Archive for the ‘Flying’ Category

Fireworks from Above   Leave a comment

Leah and I decided to go fireworks hunting over Durham this 4th of July. The show didn’t disappoint; it seemed like every little neighborhood had some rockets going, the Durham Bulls stadium had the biggest show in Durham, and we could see the big Raleigh, Cary, and Chapel Hill shows on the horizon. Great way to celebrate Independence Day!

Posted 4 Jul 2021 by John McManigle in Flying

Bahamas Adventure   Leave a comment

Our Cape Cod honeymoon, while absolutely lovely, left Leah yearning for a tropical beach. And as a pilot, I’ve always dreamed of flying to the Bahamas. At the end of fellowship, we decided to bring these ideas to fruition and make our escapade to the islands.

We flew via Jekyll Island and Fort Lauderdale to Great Exuma, where we enjoyed the quiet beach life, did some paddle boarding, and swam with sea turtles. We took a boat tour to see the famous swimming pigs and hopped a water taxi to Stocking Island to hang out at the Chat ‘n’ Chill watering hole.

After a few days in the Exumas, we flew up to Nassau, and checked in to the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar. There, we enjoyed the resort life, and I took a quick scuba diving trip. We made an “island hop” flight out to north Eleuthera Island, where we explored the town and took a ferry to the pink sand beaches of Harbour Island.

Finally, with our tropical beach needs sated and storms threatening to move in, we flew back to the States. We stopped for fuel in Fort Lauderdale and then parked with my brother in Charleston for a few days to wait out the weather before flying back home to Raleigh-Durham.


 
 
 
 

Click through for the play-by-play with pictures!

Posted 23 Jun 2021 by John McManigle in Adventure, Flying, Travel

Charleston Thanksgiving 2020   Leave a comment

My brother recently moved to Charleston, and we took that as an excuse to visit for Thanksgiving. We stayed in a traditional Charleston style house and along with a lot of good food, we took a walk around the Charles Towne Landing historic site.

Click for a few more pictures.

Posted 28 Nov 2020 by John McManigle in Flying, Travel

Wedding and Cape Cod Honeymoon   1 comment

While 2020 was a dark year for the world, with the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging public life, it was also a bright one for my family. My sister forewent her planned Saturday wedding to be married with immediate family on the prior Tuesday, just before lock-downs took effect. My brother delayed his large celebration and was married in the shadow of the Duke Chapel over the summer. Leah and I, with a little more advance warning and already wanting a small outdoor ceremony, were married in August on the lawn at the Umstead hotel. It was a beautiful ceremony and celebratory evening, with our immediate families cheering us on.

For a subdued, socially distanced honeymoon, we flew up to Cape Cod (flying through New York City along the way) and stayed at a lovely house on the water. For a delightful week, we wandered the beaches (and saw some seals!), cycled the traditional bicycle built for two, and ate more than our share of lobster-based meals. After our respite from the “real world,” we flew back home, with a quick beach stop in Martha’s Vineyard.

 

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Posted 7 Sep 2020 by John McManigle in Flying, Notes, Travel

Blue Ridge Parkway   Leave a comment

Looking for an escape from the covid pandemic that didn’t involve crowds or cities, Leah and I took a day to drive and hike the Blue Ridge Parkway, a scenic highway that runs from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, running along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

For a quick day trip, we flew out to the Asheville Regional Airport, rented a car, and drove north. We took in the scenic views driving, and stopped along the way to take a few hikes. The most notable was Mount Mitchell State Park, the highest point east of the Mississippi River. After exploring a little bit of nature, Leah and I returned to Durham rejuvinated.

Click for a few more pictures…

Posted 11 Jul 2020 by John McManigle in Adventure, Flying

Operation Airdrop: Hurricane Florence   Leave a comment

Although Durham was inland enough that Hurricane Florence was felt mostly as a few days of heavy rain, it was devastating to southeastern North Carolina and the Outer Banks. Although the storm surge and winds were in line with other Carolina hurricanes, its lingering path across the eastern portion of the state dropped 35 inches of rain in some places. This caused severe flooding and power outages, closed thousands of roads, and disrupted the transport of food and supplies to the eastern swath of the state.

Operation Airdrop is a nonprofit organization formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 to deliver supplies to inaccessible areas after natural disasters. I was lucky enough to be able to fit one Airdrop mission between a week of neuroanesthesia and a week of night call. Erin, a combined internal medicine / pediatrics resident, and I delivered a batch of food, bottled water, batteries, bug spray, and childcare supplies to Columbus County, North Carolina. It was rewarding to have the opportunity to help out in this small way, and the story got picked up by the Duke Anesthesia newsletter.

 

Posted 22 Sep 2018 by John McManigle in Flying

Quick Escape from Durham   Leave a comment

After an overnight labor and delivery anesthesia shift, sometimes you just need to dip your toes in the Ocracoke water before heading back home to get some sleep.

Posted 20 Jul 2018 by John McManigle in Flying

Fly-in Barbecue   Leave a comment

One of my constant favorite local landing spots is Carthage, North Carolina, where the Pik-n-Pig barbecue place sits on an otherwise sleepy little airstrip. On a sunny afternoon, though, planes fly in from all over to get a tasty lunch, and locals drive in to watch planes takes off and land while they eat. This weekend, my parents visited, and we went with my sister to grab some barbecue! The opportunity to get a few pictures was too perfect…

Posted 9 Sep 2017 by John McManigle in Flying

New Years 2017 in NYC   Leave a comment

To celebrate New Years, and a few days free from the trials of intern year, Leah and I flew to New York City to watch the ball drop in Times Square. While we were there, we managed to catch showings of Waitress and The Book of Mormon on Broadway, wander through Central Park, and of course grab some bagels and dumplings!

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Posted 1 Jan 2017 by John McManigle in Adventure, Flying, Travel

Eva and Jerome Wedding   Leave a comment

Just in time for Halloween, Jerome and Eva of Penn MSTP fame, and possibly the nerdiest couple known to man, were married in the planetarium at The Franklin Institute. Appropriately enough Jerome walked down the aisle to the Star Wars theme, and Eva to the song from Disney’s Anastasia. The wedding cake toppers were from Disney’s WALL-E.

I flew up for the occasion, and was also able to reunite with Penn State Company 20 friends, Cecilia and Lauren, and take one more Hudson River corridor flight.

 

Click for a few more pictures…

Posted 30 Oct 2016 by John McManigle in Flying