When I was out of high school a couple of years and working full time and going to college part time (keeping my options open ha-ha) I was invited to a friends wedding in Tahoe. Two other high school friends of mine were going but I could not leave at the same time as them so I thought, I will fly up to Tahoe and drive back with them. It was only about an hour flight from Oakland to Tahoe. So, Debbie and Sue were going to meet me at the airport and our weekend adventure would start. I felt very grown up flying for the first time, short flight, had a fake ID and going to the land of gambling and sin as in Nevada with girlfriends.
I got on a small plane that held maybe 40 people. Sat next to a window so I could see the sights and had a businessman sitting next to me. I still felt very grown up. My flight was at 6pm in June and was a beautiful night as we left. The captain was able to point out Sacramento and as the sun began to descend to the west it put a wonderful glow on the sierra mountains as we began to climb over them. Some still had snow on the peaks. They began to loom largely in my vision as we passed over them and then all of a sudden we dropped. My stomach felt like it was in my brain. It didn't help that I had a glass of wine while flying. When I asked the man next to me about this aberration, he said we had to land down in the valley near there and he pointed to a very small, very thin strip that looked like it ended in Lake Tahoe itself. I didn't feel very grown up anymore.
I watched as we began to circle very fast in my humble opinion down into a very small space between two very large mountains. It took us 15 minutes to circle down from the top of the mountains to come around to make our attempt at landing. The pilot said there was a bad cross wind and it would be a bit bumpy. I hit my head on the overhead once before he finished telling us to put our seatbelts back on for landing. Funny, I was so wanting to enjoy my first look at Lake Tahoe from the air and all I could do was close my eyes and pray we didn't land in it.
When I finally felt the plane hit the ground, I then prayed we would be able to stop on the runway, and when we did, I was ready to cry. I am sure my makeup was a mess by then from hiding my face in my hands.
I was able to pull myself together by the time I got off the plane and walk to where Sue and Debbie waited for me. Back then Tahoe didn't have a terminal, just a shed to set the bags and overhang to wait for the plane. I wanted a few shots of tequila and a good cry but instead I got a conservative bachlorette party with the bride's womenfolk and her new friends at the basement of the catholic church where she would be married in the morning.
I looked at Mary Magdelene and thanked her for saving me that day. I also thanked her for not allowing the church from coming down around me after all the sinful things I had done. Having been raised between my mother a good Southern Baptist (tent revivals and Oral Roberts) and my fraternal Grandmother (the devout Catholic) I knew that at some point I had sinned in someone's eyes. I knew that I was going to hell from what I remembered from all the Sunday School teachings that contradicted all that I had been doing since I left home. Fake ID and all.
So, the next day we watched our friend walk down the isle in a beautiful white dress and say I do to the man of her dreams. I have often wondered if they are still married all these years later.
The rest of the weekend was spent as most single women will do, looking at, talking to and flirting with single men. We interspersed seeing the sights around the lake while doing that, but the main objective was having a good time with a few good looking men our own age. Ah yes, some things don't change with the ages.
So, I learned a couple of good things that weekend, I don't like small planes going over large mountains. I do like Tahoe at least without snow. I loved driving the mountain road home when no one else did.
Since that time, I have slid off the runway in a large plane after a bad rainstorm. Sat on a runway while a thundeI rstorm raged, and been rerouted to Nashville because of a blizzard. There was nothing to do in the Nashville airport for three hours, believe me I tried! And was upgraded to a convertible in Baltimore during a snowstorm. How's that for luck? Oh yea, I had my luggage lost when I went to Hawaii for a week. They found it the day I was leaving.
I still fly. Mostly because it is the only way to get to some of the places I love to go to. I make the best of it, but I don't have to like it all that much. I dont' like giving up control to some pilot I don't know. I don't like those people who tell you it's safer than driving a car. I think they are the ones that will scream the loudest and sit next to the emergency exits. I read all the instructions but I don't think it will help much if you fall from the sky. Seriously? But I think positive. I don't write about this to scare anyone, but I find it amazing that they really can fly. But I feel very grown up when I board a plane. Even if I become a very scared child inside. Amazing isn't it?
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