On To New Adventures....

What I failed to mention in my previous post is that I have decided to step away from airships for a while. Last Thursday was my last flight. It was very fitting that it was in the blimp I started on about three and a half years ago, Snoopy 2. Its been an amazing experience doing what is probably one of the greatest jobs in the world. I've seen three quarters of the county from 1000 feet and stayed in so many places I probably would have never otherwise known existed. The view was amazing and I'm fortunate enough to now be apart of a group of people who are proud to have been involved in airships. Its really a unique fraternity of people whose friendships I will always cherish.

What's next for me? Well during my blimp flying (you have a lot of time to think up there), I developed a dream so far from my personality that most people don't believe it when I tell them. That dream is to one day own and operate a small organic farm. To make a long story short, I was fortunate enough to get an internship helping out on a biodynamic community supported agriculture farm (CSA) in Pennsylvania. For those who haven't heard of CSA's, they are basically a subscription service where people pay upfront for a seasons worth of fresh produce that they pick up at the farm each week. Its great because the consumer gets amazing fresh produce each week and the farmer has the capital he needs in advance to operate through the season. I just started this week and though it is a lot of hard work, I'm learning a lot and really enjoying it.

I'm not going to say I'm not going to fly another blimp sometime down the road, but if I don't, at least I know I'm happy doing what I'm doing. Thanks for being faithful readers both those that I know personally and the many that I don't. I've enjoyed sharing all of my many experiences with you all.

Perhaps if I have some time I'll start a sequel blog, "Farmin' Ain't Easy."

Spring Break Galveston, TX

We arrived with Snoopy 2 in Houston, TX about two weeks ago after a long transit from Tucson, AZ. With stops in Deming, NM, Fort Stockton, TX and San Antonio, TX, we eventually made it to Houston after some windy weather passed. Since it was spring break, I took the ship down to Galveston to fly along the coast to catch the attention of the many vacationers on the beach. I don't know if the pictures do it justice, but the beach was packed. From the air it looked like a pretty nice resort town that was just getting revved up for summer.

The Pima Air and Space Museum

On one of our days off this week, a few of us decided to check out the Pima Air and Space Museum here in Tucson. Its an absolutely huge place with hundreds of aircraft on the museum grounds. They also offer tours of the "boneyard" across the street on the grounds of the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. We decided to bypass the tour of the boneyard to spend more time in the museum which we needed to see all of the aircraft. Everything from old military classics to random rare civilian airplanes can be found amongst the 300 airplanes on the 80 acres of property. Above are some of the pictures I took. When I'm done with editing the video I shot, I'll post it as well.

Airplane Graveyard

This past weekend we've been near Tucson, AZ covering the Accenture Match-Play Championship. On our way into town the other day we flew over an airplane graveyard located at an airport called Pinal Airport. As you can see in the videos and pictures, there are a ton of airliners there. I think I counted 30 747's alone plus dozens of 737's, DC-10's, DC-8's and regional jets from all over the world. Really a neat perspective to check out the airplanes from. Some of them looked like they were getting scrapped for parts and scrap metal but I imagine some of them may just be there for storage.

Golf at Pebble Beach

The first golf tournament I've flown in well over a year and a half was at the picturesque Pebble Beach Golf Course in Monterey, CA two weeks ago. We had perfect weather for the whole weekend as you can see in the video and pictures. We were even fortunate enough to see a pod of over 50 dolphins out in the ocean, just off the coast.
I quickly was reminded how flying coverage for golf is by far the hardest thing we do in airships. It takes more mental concentration then most people realize to get all of those aerial shots you see on TV. After doing two days of golf in Pebble and another two this past week in Pacific Palisades, I'm starting to feel back into the golf groove.
We're now heading to Tucsan, Arizona for another golf tournament this week so I'll get plenty more practice.

Changing Blimps

I've been way behind on blog entries lately.  I recently changed blimps and have been trying to catch up with a bunch of things.  I spent my last flight on the DirecTV Blimp in Miami, Fl last month and then caught a flight to Phoenix, AZ to catch up with Snoopy 2.  It sounds like I'll be on the Metlife blimp for the next few months.  Its always good to be back on Snoopy 2!  Its the airship I started my flying with so it always seems like a homecoming being back on the crew. 

The video of Miami above is a reminder that not everywhere in the country is covered in snow in January.  Below are some pictures and video of the Phoenix area.  Check out this really random thing one of my fellow pilots spotted while flying around one day.  In the middle of a residential area there is an airplane sitting in an empty lot next to a golf course.  It was by far one of the most random things I've ever seen from the air.

Happy New Year!

 I spent New Year's Day above the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Florida.  It was Alabama vs. Michigan State in what I hoped was an entertaining game.  Unfortunately, the marching bands were the only entertainment we had to watch that day as Alabama crushed the Spartans 49-7.  Both marching bands were quite impressive though.  I especially enjoyed "BAMA" spelled out before the game. 

Bowl Season Begins

I flew my first college bowl game last night, the Beef Beef O' Brady's Bowl in St Petersburg, Florida.  It was Southern Mississippi vs Louisville in the Tampa Bay Rays baseball stadium, Tropicana Field.  A pretty nice night to be up flying around over all.  I took a little bit of video of the stadium and of downtown St. Pete but to be honest there really wasn't a lot to look at up there.  We do so many games up in the Northeast during the summer that I think we get spoiled with the scenery.  Of course I'll sure take the weather down here over the sights any day. 

Miami Heat?

The only heat in Florida last week was the NBA team. Very unseasonably cool lately.  The video below is of the night time skyline of downtown Miami that I took as I flew over the Cleveland Cavs vs Miami Heat game at American Airlines Arena.  It was a quick stay in Miami and then off to Tampa the next day for multiple events in the area.

Texas Catch Up

Its been a rough couple of weeks but I finally have a second to catch up on the blog.  We were in Houston, Texas on Thanksgiving weekend for a Houston Texans football game.  I flew the game and took a little bit of video while we were overhead.  Right next door to the football stadium is the world famous Astrodome.  Even though its no longer used for football or baseball, its still an impressive structure. 

Walking Around New Orleans

On the Sunday morning before the game, I decided to walk around down in the French Quarter of New Orleans. I check out Bourbon Street, walked around to St Louis Cathedral and finished up near the French Market. New Orleans is definitely a city with a personality all of its own.

My favorite part about being there though is the food. I took in a couple of Man vs. Food destinations while I was there. First I went to the Acme Oyster House near Bourbon Street but stayed away from the 15 Dozen Oyster Challenge. I did sit right in front of the Oyster Challenge Board with Adam's name on it though. Very tempting but I doubted I could beat the 42 and a half dozen record that was currently in place especially with all of the other Cajun delicacies I was eating up there.

Another great place to eat that was on my Man vs. Food tour is Mothers. Its a very casual restaurant that has some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten. Their Po'boys are by far some of the best I have eaten. They make just about everything in house and it shows in the quality.

It was a short but enjoyable visit to New Orleans. Now its on to Texas for some NFL Football.

Back and in the Bayou

After a couple weeks away on vacation, I went back to work last week and have been trying to catch up ever since. My first event back was also my first college football game as we covered the LSU Tigers vs Mississippi in Baton Rouge, LA. Tiger stadium is probably one of the larger venues in college football and was really quite impressive to see fill up with the purple and gold colors of the Tigers. After the game, we did a rare post game transit down to New Orleans so we could cover the Saints game on Sunday. It was dark flight down there with not much but swamp area and a few roads between Baton Rouge and New Orleans but a good flight for the most part.

World Series

I did my first World Series Game on Sunday night as I flew over game 4 in Arlington, TX. It was a long way to get there but we made it. I've got some video and pictures of the pregame festivities which included the giant American flag in the outfield and the two former Bush presidents throwing out the first pitch. A fun night overall for my last night of baseball for the year.

Ghost Blimp

I probably should have posted this on Halloween but I'm a little bit behind on things. One of my favorite views of the blimp is when we are flying above the clouds and the shadow appears on them. It makes the shadow look like a kind of Ghost Blimp that is following us along our journey. I tried to add some spooky sounding music courtesy of YouTube to add to the mood.

Fall In Full Swing

You can tell Fall is here when the leaves start changing and blimps start heading South for the Winter.  Being the ultimate snowbirds, we won't be back up North until probably April.  As we were doing our transit South towards Dallas for the World Series, I took some video of the leaves changing.  There is nothing quite like seeing the leaves change from a blimp.  In fact, many years ago the Weather Channel had a blimp that followed the changing of the leaves through Autumn as it flew across the country. 

I started noticing the changing of the season in mid September when some of the tree tops in the valleys in the Northeast started to turn yellow and orange.  Eventually as the days get shorter, the rest of the trees have caught up to the vivid yellows, oranges and reds you see in some of the video and pictures.  It was beautiful scenery for the long trip South!

NLCS Games 1 and 2 in Philly

Last weekend, I flew over the first two games of the National League Championship in Philadelphia.   It was quite windy aloft but we were able to get both events in without any issues.  There definitely is a vibe you feel during the baseball playoffs that you just don't get during a regular season game.  Some of the highlights in this video include the giant American Flag in the outfield for the opening ceremonies and the fireworks at the end of the video celebrating the Phillies' game 2 win.  Check out the excitement in the crowd when they are cheering.  Its amazing how the stadium comes alive when Philly is playing well during the game. 
Also I added some of my own original music to this video.  I put this together a while back in Garage Band and thought I'd share it since it seemed to fit the tranquil mood of flying at night. 

Conan Blimp Flyby

For those who can't get enough of the Conan Blimp, we did a little flyby of the ship while it was sitting on the mast the other day.  They've been busy in New York covering the American League Playoffs at Yankee Stadium this week.  We were on our way up to Boston to cover some events in between National League Playoff games in Philadelphia. 

Buoyant in Baltimore

We spent a short time in Baltimore, Maryland last weekend.  Here is some video and a few pictures  from my flight.  Highlights include the Baltimore Inner Harbor, the Ravens Stadium and Fort McHenry.

Conan Blimp in Philly

On our way to cover the big Philadelphia Eagles vs Washington Redskins game on Sunday, we saw the new Conan Blimp flying exposure over the stadium area. I had enough time to take a few snapshots and some video of it before we had to get to work over the game. Its always fun taking blimp to blimp pictures since we're normally only being photographed from the ground. Hopefully we'll be crossing paths again soon.

Keep an eye out for the Conan Blimp through the next month as they provide aerial coverage for the baseball playoffs on TBS.

Sabres Game

Well I didn't get to see the Bills game from above last weekend in New England due to the weather but I did get to catch a Sabres preseason game in Philadelphia last night. Its rare to get to see your hockey team in an opponents arena especially when you travel full time for work. The pure chance that they are playing in the same town you are in on a night off just about never happens. Lucky for me, Buffalo began their home and home series against the Flyers on the road to wrap up the preseason. Since it was a bit of a special occasion I sprang for some good seats in the lower level behind the Flyers' bench.

The Sabres ended up loosing the game 3-1 but it was an entertaining experience overall. I made sure to get there early so I could walk around the arena and get a Philly Cheese steak for dinner. I immediately felt like an outsider in my Sabres shirt as I was surrounded by a sea of orange and black. The Flyers fans are definitely hardcore hockey fans from dressing in team colors to the constant heckling of the Buffalo players. I only had the courage to let out a "Lets Go Buffalo!" once after it looked like they might tie up the game on the power play. The Philly fans around me didn't give me too hard of a time though for it though.

Its just a shame I couldn't see a Sabres win. Oh well, hopefully I'll catch another game this season when they count!