We had our first VMG Fly-In to Methow Valley on the eastern slopes of the Cascades, and  boy is this a beautiful valley.  Ten Mooneys showed up in this corner of the country and the weather was perfect.  We stayed at the beautiful Sun Mountain Lodge and they sure rolled out the red carpet for us with shuttles to/from the airport and town.

Lest we forget, we would like to give a special thanks to Skyvector.com who underwrote a part of our Cowboy BBQ on Saturday evening.  Here's a warm VMG Thank You to Skyvector.com! 

Below is just a sampling of the views enroute from the south to Methow Valley.  What amazing country!

Jeff Mirsepasy had flown a few minutes past Methow Valley to Twisp airport as he had arranged to borrow the Courtesy Car for the entire weekend.  We took maximum advantage of this car, and actually got a bit rowdy.

Most of the Mooneys arrived on Friday and hung out at the bar and/or the pool & spa.  The views were magnificent.  On Friday and Saturday evening, we raided Joe & Rosemary Pelissier's room and had wine that Dave & Barbara Boerigter (Washington) and Phil & Linda Corman (Paso Robles) brought for everyone to enjoy.  Everyone had a wonderful time, but Kelly & Jana truly entertained with their amazing flying stories!

On Saturday, after breakfast, most of the folks drove down into Winthrop, the town at the bottom of the mountain.  It is a quaint western town with restaurants, coffee, and shopping.  In the afternoon, some of the people went to nearby Lake Patterson to do a little canoeing and sailing.  Jeff was out mountain biking (the guy is not human with his strength and stamina!

On Saturday at 5:30pm, we all headed for the corral and either mounted our horses or climbed aboard an old western wagon for the 45 minute trip to an old homestead in the mountains for a Cowboy BBQ.  In the left picture, you can see Greg & Linda practicing on their "horse simulators".  Kelly didn't like his horse Dawson, so Phil was given Dawson who was clearly the tallest horse at 18 hands.  It was a dusty trail as you can see by the Mooney "butt marks" in the wagon below.

Photographs courtesy of VMG Members Jeff Mirsepasy, Greg Jacobs and Linda & Phil Corman

See you at our next fly-in!