What a perfect start to the year - a little airtime with a group of friends.  Woodside was the place to be and even a few spots of lift showed up!  I'm taking this as a sign there will be a lot more flying this year, and excited to meet my first goal of the year - to double my airtime over what I managed in 2014.  10 minutes down, a few more hours to go ;)

Since I couldn't make it to the Women's Hallowe'en Fly-In down in Chelan, Washington this year, I decided to pull out some of my bee costume to wear yesterday and have my own costumed flight!  Stunning weather for November 1st, still can't get over the beauty of this place on a sunny day.

One reason I chose to move out to the Valley from The Big City was to take advantage of living close to the mountains and to be able to catch last minute flights.  Yesterday was a perfect example!  Kevin (another local) called me up and convinced me to go for a hike and fly up Elk Mountain.  We timed it perfectly, after the strong outflow winds of the morning and before the next weather system moved in.  After an hour and a half of hiking, we arrived up top to light winds.  Soon we were gliding back into the valley with huge smiles, landing softly beside our vehicles.

If you don't believe in magic then you haven't been paragliding.  Sharing the sky with bald eagles as you fly between the misty clouds is an experience you just can't describe with words...

This year's Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival is in the middle of November.  People will come from all over for eagle viewing boat tours but for a few lucky pilots yesterday the "viewing" started early.  Three bald eagles were flying from one paraglider to the next, showing us the lift or having fun by zooming by inches above our canopies.  With a gorgeous weather forecast up ahead it looks like we'll be flying like this through most of October!

Coming in to land yesterday at Riverside I lined myself up with the train tracks…in warmer weather the tracks can give off lift to extend your flight, but on this smooth fall day it was just a fun game to fly along and pretend you're Superman flying through the air (faster than a speeding train!).

Now that fall is approaching and the sun sits lower in the sky, I'm seeing a lot more shadows photo-bombing our pictures!  Here's Norm & I setting up to land at Riverside, and our shadow soaring the trees for just a moment longer.

There's something about the adrenaline rush from a spiral dive that sends people into fits of giggles or shouts of excitement…Natalie was no exception!  A fun tandem yesterday afternoon at Mt Woodside, enjoying the peaceful air at the end of the day.