It's a beautiful day

Today, Michelle and I went on a helicopter tour of the island. Here's a link to our helicopter tour company. It was Michelle's first time in a helicopter, and it was the first time either of us had flown in a general aviation aircraft. 

Here's a picture of the helo. A bit smaller than the CH-53E I rode in as a Midshipman. I didn't want to disrepect Jeff's, our pilot's, aircraft, but I couldn't help but think of the line from Star Wars when Princess Leia first sees the Millennium Falcon, "You came here in that? You're braver than I thought!"

The video of our takeoff.

Here's a picture of the two decommissioned aircraft carriers here at Naval Station Newport. The ex-USS Forrestal and ex-USS Saratoga. Saratoga served in Desert Storm, and Forrestal is the carrier John McCain flew from in Vietnam, until it had the tragic fire.

Here is a picture of Coaster's Harbor "Island" in the foreground and Newport Bridge (Actually, its name is the Pell Bridge) in the background. You can kinda tell from this picture there was some haze. We had a dense fog in the morning. It had burned off for the most part, but over the water you could see the haze in the atmosphere.

John and Ruth's house is down there somewhere:

A picture of Fort Adams State Park:

Pictures of boring. Here's a couple more videos. First is Brenton State Park. The second is a view of most of the Newport Mansions. (One warning and one excuse. The warning: unless you like to hear the cockpit noises of a helicopter, I'd turn down the volume on your computer. The excuse: I was using a handheld digital camera to take the video. It's not gyro-stabilized. It's Jim-stabilized.)

Finally, our landing. Look for the aircraft landing just before we get there. We fly over him as he's taxiing. 

I have to say Jeff, our pilot, was outstanding in his professionalism. Not bad for an aviator. ;-)

Two regrets. If I had been paying closer attention, I could have gotten a picture of our house from the air. I should have taken a picture of Michelle with Jeff next to the helicopter. 

We also got pictures of the old Kennedy compound, Newport Vineyards and Greenvale Vineyards, but I'll save those and other pictures for Michelle.

-Jim