Pacific Coast Sunset

One of the best parts of my job is being able to witness some of the most incredible views. One example is a sunset over the Pacific Ocean a few days ago.

We where repositioning the plane from Oakland, CA to Seattle, WA and the sunset was incredible.

Here are a few pictures I took on the way up the coast looking west over the Pacific. Unfortunately, the camera is unable to capture the whole range of colors and light that made this sunset so amazing, but it give a good idea of what it's like in person.

El Dorado Buffet

We ended our day In Reno, NV yesterday and we are staying at the El Dorado casino located in the heart of downtown Reno.

We were starving when we arrived, so we ate at the their buffet which was awesome.I decided to come back to eat breakfast at the buffet this morning and so far, it has not let me down. I'll try not to eat too much!

Haunted Hotel La Rose

Last week we had an interesting overnight at the Hotel La Rose in Santa Rosa, CA. This historic hotel is located in "Railroad Square" and was built in 1907.

The hotel does not provide shuttle service from the airport, so they leave car at the Santa Rosa Jet Center for pilots to drive to and from the hotel about five miles away. We arrived at the hotel around around 9pm and checked in at the front counter. They had a full size replica of Rosie the robot maid from the Jetsons greeting visitors in the front lobby, which I thought was odd, but amusing at the same time.

The hotel looked like it had some history to it, so I asked the girl at the front desk if the hotel was haunted. Her eyes lit up and she began telling us about how they just had a seance a few days earlier on Halloween night and that there was definitely some spirits around the hotel.

Supposedly the story is that many years ago, there was a family staying in room 42 that where killed by bandits and the ghost of the little boy named Daniel, who was killed in the murders, rides the elevator up and down at night looking for his parents.

My First Officer, Paul, stayed in room 44 and I was lucky to stay in room 23, two levels down from the supposed haunted floor. I was a little weirded out after hearing the stories, but I actually slept very well. Paul said his room was a litle spooky, but he didn't hear or feel anything out of the norm.

The next morning, I woke up and looked out my window and the fog had rolled in, adding to the ominous feeling I got of the whole place. I was a little spooked as I was riding the elevator down alone, I had the feeling that there was someone next to me, but I think it was all in my head.

I asked the new front desk lady and the lady serving breakfast if they ever felt or heard anything in the hotel. They both said that they have heard someone call out their name and objects have been be moved around when no one is looking....

The Official Haunted Overnight 2008 Web Page

Ever wanted to be a Ghostbuster? Learn how here! How To Hunt Ghosts!

Flight Map

Here is a map which shows our flights this week. As you can see, most
of the flying was done on the west coast, then we had an owner who
wanted to fly from Santa Rosa, CA to St. Augustine, FL.

I am currently in Pittsburg preparing to fly back to Philly where I
will catch a Southwest airlines flight back to San Jose.

America's Highest Commercial Airport

It has been uneventful this week flying up and down the west coast, so I thought I would post a few pictures of the Piaggio in Telluride, CO.

Telluride Regional Airport sits atop Deep Creek Mesa and is North America's highest commercial airport. This is one of the more challenging airports we fly into due to the 9,078 ft elevation.

Check out this video to see what it's like to land at Telluride airport.