Rick's Trip to Fredericksburg

I would like to share this blog and pictures of our recent trip to Fredericksburg (T82) to celebrate our 16th Wedding Anniversary.
 
I wanted to surprise my wife with a trip to Fredericksburg to celebrate our 16th Wedding Anniversary. I thought I had everything in order, the kids would be staying with family, aircraft reserved (N2446F),hotel reserved (Hangar Hotel), car reserved (Motor Pool), and thought about getting flowers but opted to have chocolate covered strawberries delivered to the room, and of course the most important thing...VISA. All that I needed now was some good weather. A few days before our trip the weather forecast wasn't looking that great and to make things even worse, I noticed that the 100 hr inspection was getting close on N2446F.The day before my trip I got a call from Randy stating that N2446F will be "going down" for maintenance tomorrow and that you can take N21264 on your trip. I was totally excited about flying the new aircraft and glad that Randy and Skymavs pulled through for me on such an important planned trip.

On the day of the trip the weather forecast didn't get any better, but was forecasted to be improving through out the day. I preflighted the aircraft, loaded up the bags and off we went. About 90 NM into our trip the weather was starting to deteriorate and called Flight Watch and they advised that "VFR flight is not recommended." I diverted to Hamilton (MNZ) until the weather improved. There wasn't much going on at Hamilton and not much of a pilots lounge. However, they did have a computer to check the weather and that's all I really needed.

After about 1 1/2 hours on the ground we were off again to Fredericksburg.The rest of the flight went smooth and got to Fredericksburg about noon. We parked in front of the Motor Pool and tied down the aircraft.

We went inside to pick up our rental car, they had fresh cookies and ice cold tea available for its customers Within about 15 minutes the paperwork was done, four cookies eaten, and three glasses of tea to wash it all down with. The car was parked out front and ready. We hopped in the car and went to downtown Main Street. We were looking for a place to eat and "The Brewery" was recommended.

We parked the car and went inside, got a seat and looked over the menu. I wanted to get something "Authentic" so a German dish was ordered. My wife normally doesn't try too many things new and this is one of those times. After a late lunch, we strolled down Main Street looking in all of the different shops that Frederickburg had to offer.

Now guys, this is where your VISA will be exercised the most. Everything and I mean everything is expensive on Main Street. We opted to do a lot of "Window Shopping" which my wife didn't mind too much. After a few hours of "Window Shopping" we decided to check into our hotel. The famous "Hangar Hotel" is located right on the airport. check out the website for all of the info http://www.hangarhotel.com

 After we got settled into our hotel room, room service knocked on the door and delivered our box of chocolate covered strawberries http://www.berries.com . One thing I have to say about these strawberries. I ordered a dozen and that was way too many. I suggest getting 1/2 dozen or so. The gourmet strawberries were delicious. We spent some time hanging out on the balcony overlooking the runway watching planes takeoff and land while drinking margaritas as the sun sets in the background. After relaxing a couple of hours at the hotel we were ready for dinner. We had dinner at the Cotton Gin http://www.cottonginlodging.com . This restaurant is only about a mile from the hotel and they will even pick you up and take you back to your hotel if you don't have a car. This place is really nice and upscale. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, watched some television and fell asleep...yeah right (Im sure you get the picture)
 The next morning, we woke up, got dressed and had breakfast at the Airport Diner next to the hotel.

The breakfast was good and reasonable. We checked out of the hotel, packed up the airplane and off to Fort worth (FTW). The weather was fine and got to Fort Worth without any problems. With a beautiful landing it was a nice way to end the trip.

-- Rick Janak