Saturday, May 24, 2008

OCMD Beach Wedding

Friday was absolutely gorgeous! Mary and I bagged work and decided to get to Ocean City Maryland with enough time to get some sun on the beach. We caught up with a fellow flying club member and departed Wilmington (ILG) at 1315 Zulu or 9:15 for the non-flying readers.

Winds were a bit gusty when we left ILG but we climbed out and turned on course to Cape May, NJ. Cape May, you wonder? Well we wanted to make a breakfast stop and give business to the new restaurant (Flight Deck) in the terminal. Not a bad landing on two eight with a long run out so I could taxi by the Sundowner for sale that has peaked my interest. Mary liked what she saw and of course that always helps the possible purchase go smoothly. Service was good at the Flight Deck even though they ran out of creamed chipped beef, my favorite.

We saddled up for the short hop to Ocean City, KOXB. I circled the Cape May Lewes Ferry to gain some altitude and take pictures of the ongoing work on one of my projects. Once at altitude we crossed the Delaware Bay and I went under the hood. Dave was my safety pilot and I wanted to fly the VOR-A approach into OXB since winds were favoring runway three two.

Across the Bay we went and I turned on a course o 191* for 29.4 miles to the IAF CODNI. Once across CODNI I made a right turn on a 260* heading out bound for 1 minute to make my procedure turn. At the 1 minute mark I turned to a heading of 080* to intercept the 108* radial from SBY, Salisbury. Once crossing CODNI again, now the final approach fix I descended through 1500' looking to level off at 860' and hold until reaching the missed approach point 3:12 from CODNI (at 90 knts). At 900' I removed the foggles and entered the left down wind for runway three two, FUN STUFF.

Mary and I rented a car from Express, a baby blue Toyota Camry, it's better then walking. I loaded up our bags and my flight gear since Dave was heading north for the VFR corridor through New York class bravo airspace. I would have loved that flight but.....we were off to our hotel. We checked in at the Best Western on 56th street. Great place and really good service. The room was large, clean and had a sitting room, fridge, sink and two tv's. There would be no sports today, we were headed to the beach. The beach was a short walk, just one bloc. Mary and I found a nice spot and tossed out or towels. The sun goddess, My Bride, was soaking up the rays while I tossed about trying to get comfortable. I plugged the iPod in and listened to the multiple episodes of my favorite aviation podcasts.

I returned to the room first, enough sun for me. Mary followed along an hour later. We got ready for the wedding and headed back to the beach around 5:30. My first wedding not requiring shoes, neat concept. The ceremony went off like clockwork with a background you could not have painted any prettier. Nichole looked great, and was all smiles, as a bride should look with the most thought about day of her life unfolding before her. Memories rushed through me from the day of her baptism standing there in church. I can remember the minister, the suit I wore and the folks in attendance. I can remember changing this child's diaper on more then one occasion. I am indeed getting old (sigh...)

The ceremony was followed by a reception dinner at the lighthouse restaurant located at some country club. The appetizers were very good, I allowed myself one celebratory captain and coke to commemorate the event. Dinner soon followed with Mary and I each having a tasty salad, Prime Rib cooked to perfection and vanilla cake with butter cream icing. Lip smackin' good stuff! The old farts passed on a after reception meet at Secreats (local club), I don't think I could handle all that and get up on time to fly let alone with all my wits about me.

Dave was on time as he taxied in around 10am and we loaded up our bags. I wanted to get some GPS time in so I sat right seat and played as Dave took us home. It was a treat to ride along and actually see the sights. Once home we picked up our Maggie girl at the kennel and a pizza to go from across the street. I inhaled 3 slices and headed out to our baseball game. We lost 11-6 giving up a big time dinger with the sacks loaded, yep a grand slam. Oh well another day another game. Finally on my home for the rest of the day, I couldn't wait. Mary and I spent some time in the hot tub then turned in early. It's good to be home.

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