With cabin fever in full effect due to covid, we decided to blast away for a much-needed beach adventure. We coordinated with some of our RV-10 friends who have kids Lucy's age, which made for great fun for both parents and kids. I was crossing my fingers so hard for IMC conditions so I could put my rating to good use. Ever since I got my IFR rating it seems like bad wx is hard to come by when I want it! Ceilings were about 1,000 ft and we cruised in and out of IMC layers at 5k feet, woohoo!. The tailwinds were kicking, so we requested to go up higher and ended up at 9k with a nearly 30-knot boost.
The water was a brisk 53 degrees F, but that didn't stop the kids from romping around!
We also visited the Brookgreen Gardens, which let us have some semblance of normalcy during this pandemic, yet still be outside and socially distanced. This place was gorgeous!
On the flight home, I filed direct instead of zig-zagging around the restricted airspace because I learned ATC will either let me cruise through it or route me around it as needed. I gave it a shot and sure enough, we were able to go right on through! Unfortunately, it was nice and sunny back home so no actual IMC approach was needed, I guess we'll just have to hope for marginal weather next trip hehe.