Thrifty GA: July 2017

Arlington Municipal Airport

Arlington is such a great spot if you love a busy airport. On any given day, you can fly in and just sit and watch other GA aircraft come and go, and meet new people. There is also a good sized glider base, and those of course are always fun to watch!

Personally, we use KAWO as our alternate if we ever can't get into 13W - mainly because if it's windy or foggy at our place, it's just as windy and foggy at BVS. And because AWO is inland just a touch more, you generally have a good 20 min before the weather comes in. Oh, and most importantly for us - my mom lives about 5 minutes away, so we can easily call and be like,

"Hey Ma .. can you give us a ride home?"

because who wouldn't want a ride home from this lady?! She's awesome.

There is a restaurant on the airfield, Ellie's. NOM NOM NOM. Great portions for your $$! If you feel like venturing out, Skookum Brewery is across the street, and if you check out their website while planning your trip, you can see which food trucks are on location that day. They are usually closed Monday's & Tuesday's, and because it is a brewery, it's 21 and over. Sorry pilots ... no beer for you, but heeeeey passengers, I highly recommend their Jackass IPA or Amber's Hot Friend.

Nom nom nom!

There is Uber and Lyft in Arlington!! So .. if you are feeling extra adventurous get yourself an Uber and head on into downtown Arlington. Rocket Alley Bar & Grill has $4 burger baskets that are awesome, and definitely hit the spot. If you have time ... they make killer pizzas. Basically, you can order anything on their menu and you won't go wrong. I have never had a bad thing, ever. And if you aren't in the mood for grill food - there are so many other options on the strip as well. Mexican, bistro, thai .. you name it and it's nearby.

Fuel prices at AWO are usually the cheapest in the area. The only contender is over at OKH but they are usually within .05 of each other. Arlington Flight Services and they have FS and SS pricing.

Now, on to the main reason that you need to add KAWO to your list of places to go ...

The Arlington Fly-in!

We just finished up an amazing 2017 Fly-in and I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it was. I mean, I'll try - but I really didn't take that many pictures because I was so immersed in the weekend! We've gone the last few years (except last year due to our work schedules) but this year we were able to participate in a NEW experience called the FATPNW Sunday Fun-Day! We joined this group (FATPNW) as a way to meet like minded individuals and wow .. they are some amazingly talented, cool people!! Anyway, we were able to join in on the first ever Sunday Fun-day, which consisted of competing in a spot landing competition, a photo safari, and a flour bombing contest. If you have never done these things ... you are MISSING OUT! HA!

Our overnight parking pass

Getting ready for flour bombing

Photo Safari was awesome. We wish we had more time, but it's basically a scavenger hunt by air! There were riddles that needed to be solved, and with those clues, you flew all over the PNW and took photos. Some of them required you to land and go into a business and take a photo. This was SO fun - especially trying to solve the riddles. It was amazing to see what everyone came up with for answers, some were easy and others .. well if you know me, you know I love to argue, hahaha so clearly there were a few that I argued!

3rd place photo safari winners
(shhh! it doesn't matter there were only 3 participants!)

I can't wait for next year's Fly-in! I have a feeling it's going to be much, much bigger as it will also be the 50th Arlington Fly-in! Tentative dates: July 6-8 2018.

Here's some prior years' Fly-in photos:

2013