For a long time, I’ve wistfully looked at Ocean City, NJ Airpot on the sectional chart. It’s placed perfectly, just a few blocks from the beach. This Labor Day, I finally got there with a few friends from Philadelphia.
The morning weather in Philly wasn’t cooperative, and delayed our adventure to mid-afternoon. I landed at Philadelphia International and went into town to pick up Lisa, Eva, and Jerome. After Lisa ensured that her parents were thinking up a good eulogy and Jerome picked out his favorite Star Wars quotes for the occasion, we launched into a rapidly clearing sky and headed for the coast.
The arrival was quick and easy, and we set off for a wander on the beach and boardwalk before dinner at Hula Grill. We strolled back to the airport (via ice cream, of course) and enjoyed short night flight up and down the Atlantic City skyline before heading back to Philadelphia.
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Despite growing up in Maryland, and having a few uncles with Hobie Cat obsessions, I had never been sailing. That all changed Sunday, when Geoff and Andrew, members of the NIH Sailing Association (yes of course there’s an NIH Sailing Association), organized an outing for some of the NIH OxCam class and other assorted NIHers.
We sailed from Selby-on-the-Bay out to the Mayo Beach Park at the mouth of the South River. There, we played some frisbee, had a few snacks, enjoyed the warm water, and met a rambunctious dog before heading back to the marina. Definitely a fun trip!
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My grandfather, who lives in Emporium, Pennsylvania, celebrated his birthday on Friday. My dad made the 5-hour drive on Friday afternoon to celebrate his birthday dinner, but my sister Lorne and I decided to fly up on Saturday instead.
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Marcel McNicoll, co-proprietor of Le Bleu Ridge and long-time aviation aficionado, has his birthday on 30 July. This weekend, I flew down to Charlottesville with his daughter Léa and friend Melinda to celebrate the occasion.
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Almost midway through my DPhil stint in Maryland, I took a short visit to Oxford to check in with my collaborators there, discuss progress to the thesis, and retrieve some data. Of course, the trip also allowed a bit of time for a few adventures. I caught a bit of Summer Eights (and dinner!), the Communist Bop, saw Wicked with Erin, did a bit of punting and croquet, properly celebrated Susan and Matt’s engagement, and said hello and goodbye to quite a few friends.
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Although my posts since being back in the States have been about adventures away from home, I’m finding Baltimore is a pretty friendly place to live and work. Here are a few local pictures. First, when Katie from Penn State came to visit in April, we visited Fort McHenry. This star fort most famous for its role in the defence of Baltimore during the War of 1812. After seeing the US flag flying over the fort the morning after a decisive bombardment and battle, Francis Scott Key wrote what would become the national anthem of the United States. We took the water taxi over to the fort and took a look around on a beautiful Saturday.
The other set of pictures is from my accidental encounter with the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race on the way home from the grocery store one day. This race is a hilarious endeavour, wherein homemade, human-powered “sculptures” must traverse road, water, and mud in an hours-long race. The rules are myriad, but include such gems as:
1+. PERSONAL SECURITY RULE
Each Sculpture must carry at all times 1 comforting item of psychological luxury heretofore referred to as the “Homemade Sock Creature” (HSC). Homemade Sock Creature must be made in a home, from a not-too-recently-worn sock from the home, and resemble a creature homemade from a sock. (penalty: 1 hour)
It certainly seemed like the competitors were having a good time!
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On Saturday, I flew with Léa (from a recent adventure) and two new friends, Meg and Mara, to Waynesboro, Virginia. We landed at Eagle’s Nest Airport, nestled just beside the Blue Ridge Mountains. There, we met Léa’s parents and energetic dog, Muffin, and set off to visit Afton Mountain Vineyards. We enjoyed a wine tasting (though in the spirit of 14 CFR 91.17.a.1, I had to pretend to be a wine snob and refrain from swallowing) and certainly found their motto “grapes don’t grow in ugly places” to be no shallow boast.
From there, we set off to hike to Humpback Rock. Along the way, Muffin really came into her own, deciding that she wanted to find out whether she was part bird. Her shenanigans turned an otherwise uneventful hike into a feat of balance and prediction. The view from the top was spectacular, marred only by “Bear”, a local ne’er-do-well with a penchant for off-color humor. But we persevered, and descended victorious.
Then, it was off to Le Bleu Ridge, a beautiful bed and breakfast that Léa’s parents own and operate on a stunning piece of land in Afton. Although we narrowly missed the last tasting at the Flying Fox Vineyard, we chatted the night away over an amazing dinner of yogurt-marinated chicken, grilled steak, succulent scallops and shrimp, rice, and crunchy veg. And topped off with ice cream, strawberries, chocolate, and maple syrup over the first Le Bleu Bonfire of the season!
Of course, the night was over far too soon, and we had to head back to Martin State Airport in Baltimore. The flight to Virginia was quite turbulent under fair weather cumulous clouds and a strong headwind, to the dismay of the two first-time small-plane passengers. The return flight was just the opposite: the windy afternoon gave way to a clear, still evening. Combined with the extremely generous routing from Potomac Approach, which put us practically on top of Dulles and BWI airports (pictures below), it was an extremely pleasant flight back, and a wonderful adventure overall. I certainly hope to see Le Bleu Ridge again!
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On a sunny Saturday afternoon, I flew up to Penn State to talk with some students in the Schreyer Honors College about life in medical school and graduate school. The little SHC alumni event went well, and afterwards I found myself strolling around campus and downtown State College, taking in the sights. As I decided it was time to go, I wandered by the Student Health Center (affectionately known to relative old-timers as “New Ritenour“) to see whether any of my old coworkers happened to be around. I found a few people I knew second-hand and a few more new friends, as it turned out EMS was welcoming the spring with a bit of a cookout, complete with s’mores. Needless to say, I joined in, and then got the two-ambulance escort to the airport. Of course, PSU EMS provides first response to the University Park Airport in addition to the rest of campus, so in the interests of safety I gave a quick aerial tour of the campus to the EMTs who drove me up to the airport. They seemed to enjoy it, and the tower controller was very accommodating.
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In January, I moved to Baltimore to complete the NIH portion of my DPhil work. Working with the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and collaborators at Johns Hopkins Electrophysiology, I am investigating the use of MRI during interventional cardiology procedures. The research is fantastic, and as difficult as it is personally to leave Oxford, I’ve enjoyed reconnecting with friends and family back home, and getting back into flying after a nearly two-year hiatus.
My most recent airborne adventure was a trip to Tangier Island with Léa, an old friend from my amazing high school. Tangier Island is a unique place — fairly isolated from the rest of the Eastern Shore, let alone the rest of the world, it is served only by occasional boats and a small landing strip. The isolated locals have survived as a crabbing and oystering town, where they get around on golf carts and speak a dialect held over from Restoration era English. Wandering the town felt like walking through a hybrid folksy historical drama turned pre-surprise horror movie. The town’s first high-speed internet connection in 2010 spurred this ESPN commercial, and for the past couple of decades most of their health care was provided by one doctor who flew there to volunteer on his weekly day off. The whole Wikipedia article is worth a read if you get the chance.
On the aviation side, Tangier’s airfield is in the realm of Naval Air Station Patuxent, home of the US Navy’s Test Pilot School and various weapons ranges. The AFD entry for Tangier helpfully points out “Be alert Restricted Area 1 mile west of arpt, hi-speed acft drop bombs and fire live ammunition in area.” With this bit of advice, Léa and I (alertly) flew to Tangier in a Diamond DA20, hoping to taste local crabs. Unfortunately, it turns out crabbing is a seasonal industry in Tangier. Even if crabs were available, the town was closed on account of the local school basketball tournament — every family seemed to have a child playing. One of the locals gave us a golf cart ride over to the tournament, and we set off for the dusk flight back to Baltimore. But hear this, Tangier: we will return, and we will eat crab.
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For the New Year, Bill and I traveled to visit our cousin Carmie and her husband, who live in the Veneto region of Italy. We flew into Venice and spent a couple of days exploring St. Mark’s Square and other beauties of the City of Bridges before meeting up with Carmie and Matthew. Together, we traveled to their lovely house in Vicenza. On the 29th, we explored a Christmas market in the scenic Asiago. On the 30th, Matthew and I ran the Maratonina della Città Murata, a half-marathon in Cittadella. (Bill and Carmie ran the 6k course.) For New Years Eve, we explored the local Vicenza region, and then flew back to Oxford on New Years Day.
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