Among other awesomeness today, I paid for a helicopter ride.

I was at the Castle Air Museum’s Open Cockpit Day, snapping pictures like a madwoman (they’re all on Flickr if you’re interested.) I’m not much of a plane person, no, but I am a Castle person. Ten years this August that I’ve worked there, and I’ve never seen it from the air. A little crazy, considering that it’s an airport, no?

But I’d heard of rides at this event, so I kept my eyes open. If it was one of the jets, there was no way I’d be able to afford it, so I didn’t even bring money with me.

When I got to the back of the grounds though, and spotted the helicopter booth, my eyes must have lit up like crazy, because the lady there said, “That woman wants a ride!” And she was right. I totally did. It was well within my budget, so I trekked back to the truck and got some money.

They were offering two loops around Castle, which might have seemed a little boring to some people, especially out-of-towners, but couldn’t have been planned more perfectly for me. Photographing Castle is what I do, and the chance to do it from a new angle had me squealing just a little.

We all got a window seat; I was dreading the ride with the four-year-old who had earlier demonstrated his ability to shriek in a register that would shatter glass, but he was good. The pilot may or may not have heard me (I didn’t have my mic close enough to my mouth) and he buzzed the water tower for me; sadly, I was on the wrong side of the plane, and didn’t get a very good picture of my favorite plumbing fixture.

But look! My office!

And the former landfill where I walk the dogs!

And if you look closely and squint just a little, I think you can see my house from here.

I just kept snapping and snapping, taking about a hundred photos in five or ten minutes, but I figured I could always delete them. I’m not an airsick sort of person, but man, looking through the viewfinder with one eye and straight out with the other, while not remaining exactly vertical, now, that’ll get your queasy on.

Totally worth it.