Mystery Solved!

In yesterday's blip, I said Heading south tomorrow, will back-blip on Sunday. Some flying will be involved, but not the usual sort, and not everyone will fly.

Here are the folks who had their feet off the ground -- Phil, his daughter E, granddaughter Z, grandson B, and my daughter, M.

Phil's daughter S and I watched in awe but had no desire to try this indoor skydiving experience, in which you float in the vertical wind tunnel at speeds up to 160 miles per hour on a cushion of air, according to iFly's website. (Our group's wind speeds were in the 90-125 mph range.)

This is M in the flight chamber (a vertical wind tunnel) with one of iFly Seattle's certified instructors, who guided her and the others in our group through two one-minute flights. The first flight accustomed M to the sensation, proper form (shown here), and the hand signals, and in her second flight, she opted for the add-on "high flight" to the top of the wind tunnel with her flight instructor, as did Phil, E, Z, and B.

What looks like the floor in this photo is actually a wire mesh over the vertical wind tunnel. About halfway through the afternoon, I summoned enough courage to look down into the wind tunnel and up to where the high flights went (also covered with wire mesh). That was a big step for me, as I have a fear of heights.

Taking photos of our family flyers was challenging, due to the lights and reflections, so I'm glad that high-quality images were available from iFly -- check out a very happy Phil!

(The FAQs provide more detailed information --and take a look at the 22 iFly (some have different names) locations in the USA, Canada, the UK, Russia, Asia and Australia. It's clearly popular with many people!)

(I'm back-blipping this on Sunday evening, and do not want to ignore the devastation here in western Washington from a massive landslide that took place without warning on Saturday in a tiny town near Arlington. Four people are known dead and at least 18 others are missing. As we drove home this afternoon and passed the exit sign for Arlington, my thoughts were with those who lost their homes and their loved ones.)