Burrrrr it’s getting chilly here in Florida! Not really but this morning we woke up to a cool, crisp 50 degrees. Finally feels like fall around here. And it really feels like Halloween with all the decorations that people have been putting up on their dorms and around campus. It’s kind of weird to think that it’s already almost November! It’s amazing how time flies when you are in college. School has been pretty busy lately, I feel like I’m always doing homework or studying but that’s alright with me. I love learning about Aviation so I can hardly complain. Last weekend was our fall break, and it was sure nice to have a good chunk of time off of school. While most people went home or left campus for the break, I was able to bring part of my home back with me. My dad and brother were in Nashville, Tennessee touring a college for my brother who is currently a senior in High School. I thought it would be fun to meet them in Nashville and drive with them down to Daytona so they could tour my school and see the area. I flew up on Saturday and we got a not-so-early start on Sunday morning and after a 12-hour drive, we arrived back in Daytona around 11P.M. For the remainder of the weekend, we went to the beach, drove to Jacksonville and met up with my cousin who is working down here for a couple of weeks. It was a great weekend with them, but I’d have to say that the highlight for me, and I know it was for my dad, was when I was able to take my dad along as an observer on one of my flights. It also happened to be a beautiful morning with nearly clear skies and almost no wind. It was awesome to be flying knowing that my dad was in the back.

Photo Credit: Steve Johnston

After our flight on Monday we drove up to St. Augustine and spent the better part of the day at Anastasia State Park. It’s beautiful up there, miles and miles of pristine beaches. The nice thing about going to a state park on the coast is that there is no development, cars, or even people for that matter, for as far as the eye can see. It was so peaceful and relaxing to hear the waves breaking and the birds chirping without any of the distractions that come along with a beach by a city.

Photo: Big Waves at St. Augustine

ROTC is also going well. Last Friday we had our Midterm Evaluations. We were graded on drilling, knowledge and uniforms. It was basically a culmination of everything we have learned so far in ROTC. It’s cool to see how far we have come in such a short amount of time.

In other news, Hurricane Sandy “hit” last week. When I say hit I use the term “hit” lightly because it really only passed by Florida on its way up the East Coast. Nerveless, we did get some pretty neat weather. Some rain, some wind, and one heck of a beautiful sunset as it passed through.

Photo: Beautiful Sunset as Hurricane Sandy passes by

Thanks for reading!