger than the older jets. Bigger objects appear to move slower than smaller objects.
Yesterday was an off Friday, the skies were mostly blue, the temperature was around 80 degrees, and the Blue Angels were flying in Melbourne; I couldn’t ask for a much better combination. Susan dropped me off at the Northeast side of the airport after dropping Andrew off for Biology class. I walked through the crowd of like-minded people and stood next to the fence. I had my scanner charged and tuned to all the air channels. I could see “Fat Albert”, the Blue Angels support C-130 flown by the Marines, parked nearby along with the number 7 media plane. Eventually, I realized that the other six jets were parked behind “Fat Albert”. It wasn’t long before things started to get interesting.
“Fat Albert” started its engines and taxied to the far end of the runway. After a few minutes, it came rolling toward me. In what seemed far too little distance, it was off the ground and climbing steeply. It leveled off, then performed a few low steep turns over the airport. After one pass, it continued West at about a thousand feet, then started turning back to the East. It was far too high to land, so I assumed it was about to do another pass. But then it pointed its nose down steeply and dove towards the runway. It rounded out, flared, and touched down in an amazingly short distance, then backed up. Yes, I said “backed up”. Pretty cool.
After “Fat Albert” returned to the ramp, it was time for the Blues to start their show. After all the pre-flight preparations, they started taxiing, in numeric order, toward the runway. Numbers 1 through 4 stopped on runway 27L while 5 and 6 taxied to the other end. The group of four took off as one to the West, then the two solos, one after the other, roared off the the East. The practice show was on.
The first half of the practice was low maneuvers and formations. But as the practice continued and the few clouds departed, the show got higher. After about 45 minutes, the planes returned in a united formation for their signature breaking return to landing.
It had been a few years since I last saw the Blue Angels perform up close. The concern about sluggishness that I had after seeing the stream from Fort Lauderdale was completely erased. The Blues are as tight and amazing as ever; always a treat to behold.
Today, Susan, Andrew, and I went back to the airport and parked East of the railroad tracks. We set up chairs in the back of the truck and waited for the show to begin. We were treated to some incredible flying by an F-16 before the Blue Angels started their show. The view was somewhat blocked by a row of trees, but it was still a lot of fun to watch.
Early this morning, SpaceX and NASA launched four astronauts into space. The launch was originally scheduled for yesterday morning. We were looking forward to watching the launch get lit by the rising sun. When they delayed the launch by one day, they also changed the launch time to 20 minutes earlier. This concerned me because I knew it would be too early to be lit as I’d hoped.
I was awake about 40 minutes before the launch. I debated whether to bother taking a picture of the launch. I decided to go ahead and do it, so I gathered my tripod, camera, shutter release, and lenses. I assembled everything in the living room while I watched the live broadcast.
At L-5 minutes, I went outside and located a spot in the southeast corner of my yard. Andrew helped me line up the shot. It was still very dark out and I couldn’t see a thing. With my phone light, I verified that the camera was level.
When the countdown hit 0 at 5:49 am, the sky was illuminated by the nine Merlin engines coming to life. The first minute or two of the launch was pretty typical of all night launches. As the rocket left the atmosphere, the flames started to spread and burn with different colors. It was beautiful, as always.
But then it all changed. After the second stage separated from the booster and lit its rocket, the vapor cloud became quite visible and grew to fill nearly a quarter of the sky. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It started small, then the “jellyfish” just kept growing larger and larger. While this was going on, pulses from the nitrogen thrusters on both the first and second stages caused shock waves that raced through the growing cloud. It was truly the most incredible launch I’ve ever witnessed.
The 2021 Cocoa Beach Air Show featured the USAF Thunderbirds. Yesterday, on their way to Patrick Air Force Base, they made a low approach over Sun n Fun as a salute to the USN Blue Angels. I think that is pretty cool. With the hopes of seeing them arrive, I got out the ladder and climbed on to my roof. About a half hour later, I saw them arrive.
Today, I drove to Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach to watch their practice show. The beach was not crowded, since the actual show doesn’t start until tomorrow. As I walked the beach, I saw a Waco, the Geico team, and a Pitts perform.
The Thunderbirds practice started at 2:30. The clouds were low, so they did a low show. Considering it was a practice show for the first show of the year, I think they flew very tight and crisp. I didn’t see anything that looked sloppy, and I was about as close to them as I’ve ever been.
Below is a collection of photos and a video that I cut together from the practice.
Since we missed seeing a train last night, we had to make one more attempt to video a train at the nearby park. Andrew and I planned to leave the condo before dawn and get back quickly to eat and pack. Before we left, we heard the defect detector report a train to the East of us. A few minutes later, it went by the condo. Excited, we hurried to the park. Andrew set up the drone and we heard another defect detector report from a train to the West of us. This was what we had been hoping for. Andrew got the drone in the sky and got into position. Ten minutes passed with no train sighting. Then we realized that the report was for the previous westbound train, not an eastbound train. Oh well, no train video from this location. Before landing, Andrew thought he heard something and I pointed to the East. A truck was coming our way on the tracks! At least we got something. Then it was back to the condo to pack.
Being leaving, we had to leave the condo as we found it. Specifically, we had to eat all of the food that we bought, or throw it out. Susan made us scrambled eggs with onions, spinach, arugula, broccoli, carrots, ham, salami, and cheese. I drank as much milk and juice as I could, then put what was left in some empty bottles. Susan made sandwiches with as much lunch meat and mayonnaise as possible. We managed to only throw away a few items before saying good-bye to Pend Orielle Shores Resort. As far as I can tell, we left the condo with ALL of our belongings.
The drive back to Spokane International Airport was a race against time and fuel economy. We had to make it in time to catch our flight, but we wanted to minimize our fuel consumption. This was not a case of me trying to save the planet or anything like that. When we rented the SUV, I pre-paid for the gas, so I was trying to return it with as little fuel in the tank as possible. So, why try to drive efficiently? Because the fuel remaining gauge said X miles and the GPS said X + 20 miles. I did not want to have to stop and buy gas, and I certainly did not want to run out of gas and miss the flight.
As we got closer to our destination, the difference between the fuel remaining and the distance remaining dropped to less than 10 miles. I was so tempted to go for it. But instead, with the fuel gauge on E and 36 miles remaining, we stopped at a gas station and put in 2.003 gallons, which would give us another 40 miles. We tried to keep it under 2, but went a touch too far.
Along the way, we saw one more noteworthy train. Near Post Falls, we saw a local BNSF train being led by an engine with the green Burlington Northern paint scheme. Nice.
BNSF engine in the green BN paint scheme
After dropping off the car, which now was showing 1/8 tank of gas ( I really wanted it to be on E), we had to go through our remaining food and drinks before entering security. We ate our sandwiches and I finished the milk, but the juice and several other items met their final fate down the drain or in the trash can. Susan was able to give away a few unopened water bottles, so that was a small victory.
Our first flight was to Denver. We were hoping to see the Grand Tetons, but it was too cloudy near Jackson, Wyoming. We did, however, see the railroad tracks along Interstate 80. This is special to us because we chased the Union Pacific “Big Boy” along those tracks as part of our Utah Vacation in the Spring of 2019.
In Denver, our flight to Orlando was delayed. It was also 100% full. And when I say 100%, I’m not talking about 100% with the center seats empty. Southwest Airlines is now selling all the seats on the flight, so it was entirely full. I had the joy of sitting beside a couple that spent two hours discussing the lack of sanity of his ex-wife and his desire to do right for his kids. I tried to distract myself by beating up the computer AI on Backgammon.
Back in Orlando, we gathered our luggage, caught the bus to our parking lot, and drove home. It was a very long day, and looking back, a very quick vacation. We had two great days of skiing, an unexpected waterfall hike, and plenty of train sightings.
When we were not skiing, we were hanging around town, shopping, and chasing trains.
Monday
After skiing, we drove down to Sandpoint. Our first stop was the Sandpoint City Beach Park. While there, we got a text from Susan with a shopping list, so we went to Safeway next. Then, on the way back to the condo, we saw a train stopped at a signal, so we waited for the oncoming train to pass, then for the stopped train to continue. Dinner that night was my favorite ski vacation meal: chili in a sourdough bread bowl. I was torn between watching the trains and racing home to eat.
Tuesday
On the way to the mountain today, we were greeted by high temperatures and rain. At the intersection to head up to Schweitzer, I decided to delay skiing and instead continued straight towards Sandpoint. I’m so glad that I did because I was treated to two surprises: A BNSF engine with the executive paint scheme and an aircraft on a train.
We first saw the train carrying the airplane fuselage stopped at a signal. We hurried to the Amtrak station to see it go by. While we waited, a different train came by with the special second engine.
BNSF Executive paint scheme
After the train passed, the train carrying the fuselage was cleared past the signal.
Airplane fuselage on a train
After watching trains for awhile, we decided to drive up to Schweitzer Mountain Resort and see how bad the weather really was. On the way back down, we were surprised to see the crossing gates for the BNSF mainline dropping. We ended up being first in line as a BNSF train went by. Then, while driving back towards town, I saw a Union Pacific train in the distance. Andrew routed us to a good viewing spot and I parked near a grade crossing. To our surprise, the train was led by a Canadian Pacific engine and had a UP engine in the second position. In typical CP fashion, there was a mid-train engine as well.
CP train on the UP tracks
After a rather miserable looking day with rain and slushy snow, the sun finally broke through and we had a very nice sunset.
Gorgeous sunset at the end of an ugly day
Wednesday
After a rather ugly day on Tuesday, I was hoping for a better day today. Instead, we woke up to a brief snow flurry that covered the area in a blanket of white.
Early morning snow flurry
After breakfast, Andrew and I headed for the mountain for a full day of skiing.
Feeling hungry after a long day of skiing, Andrew and I went searching for food. My search uncovered a local gem off the beaten path, but it was a little too far to go at the time. We ended up going to Mr. Subs and ordered a foot long to go. We drove over to the Amtrak station, parked, and waited for trains while eating.
Thursday
Being our last full day, we planned to do and see everything else on our list, which included things like parks, National Forests, and shopping centers.
Our first stop was the park near Trestle Creek. This park is on Lake Pend Orielle and has a good view of the railroad tracks.
A short drive down the road is Trestle Creek. We drove four miles up the slush and snow covered dirt road to the snowmobiler parking lot. Along the way, we saw at least a dozen deer. Or maybe it was just six that we saw on the way up and then again on the way back? Can’t really be sure.
Then, while heading to Sandpoint, we saw a BNSF train with a Norfolk Southern engine in the second position. That seemed really out of place in Idaho. We continued to the trailhead near the Amtrak station and waited for it to pass.
Odd NS engine in a BNSF train
Then we crossed the bridge into downtown and went to the Cedar Street Bridge Public Market. It is an historic shopping center built on top of an old walking bridge.
Cedar Street Bridge History
Later, we drove to the Pack River Store, which had great reviews. We discovered it while searching for pizza after skiing. The store was nice enough, but the clerk informed us that they haven’t sold pizza in over two years. I bought a pint of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream instead.
Back at the condo, we faced a dilemma: what to do with all of the remaining food? Apparently, we made one too many stops at Safeway over the past five days.
After eating, Andrew and I went back to the lakeside park to fly the drone. We were encouraged because we saw a green signal in the direction of the park. Andrew prepared and flew the drone, but no train arrived. While there, we met a local who lived nearby and he commented that there’s always trains going by. Well, not this time. We decided to give it another try in the morning.
Drone shot of the Montana Rail Link line near Lake Pend Orielle
Although not mentioned elsewhere, I wanted to mention that we also saw a couple BNSF rail cars with Fallen Flags heritage paint schemes. First was a hopper with the Northern Pacific logo and second was a hopper with the Great Northern logo. Unfortunately, we were unable to get pictures of these.
Today started off beautifully. We could see the resort, lit up in the morning light, from the condo. The first ski day was off to a fabulous start. The sun was shining brightly on the Schweitzer Mountain Resort sign.
Welcome to Schweitzer Mountain Resort
We parked and walked into the village. Since we were there Saturday, we knew the drill. First, we traded our printed out tickets that were purchased from home for genuine ski tickets, which we attached to our jackets. Then we walked across the plaza to the rental shop and were sized for boots, skis, poles, and helmets. All geared up, Andrew and I headed for the slopes. We started off on the easiest run – Happy Trails - to let our legs remember the feeling of skis attached to our feet. After a slow ride back up to the plaza on the Musical Chairs lift, Andrew took a bunch of pictures, including the panorama below that shows the Basin Express lift on the left and the Great Escape lift in the center.
Panorama from the village
After a couple hours of skiing, we needed a break, so we stopped at the Outback Inn, which is at the bottom of the Outback Bowl on the back side of the mountain. We clumsily walked in and grabbed an ice tea, bag of chips, and a chocolate chip cookie. Then we headed back out to the patio, which was made of processed planks. It was mostly covered with carpets, but where it wasn’t, it was like ice. We both nearly fell before reaching a table.
Refreshed, we headed back out to the slopes. On one run, we watched a group of people head off in one direction. We decided to go a different direction, which appeared to be easier. Turns out we ended up doing the bottom part of Downhill Run, which is a Black Diamond. Andrew got his first Diamond experience today.
By 2:00, we were both getting tired and decided to save some energy for the next two days. We turned in our skis and poles at gear check, then headed back down the mountain.
Tuesday
Today didn’t start off very well for those of us who were planning to ski. There were low clouds, the temperature was well above freezing, and it was raining. Regardless, we got ourselves ready and headed to the mountain. On the way, I changed my mind about skiing and headed to Sandpoint instead.
After watching trains for awhile, we decided to drive up to the ski resort to see how bad it really was. On the drive up the mountain, I was dismayed to see rivers of water flowing across the road from all the rain and melting snow. But then something magical happened. We came around a switchback turn and the water was replaced with snow. From this point onward, snow was falling instead of rain. At the top, we parked and walked around the village. The temperature was colder than expected, but the snow was very wet, heavy, and sticky.
Snowing and blowing conditions on the mountain
We considered getting our skis from gear check, but decided to get a first hand view of conditions at the top first. We used our lift tickets to ride the Great Escape lift to the top to see how bad the conditions were. The ride up was windy with snow blowing everywhere. For the first time, our goggles were starting to lose their advantage and spots started to appear before my eyes. At the top, we had seen enough. The lift operator stepped out of the booth to help us off the chair, but we decided to stay on the chair and ride it back down.
Back in the village, we walked around and checked out all the various buildings: the Lakeview Lodge, the Selkirk Lodge, and the Chimney Rock restaurant.
Wednesday
As usual, I was up before dawn. As I puttered around the condo, working on my blog, I pulled open the curtains to try to slowly wake Andrew. Andrew gradually started to stir and come to life. I happened to look out the window again and it was snowing like crazy. It didn’t last long, but it was enough to cover everything in a thin white blanket.
Even though the day started off mostly cloudy and snowing, I had a good feeling that things would be beautiful today. On the way up the mountain, I predicted that the sun would be shining on the resort by the time we reached the top. I was not wrong.
Andrew and I gathered our skis and poles from the gear house, put on our layers, and were on the mountain by 9:30 am. At the top of The Great Divide, Andrew took some pictures. I was clearly excited to be standing in the sunlight. It was the perfect ski day combination: powdery soft snow, partial overcast, just below freezing, and no crowd.
David is happy to be on the mountain today
Further down The Great Divide, Andrew stopped for another picture. This picture shows the clouds and partial blue sky over Lake Pend Oreille.
Panorama showing Lake Pend Oreille in the distance
Once on the Outback Bowl side of the mountain, we explored all the Blue runs. The most challenging was Stella’s Run. I’m pretty sure that it hadn’t been groomed in awhile. Up to this point, all the runs were expertly groomed with only a light covering of fresh snow. It was nearly effortless to ski down, requiring very little concentration. But Stella’s Run was covered by about 8 inches of new snow and took extra effort and concentration to get through.
As the day progressed, the sky continued to clear. Only the top of the mountain was still in the clouds. Although sunny, there were specific areas where the wind was picking up snow and blowing it across the runs. On Kaniksu, the blowing powder was covering the tracks made from earlier skiers.
As the time got closer to closing, we decided to finish our day on the Schweitzer Bowl side. We took the Colburn lift up into the clouds. We stopped at the Sky House to check it out, then continued on Gypsy to the Lakeview lift. The view from the top was amazing.
David at the top of the Lakeview lift
After a few more round trips up and down the mountain, our bodies were starting to tell us to call it a day, but this was our last day, so we had to make the most of it. We decided to try the snow cross course. Andrew went first and I followed closely. The course was steep and had high banking curves. At one point, Andrew slowed down and I had to swerve sharply to miss him, I hit the thicker powder along the edge and had my first crash of the week, losing both skis and sliding about 10 feet beyond the point of impact. It must have looked bad because a teenage girl stopped to ask me if I was alright.
On our last ride up, the battery in the bar code scanner that is used to scan lift tickets apparently died. The ticket checker pointed the scanner at our tickets and then said “beep” for each of us. We returned to the village at 3:28. The skiing portion of our trip was now officially over.
Our plan was to explore the area before skiing on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Our first exploration day was the Libby loop. Our second exploration day was the Kellogg loop.
Before heading out, we got a good look at the mountains and the Pend Orielle Shores Resort.
A condo at Pend Oreille Shores Resort
The Libby Loop
The Libby loop, shown below, included a drive to Libby, Montana, then back to Sandpoint via Bonner’s Ferry.
The Libby Loop
As we approached the intersection of US 2, we debated about going to Libby. I wanted to go because it is a stop on the Amtrak Empire Builder route, so I figured it must have something worth seeing. So we turned right and continued on towards Libby.
Before reaching Libby, we came across Kootenai Falls. The pull off included a little snack bar (which was closed), restrooms, picnic tables, and signs pointing toward a swinging bridge and a viewing area. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to cross a swinging bridge.
Once out of the car and dressed for hiking, we met a couple of locals. One of the men started telling us about the new bridge, which replaced the old bridge that actually did swing. Then he showed us a video that he shot with his DJI Mavic 2 Zoom drone. Andrew considered getting out his drone, but decided that the weather was too iffy. Andrew and I decided to do the hike, while Susan stayed behind.
The hike started off as a paved trail, then quickly became more challenging. After about a quarter mile, we came across a bridge that crossed the BNSF mainline track. We crossed it and thought about how it reminded us of one of our favorite places to go – Picnic Point - when we lived in Bothell.
Standing on the walking bridge across the BNSF mainline
Further down the trail, we came to a split in the path. We passed a couple with two small kids going the other direction. One of the kids was a two month old in a stroller. Wow, getting them out in the woods early. We decided to take the path to the left. Soon we reached the swinging bridge. It was obviously very new and we could see the foundations of the old bridge beside it. It makes me wonder if the old bridge is lying at the bottom of the river.
Crossing the Swinging Bridge over the Kootenay River
After crossing the bridge, we explored a little further along the edge of the river. The river was pretty deep in a canyon with a series of falls connected by rapids. On the way back over the bridge, a BNSF intermodal train passed by.
We crossed the swinging bridge, followed the trail back to the split, then took the other path. At the end, we found the perfect drone spot, but we didn’t have it with us. We took in the scenery, then headed back to the parking lot.
On the cliff over the Kootenai Falls
Back in the SUV, we continued East to Libby. We were getting hungry, so we headed for Riverfront Park to eat the sandwiches we made back at the condo. When we turned off the main road, we caught sight of a sign of civic pride; a large eagle hanging over the street. I had to stop and take a picture.
The Libby eagle
After lunch, we headed West out of Libby. Along the way, we considered the weather and decided that it looked good enough to fly the drone over Kootenai Falls. We found a good pull off and Andrew went to work setting up the Mavic Pro. He launched and flew down into the canyon over the Kootenay River. After flying up and down the canyon, we were hoping for a train to pass, but it didn’t happen. Regardless, the shots were pretty impressive.
Looking down over Kootenai Falls and the BNSF mainline
The next town we entered was Troy, Montana. Troy was memorable because it had a railroad museum with an authentic Great Northern caboose on display. Many former GN cabooses have had their logos painted over, but not this one.
Great Northern caboose in Troy
Nearing Sandpoint, Idaho, we decided to take a side trip up to Schweitzer Mountain. While there, Susan asked about getting a refund for the lift tickets that she wouldn’t be able to use. We also checked out the ski rental options available.
Schweitzer Mountain Resort
Back down off the mountain, we stopped at the Sandpoint City Beach Park. Andrew and I walked along the water front and checked out the train bridge that crosses the lake. It was chilly, so we headed back to the condo and called it a day.
The Kellogg Loop
The Kellogg loop, shown below, included a drive to Coeur d’Alene, Kellogg, then back to Sandpoint via Post Falls and Spirit Lake.
The Kellogg Loop
The last day of January started with us getting up, making sandwiches, and heading out towards Kellogg, Idaho. We planned to ride the gondola up to Silver Mountain Resort and see what else we could find along the way. As we left Sandpoint, I knew it would be a good day of train spotting when I saw a BNSF train crossing the bridge across Lake Pend Oreille. As is always the case, we had our radio scanner with us and were listening to railroad frequencies. We were able to determine the location of two defect detectors: mile markers 11.7 and 8.5. This information would come in useful later on.
At Coeur d’Alene, we got on Interstate 90 and headed west. After several miles of traffic lights, it was nice to pick up the pace. The speed limit of 75 mph was actually difficult to maintain as we entered the climb to Fourth of July Pass. The turns were so tight, I had to slow down, and I don’t really like slowing down on the interstate.
In Kellogg, we parked and headed for the gondola station for a ride up to Silver Mountain Resort. The ride included the cresting of two false peaks on the way up to the top.
The gondola to Silver Mountain Resort
At the top, we toured the lodge and tried to locate the spot from the video from 17 years earlier. I could not find the spot. I imagine many things have changed over the years.
The lodge at Silver Mountain Resort
After walking around and reminiscing for a bit, we got back on the gondola and rode it back into town. I was told that I must stop at Wildcat Pizza and get some pizzas by the slice, so we walked around the village until we found it. Andrew and I each ordered two slices, while Susan ordered a salad. We took our lunch outside and ate by one of the two fire pits. There was also an outside fireplace.
The outdoor fireplace in the village
On the drive back, Susan received an email from Schweitzer. Earlier, she had sent an email including details of her knee injury, including the prescription for the knee brace. Although the lift tickets were non-refundable, the email offered to refund her the full price of the tickets. That was very unexpected and extremely cool of them to do.
Back in Sandpoint, we made a stop at the drugstore, then we once again stopped at the City Beach Park. This time, Andrew pulled out the Mavic Pro and took a flight. In the picture below, there are two BNSF trains. One of the trains was one of the longest trains in recorded history: Three lead engines, two mid-train engines, a trailing engine, and 232 hoppers, for a total of 964 axles. We know the axle count because the defect detector reports it after every train passes by.
Drone shot from Sandpoint City Beach Park
While watching the train, Susan told me that she needed to return to the drugstore, then do some grocery shopping. We returned to the drugstore and then the Safeway, but while there, we kept hearing train horns. We ended up returning to the park and Amtrak station two more times. With all the trains we’ve seen up to this point, we still haven’t seen any Union Pacific or Montana Rail Link trains.
Another train that we hoped to see was the Amtrak Empire Builder. Unfortunately, it was two hours late, which would put it in Sandpoint around 1:00 am. Given our early morning ski plans, we didn’t bother getting up to go see it.
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