Sunny, finally

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT: This weekend brought something unexpected. Sunshine. Both days. Saturday, and Sunday. Not sure where you live, but if you're in Seattle, you know how BIG of a DEAL this was.

We celebrated our star's show by taking long walks on Saturday and Sunday. Following is a recap of Saturday's adventure.

We parked at the southwest corner of the Renton Municipal Airport and walked to the north. We saw many a 737 parked, including this "Lion Group" one. 

We made our way to the north, which led us to the south shore of Lake Washington.

We watched a seaplane land and tie up on the dock.

One thing I was totally not expecting to see/learn was that famous American humorist Will Rogers last left Earth where we were standing. Turns out he and a friend took off on a planned round-the-world flight from Renton. Their flight ended in disaster. 

I'll let CJ tell you a little bit more about our excursion. ... 

Alongside a long stretch of the Seattle suburb of Renton, there is a large airport, the Renton Municipal Airport. At the north end of the airport, there is a monument dedicated to Will Rogers and Wiley Post, both aviators who flew together from that spot in 1935 in what would be their final (and fatal) attempt at flying across the world.

The first of the aviators, William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers, a former actor, author, and political commentator. had traveled to many diverse locations around the world. According to his website, these places included "London, Manchuria, Java, Egypt, South America, Japan, Moscow and destinations all over America". Rogers' commentary on contemporary political and social issues apparently provoked suspicion in the federal government, eventually leading to the creation of an FBI document about him.

The second, Wiley Hardeman Post, was a "famed aviator" who was known for flying the plane Winnie Mae. The Winnie Mae's original owner, F. C. Hall, had named it for his daughter, and had hired Post to fly with the plane. The Winnie Mae is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

History.com has some archival audio about the ill-fated flight. http://www.history.com/speeches/death-of-will-rogers-and-wiley-post

When you start to research the final flight, it's a bit of a rabbit hole, with this theory and that. One says the pontoons were to blame.

Whatever the cause of his demise, there's no disputing Will Rogers was widely revered.  This post from The Nation in 1935 is just one example: https://www.thenation.com/article/death-will-rogers/