--- title: Hunter Birthday 50 date: 2020-02-02 type: post categories: - family - vacation - pictures tags: - family - airplane - desert - birthday - vacation featured: 50-tarmac.jpg comment: --- Just did something utterly crazy - chartered a 🧑‍✈️ private plane ✈️ to Palm Springs 🌴 and Joshua Tree (via Jeep Wranglers) for Hunter's 50th Birthday! 💖 (Also worth noting: celebrated on rare palindrome date: `02 02 20 20` -- which in a mirror is `50` backwards 😮 ) This took over a month to research, pull off, and plan! I've never done a charter plane before so it took quite some time to figure out planes, quotes and more. I'd like to thank the amazing Captain [Jan Johnson]( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-JsGXULZL8HTUYCL8btaEg) for helping me research and suggesting, ultimately, who we went with - [Centurion FS](https://www.centurionfs.com/) out of Palo Alto. We rented a _super cute_ "Quest Kodiak 100" plane, able to seat 8 very comfortably, single prop plane. _Ironically_ the major amount of planning, devoted to going to **Death Valley**, got scuttled 12h before take-off due to high wind advisory - specifically including _Furnace Creek_ landing strip (not much of an airport - mostly tarmac and tower - no refuel options, etc.). The very accomodating Pilot called me and we spent 40 minutes trying to find any way to make it work -- an then ultimately decided to change to Palm Springs + Joshua Tree (two places I've always wanted to visit). It took only ~20m more to fly there and back, and +5% extra cost -- with lots of scramblings to procure a pair of genuine Jeep Wranglers. Thankfully, it _just worked!_ Huge shout out to Hunter's **amazing** friends who all went with the last-minute changes, kept it secret, and were up for this _crazy_ adventure from [6am to 9pm]. [ boarding - with convenient side entry ] [ giddy, ready to go ] [ I'm shook - I can't believe this is happening! ] After a beautiful ~2h cruise over California at only ~10,000 foot from the ground, we arrived in Palm Springs ~10:30am. had a really nice brunch and cocktails on Kaiser Grille patio (but under shade ;-) right out on the main strip (and olde town area). I flew in a _decadent_ chocolate cake and candles which the server set up for us at the end. Then we took the Jeeps and had ~4-1/2 hours to do a (mostly driving) tour of **Joshua Tree** (~40m drive from downtown). We had a blast and soaked up the hot dry sun while the Bay Area was getting a very strong cold snap. We had a bit of an adventure on the return in some high up-to-11,000' clouds -- sorry Amy! They had some turbulent moments, but the vast majority of the flight was way above the clouds (and bumps and danger). *_Thank you_* Captain Jim 🧑‍✈️ (pictured in top photo above, left side) for keeping us safe and giving us an _utterly amazing_ weekend. Hunter was beaming and grinning ear-to-ear, getting to be on radio and in copilot seat both ways the entire time.