Greetings from the West Coast

Oh how long it has been since I've written! Things here are great... busy, but great! On 14 August, 2009 I was winged as the 30,128th Naval Aviator! With orders to report to Camp Pendleton 2 September in order to train to be a UH-1 Yankee pilot, I enjoyed the rest of the weekend with family and friends and then started packing up my life to head to the West Coast. One week after pinning my wings on, I was picking mom up from the airport in Pensacola and heading west. We were off on an adventure. I-10 takes you straight to California, about a 30 hour trip, 2000 miles. Oh no! we said... we want to see it all. We would drive through 8 states, cross 4 time zones (we were confused too), covering almost 3000 miles in 40 hours. We learned that the Air Force doesn't take reservations and New Mexico and Arizona are two of the country's best kept secrets. The Grand Canyon is not in fact in Colorado and Albuquerque was voted by AOL to be the top new city to live in. Roswell is overrated and White Sands is worth it. Route 66 really is the highway that's the best. We got our kicks! We were relieved to finally reach California, although the search for a place to live was a little more than I bargained for. We spent about a week searching, and I ended up getting a roommate as well! (Well, two, including the puppy dog hehe). I live in the "West End" of Northern San Diego, and I love it. I get to see the Pacific Ocean every day and a sunset whenever I want. It's absolutely beautiful. I found a church just 3 blocks up the hill from me, and I'm finally getting to know my way around the squadron.

All the pictures below are from my new place!! I apologize for the mess in my room hehe.

I haven't started flying yet, in fact I've only actually been inside the aircraft a few times, but I'm hoping to start training in the next week. I have a desk job at the squadron outside of flying, and I feel like it will be a really good learning experience. I've already made some new friends and I'm really excited about the new experiences ahead. I'm already switching over to the West Coast way of things, I have a California license plate!!!

I'm hoping to get home next at Christmas and hope everyone will keep in touch until then!