Flying over the Great Pacific Northwest

Ron enjoying the ride - amazing as he is a bit squeamish about flying in a small plane.  His confidence in our pilot made this day possible!

We first flew over Swartz Lake, where you can see our existing house in the upper left hand corner of the picture.  We  pretty much have the east side of the lake to ourselves.  The new house is on the 5 acres to the right of the existing house, nestled in the trees, so not visible in this picture.

We had heard about the red tide warnings in Puget Sound, but it was clearly visible from the air.

Our pilot, Ron Moen, took us to one of his favorite spots for breakfast.  It would have taken us half a day to get to Port Townsend by car and ferry, but we were there in minutes in the plane.

After a nice breakfast where we ate on the outdoor patio overlooking the landing strip, we headed back.

We looked for some other friend's house on the point in Marysville, but weren't sure which one it was.

The Stillaguamish River near Island Crossing as we lined up to land at the Arlington Airport.

Thank you Ron, for a lovely ride!

Taking a Break!

I suppose you could call us obsessive when we start painting on the new house at daybreak (about an hour before the sun comes up!) - Which at this time of year is about 5 a.m.

So when our friend, Ron Moen, called and said "Let's go fly to breakfast" at 7 a.m., we already had a couple of hours of painting under our belt.  We dropped our paintbrushes and rollers and cleaned up and headed out.   We arrived at his hangar at the Arlington Airport by 8 a.m. and he took us for a grand ride!

I was surprised at how many of the San Juan Islands I could identify from air.  Everything looks different from above!

The new house we're building is in the middle of the left side of this picture.  The van in the driveway is the garage door installer.  Nice to see someone is on the job there today!

Making Progress!

Work continues on the inside - insulation, sheetrock, all underway.

Wayne finished the soffits, and he and Jimmy finished the siding.

Steve and his guys poured the back patio,

And, most amazing of all, Ron and I finished most of the exterior paint in record heat yesterday!  Once the garage is sided and the front post wrapped, we can put on the finishing touches.