From Whence Came the Dressing

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
02 Jan 2017	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - Thousand islands - SDC	2.0	1613.7

My flying mostly falls into three categories:

1. Going someplace
2. Practicing airwork or instrument procedures (to safely enable #1)
3. Cruising for the sake of cruising (sort of like #1, but more about the flight than the destination)

Today's flight fell into the latter category.

Since moving to New York, I have been amazed by the natural wonders that this state offers: magnificent waterfalls (more than just Niagara), the Adirondack Mountains, the Finger Lakes, Lake Ontario (even if it's still not as cool as Lake Michigan), and -- my destination for the day -- the Thousand Islands of the Saint Lawrence River.

It was a perfect day for winter sightseeing. The sun was shining over a landscape lightly dusted in snow, the air was clear, and the wind was calm. I love the crisp contrast of deep blue water against a snowy landscape. Though the surface wind was calm, I obviously flew through three different air masses along the way. The boundary of each was announced by a temporary bout of light turbulence followed by a significantly different velocity over the ground.

Beyond that, I'll let the photographs speak for themselves.

The east end of Lake Ontario, looking north

Port Ontario

North Sandy Pond

Lakeview Wildlife Management Area

Entrance to Black River Bay

Interchange of I-81 and NY-12 near Alexandria Bay

The St Lawrence River and some of the Thousand Islands

Boldt Castle on Heart Island, Alexandria Bay, NY

Goose bay

Salmon Run Mall, Watertown, NY

Nine Mile Point Nuclear Plant, the eastern boundary of my "home territory"