Great day in Catalina

Yesterday was one of the days that will live in my memory for a long time. Michal invited Patricia and me to fly with him and Ulf to Catalina, a small island off the coast of San Diego. The occasion was the 50 year celebration of the airport on the island. At the time we got to the airport, it was still very overcast, and we had to wait for the sky to clear, (we're working on Michal to get his instrument rating), so at about 10:00, we took off along the coast to Dana Point and then across the Catalina. We flew anywhere between 3500ft and 6,000ft, and always above a solid cloud cover below us. As we approached Catalina, it looked very spooky, with just the tip of the island looking out of the clouds, and then the little airport came into view, and we landed. It was a big day there. I think Michal said about 100 planes had registered to land this day, and we made it in early. It was fascinating to me how many different plains there are; this is a world onto itself. There was of course a lot of pilot talk, and Patricia was off with her new lens to take photos, an I will let you know when they are ready to be viewed in the near future. Foodwise, they had a BBQ on the balcony with, as they said, the original Hamburger on Pumpernickel, just as it was served 50 years ago, except slightly more pricey. Barry and a friend and John and his family arrived a bit later. Shortly after 13:00, we left the island, with Ulf at the controls. Ulf has been living here in San Diego for the last 4 years and got his pilot license a few month back, and I think he had a great time, too. Ulf got as back to San Diego, and that was the adventure of the day. When we arrived, Michal got a phone call from Helen, as she was just about to leave Washington DC, where she had a stopover on her way in die Schweiz.