Rand's Web Page
Andrew's Fini Flight Week
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We flew to Alaska to attend Andrew's fini flight. This was the week that was supposed to have his change of command but that got bumped up. |
| More grandchild time never bothers Becky. Sloane is showing us her book about Alaska that she made at school. |
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She was also excited to show us all her Girl Scout badges. |
| I took Weston to the Alaska Museum Tuesday morning. He showed me around. He is into all the science stuff. |
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Sloane enjoyed this Zip-line at a park near our motel. |
| Weston is too cool for playgrounds. |
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Wednesday was Andrew's "Fini Flight." This was his last flight in the F-22 at the 90th Fighter Wing. |
| This AWACS (Airborne Early Warning and Control System) plane was doing turns. It is hard for these pilots to get their hours. |
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We were watching from the end of the runway (landing end). |
| Andrew waits for one last AWACS approach and then it is his turn. |
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There he goes. |
| He pulls up his landing gear while still only 10 feet off the ground. |
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He banks a turn and disappears from view for an hour or so doing maneuvers. |
| It was quite a sight watching him taxi into his position. |
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With every flight he receives a salute on the ground and he thanks his maintainers. |
| One thing special about "fini flights" is that they get showered with champagne after. |
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There was a brief ceremony with a presentation of some memorabilia. |
| This is a plaque that he received. |
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He shook hands with everyone in the squadron. |
| The squadron. |
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Photo with the family. |
| The left side of the photo is Weston's teacher and family and the right side are neighbors. |
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We had a gathering in the squadron bar before Andrew was officially flying a desk for the next three years. |
| Becky and I became tourists on Thursday and took the trolley tour. This stop was at the railroad depot. This engine is called the "Moose Gooser." It was driven at 5 MPH to clear the rails of moose before the big coal trains came in. |
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We played some cornhole in the evenings. |
| Weston and I did some electrical work replacing two faulty outlets. He really got into that. |
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Friday we drove down to Seward. There was a humpback whale showing off in the harbor when we got there. We were as close as the whale watching boat was when he surfaced. |
| 64 quilt shops in Minnesota wasn't enough. This one was in Alaska after all. |
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After lunch we visited the Sea Life Center. |
| They let us touch some of the wildlife. |
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Seward was the start of the original Iditarod trail (Seward to Nome). |
| This lovely mountain view surruptitiously caught a stellar seal breaching in the foreground. |
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Seward had a nice playground. Andrew has to get his G-forces there now. |
