{CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus Adventures} Chapter 8: "Life Is a Beach!"

We are almost there so I want to wish a Merry Christmas/Holiday weekend to everyone! Have fun with your friends and family and take time to relax. You deserve it!!!

Today I wanted to blog about our first flight to the beach last month! This was my favorite flight yet in the Gooney Bird and I couldn't wait to share the experience with you.

Back in March we bought a little 1970's 4-seater Piper and we have had many fun flying adventures.  Interested in reading more of the {CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus Adventures}? Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3,  Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Entire series (newest posts first)

A special thanks to my husband Paul who flies the plane (safely!) and edits all our videos. Please subscribe to his Texas Gooney Bird YouTube channel if you are interested in following our adventures. It would make his day!

You can see the video that goes with this post here or embedded at the bottom.

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It was  gorgeous day and we decided to take our first flight to Galveston Island, Texas. This flight is short (under an hour), but we have to fly between two major airports AND right next to Downtown Houston so it takes quite a bit of concentration on the part of the pilot. My husband Paul in this case.

Paul spent the entire time listening to and talking on the radio. I spent all of my time mesmerized by the views and apparently making silly comments (hear them all in the video).

If you get a chance to watch his video he explains everything he has to do to safely fly down the I-10 corridor. It is really pretty interesting, even for the non-pilot (me).

We stayed around 2,000 feet, so during the entire flight everything was so close. We passed right next to Downtown Houston. It looks so cute!

And we also got close up and personal with the Houston Ship Channel, the San Jacinto Monument (where Texas won their freedom from Mexico), and the Texas Battleship (last remaining battleship that was in both WWI and WWII).

It seemed like only a few minutes had passed yet suddenly we were flying over the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Island was right before us.

This was the first time we had flown over a large body of water in our plane and it was a tiny bit scary. Well, for me. Everyone else was just admiring all the sailboats out on the water.

I filmed the landing at Scholes International Airport and you will notice that I gave Paul the sage advice to not run off the runway and crash into the ocean.

I always forget he is taping all of the radio conversations when we fly, and he takes pride in using my crazy and unplanned utterances as comic relief in his videos.

Thanks Paul, for all the respect. ;-)

We were lucky the courtesy car was available and we drove the mile or two to the beach for a short walk before lunch.

It was cool and sunny, perfect beach weather. But it is off-season and the beaches were pretty empty.

There is the San Luis Hotel and the Pleasure Pier off in the distance. They are both very tiny in this photo, but the kids wouldn't walk any closer. They were getting hungry.

What a perfect day.

There were so many shells on the beach.

But so few people.

After we ate lunch at Tortuga on the Seawall, we stopped off at a local park for the boys to run around.

Then back to the airport, where we waited for Paul to untie the plane and do his pre-flight.

I wondered what the kids were staring at on the wall at the airport.

Wow, it was the flood-line for Hurricane Ike in Sept. of 2008. That was a terrible hurricane and I am so pleased to see that Galveston not only recovered but has come back stronger and more beautiful.

I love Galveston so much.

All good things must come to an end and we needed to head back home before dark.

Bye island.

Bye beach.

Bye bridge.

Bye beautiful water.

Bye kids.

Oh, never mind, they are in the plane.

I am going to miss you Galveston. But we will be back soon!

Home, home at last.

Paul put the Texas Gooney Bird to bed. And I wouldn't be shocked if he gave her a little kiss goodnight.

He loves that little plane. And we love that he loves it.


It was a great flight and a great day. Now watch the video of our trip!

Read our next adventure: Chapter 9!

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