Spokane, Washington

We arrived in Spokane 4:30 Sunday afternoon, just as it was getting dark. It was a long hard day. Rain and IMC in normally sunny Vegas delayed our departure by about 4 hours. We hurried from the airport directly to Dr. Bradley Bale's Heart Attack Prevention Clinic, where despite the late hour on Sunday, we were met by Pamela, one of Dr. Bale's nurses. She did bloodwork and some test that were needed for Monday's session with Dr. Bale. We had been fasting for 23 hours, so finishing up and getting our only meal of the day, put a nice exclamation point on an otherwise trying travel day.

We checked in to the Davenport Hotel, and what a pleasant surprise! http://www.davenporthotel.com/

Its a beautifully restored grand old lady built during the Victorian Era. A delightful 4 star in an unexpected place.

We flew to Dr. Bale's clinic in Spokane primarily because despite two years of pharmacological effort by doctors in Houston, my lipid numbers have remained awful. Dr. Bale is on the leading edge of compiling and rendering the complexities of hyperlipidimia into treatment programs that arrest and reverse the adverse effects of high cholesterol. Monday we spent most of the day at his clinic analyzing our data, and learning about Dr. Bale's program. I'm convinced it's the best thing around.

Monday afternoon we freed up and decided to take a drive over to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. There's a big "glacier formed" lake there by the same name, so we decided to stop and wander around. We spotted a C-206 on floats and a tiny dockside FBO, so I naturally had to have a look. Lo, and behold, it was for rent, as was the CFI. So for the first time in my aviation career, I flew a floatplane.

It felt very familiar, as I climbed into the left seat, and the CFI took the right - very Cessna, much like my c-210. Its cold here in late November, and the Cessna had not been flown all day. As we cranked up, we did a few lazy circles in the lake to warm the engine up. As the oil temperature reached an acceptable level, we turned, and becasue there are no brakes on a floatplane, performed the runup and mag check while moving downwind. The CFI asked me if I wanted to fly her. What the hell! Is that a trick question? I eagerly took the controls.

Takeoff from the water was much like a short field takeoff: Yolk all the way back, full power, leveling as the craft reached planing velocity, and at 45 kts, the craft just lifted off the smooth surface of the lake. I circumnavigated the entire lake (120 mile shoreline), and landed (or is it "watered") just as the sun was setting shooting purple and orange streaks from behind the mountains to our west. I had also never flown in Idaho. Logged two firsts. Impressive day.