Violet's First Adventure - Summer 2025
<< Leg 9 - Salem, MA to Laconia, NH | Trip Home | Leg 11 - Washington, DC to Greenville, SC >> |
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We're Ryan, Katherine, Violet 🌼, and Magic 🐶, and we flew around the northeast this summer.
<< Leg 9 - Salem, MA to Laconia, NH | Trip Home | Leg 11 - Washington, DC to Greenville, SC >> |
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Since we had not booked far in advance, it wasn't possible to stay at the lake for the 4th, and I decided we needed to start heading home in any case. Fortunately I found that the hotel prices in DC were quite reasonable, and so we decided to go there for the 4th. I researched the various airport options and decided Dulles was really the most reasonable option considering the travel time to the city, and I confirmed that the FBO fees were not terribly prohibitive. We got a very early start, and returned the car and got the airplane ready.
I filed IFR and got my clearance without an issue, and we departed.
We made a nice scenic 3 hour flight down to DC via the Catskills Mountains.
We found the BINNS waypoint near the DC SFRA!
Landing at IAD just after 1pm was no hassle at all, with seemingly quite light traffic.
We took care of Violet at the FBO and then got an Uber into the city.
After we arrived, we stashed our bags at the hotel and had a very late lunch.
We walked to White House, which was initially quite inaccessible due to barricades, but for some reason the Secret Service opened the gates while we were there and let everyone get to the closer fence, which allowed for some very cool photos.
Afterwards, we cooled off at our hotel.
We set back out to visit the Capitol Building and randomly I spotted a B2 bomber overflying us, with an F22 on each wing!
The Capitol Building was really quite inaccessible due to the barricades put up for the 4th of July celebrations, so we took a couple quick photos and then got an Uber back to our hotel.
Around 730pm we walked to the National Mall near Washington Monument to watch the fireworks. The Mall itself wasn't overcrowded and the security was no hassle at all.
The fireworks were spectacular! Poor Magic was scared, but Violet loved the bright lights!