Celebrating the Unofficial First Annual Caledon Zeppelin Day

Initial entry onto Caledon Tamrannoch

Taking the hint from Her Grace Lady Eva Bellambi, as she recorded in her blog yesterday about it being the anniversary of the first launching of a Zeppelin 107 years ago (see her post, if you haven not already done so, at http://redroseofcaledon.blogspot.com/2007/07/on-this-day-in-history.html ), I cajoled my brother Colonel (Ret.) Gottfried Lord Eusebio into giving me a copy of his old blimp he acquired last summer, so I could go celebrate and explore Caledon by air. Reticent at first, and grumbling something about as if it weren't bad enough I took full control over the estate and his money, I had to take his toys too now, he finally conceded after I pointed out that if it were not for me, he would be homeless on the mainland right now. (I had to take over the estate, as his lycanthropy has caused him considerable loss of judgement with an ever-increasing ego, and somebody had to keep our landholdings together, especially after last year, when he almost forced the estate into bankruptcy by trying to increase our land-holdings far beyond what our familial finances could afford, causing even I to have to take on a less-than-reputable occupation upon the mainland for a stretch, merely to get our Barony back in the black again. He did not a thing to ameliorate the situation and fell into an evergrowing state of melancholy, and hiding himself more often that not, except for the occassional ramblings through the Moors on their lonliest evenings). But I digress.

Bringing along my beloved soon-to-be husband and Knight of the Estate, 98, we departed my Ballroom Pavillion in the Moors and headed for Tamrannoch. We ran into considerable turbulance that forced us to land (well, actually, the blimp dumped us unceremoniously from it just before it crashed0 just as we were entering Tam). It didn't help that this was my first time navigating this craft, and that it was a one-seater, so 98 was forced to sit on one of the outriggers, causing considerable imbalance to the device. After an initial worry that we would not take flight again, I inspected the damage, and seeing that the worst effect of the crash was upon our pride and not our bodies, we took launch again. Before venturing too far, I played with the lifts in such a way as to balance 98's weight on the right side of the airship. We quickly found it not to be the most maneuverable of conveyances, but as it was extremely slow, I discovered I usually had ample to to compensate.

Mt. Caledon as seen from above the main Caledon II-Tamrannoch rail line.

Drifting above Tamrannoch village at first, we made our way along the road that runs by my sweetie's home.Upon seeing Mt. Caledon, I charted our course toward On Sea. I thought it would be nice to see if the old monastery was still up on the mountain, above the secret spring from whence I recover the water to offer at my cafe in the Moors. The view was as spectacular as expected, and we were surprised to see a visitor from the mainland showing her respects. Apparently she was frightened by our approach and fled.

Approaching Mt. Caledon.

The Old Monsatery atop Mt. Caledon, with On Sea's coasline in the distance.

Steering the airship across On Sea, and over Free Flow, the former seat of the Barony of Bauerhoff de Caledon which I had to sell to Sir ZenMondo Wormser in order to escape the family debt my brother accrued, I pointed our little craft toward the Highlands. It is always rewarding to see some of the great architectural structures from both the past and present in the Highlands, such as the Academy of Virtual Wizardry, the Observatory, and Olf Fort Caledon.

The Academy of Virtual Wizardry in the Highlands.

The Observatory and Old Fort Caledon in the Highlands.

Towards the border of the Highlands and Port Caledon, the fog seemed to have momentarily cleared, and we got a magnificent view of Her Grace the Lady Kamillah Haptmann's Duchy of Liongate. The mountains on her island are by far the tallest in Caledon, and the tallest volcanic peak seemed more than a little active, and could be seen in the distance spewing smoke, flames and lava.

The Duchy of Lionsgate.

We headed then posthaste toward the Port, as the day was fast dying. The late afternoon sun gleamed brilliantly off the waters of the Port, while the ships and boats bobbed rhythmically with the waves. There seemed to be little of the usual bustle of sailors and hawkers. Perhaps the weather being as warm as it been this High Summer, people decided to follw the customs of those of warmer climes, and decided to take a fiesta. Or mamybe they were preparing their own lighter-than-air ships to commemorate the day.

Caledon's usually industrious Port sits quiet and unburdened with labour in the warm sun.

I decided I wanted to take a closer look at our vast growing forest to the north, and steered the craft toward Tanglewood via the Duchy of Lionsgate. At first timid, and uncertain what the warm vapours of a volcanoe would do to a Zeppelin, I steered the craft close enough to get a view of the crater atop the mount, but not to close, as we pressed onward to Tanglewood. Indeed, it is a spectaculr sight to see a three-sim forest from above. The effect is impressive!

Poisonous gasses seeping from Lionsgate's mountainous maw.

Viewing the tri-sim forest of Tanglewood, Kittiwickshire, and Eyre from the air.

Having by now accustomed myself to the controls, and grew braver, and on our return trip, passed close to volcanoe, to inspect how active it was. Seeing the molten rock bubble unhindered was a most humbling experience, and fearing the noxious fumes could overcome us at any moment and plunge us to our deaths to in the ocean's depths, I decided to hastily move on. As if in vengeance, when I thought we had safely escaped the range of the insentient beast, a sudden blast of hot air sent us spinning out of control. 98 and I clung to the craft in terror, as I struggled mightily to regain control of the craft. I almost feared Cthulu himself would come forth raging after us, to extract the inevitable toll he would demand for my escaping the clutches of Vampyrism as a result of Dr. Mason's invoking Cthulu to free me of the dread disease. Finally acheiving mastery of the little zeppelin, we forged onward to Caledon I. Finally we were greeted with one of the most lovely sunsets I have seen in Caledon. The lingering fingers of light caressed the early evening sky as the sun sought it's rest in the bosom of the the earth, to suckle in comfort from the Mother till he regained his strength to begin his journey anew the next day.

The Jaws of Death grinning at us with hunger.

Sunset in Caledon Prime.

Continuing to head south, we were greated by a picturesque moonrise in Steam City. I was amazed at the number of zeppelins that can be found lurkng throughout Caledon's airspace, most many times larger than my little skiff of the skies. Turning back through Caledon Prime and Caledon II, as we entered into Tamrannoch, our eyes were greeted with an ironic setting ... a full moon rising over the Sanitorium. At the time I thought nothing other than that the Sanitorium's resident gargoyle would enjoy this picture. Little did I know that later that evening, Mr. Dagger himself would tell us of his RL need to extremely reduce his time in SL, and that he was in essence saying "goodbye". I literally cried, because over the past several weeks, he had becaome a good friend of 98 and me, often stopping by to chat with us at either of our estates, go werewolf hunting with us, or taking building lessons from me. He built me a beautiful sign for my just-opening boutique at my Pavillion (more of that in the next post, when I have put the last of my builds I will sell in it, and have an official Grande Opening!), which I will cherish as a memento from a friend dear to me and my beloved 98. His leaving will be a loss to Caledon, as he is one of the "good ones" that quickly escape the savagery of the mainland, and find refuge in our faire Independant Commonwealth. Even now as I write this, my eyes literally moisten. It's always hard saying "goodbye" to a friend.

Moonrise over SteamCity.

Full Moon over Tamrannoch's Sanitorium.

Finally, our journey had come full circle, and we returned to the Moors. My most beloved and I gazed down from the heavens upon my Pavillion, all of the architectural structures my own work. There is a sense of satisfaction in knowing one's builds bring great pleasure to others. Though I hardly make a Linden off of it, it is my most heavily-trafficked property, often being over 400, and frequently enough over 1000 people, and one time my traffic there was over 4000!

I had intended to continue our journey through the eastern Caledonian sims, but without warning, the zeppelin gave my problems beyond my control over my Fortune Telling Parlour. I asked my dearest love if he had a parachute. He said, "I used to have one." That boded ill for me. At over 250 meters in elevation, we had to jump ship. I guess what they say about cats always landing on their feet is true, because my Neko honey landed on the ground in no worse a state than while he was still in the craft. I wasn't about to trust my fate to the unknown, and donning my chute, I jumped. At 200 meters the device worked, and the chute opened, and I landed safely on Terra Firma. After some searching, I managed to find my blimp, and hiring a teamster and his wagon, had the aircraft carried back to my estate for repairs.

My Ballroom Pavillion and Boutique in an aerial shot.

Safely parachuting to earth!

I had thought that would be the end of my adventures in a zeppelin for the day, but I was sorely wrong. While I was constructing my Wiccan Altar later that evening for a ceremony that might perhaps cure the wandering werewolf of his lycanthropy (and my brother's as well), the irrascable Colonel O'Toole flew by in his lighter-than-air craft. After a moment of exchanged pleasantries, he informed us he must be on his way to a blimp joust proclaimed by Lady Eva. I first begged his indulgence to see his new lancer's uniform up close, the one magnificently designed by Miss Virginia Tombola. (If you haven't seen the uniforms yet, you can get a good glimpse at the Colonel's blog ... http://hiberniaskids.blogspot.com/2007/06/lancer-uniforms-delivered.html ). Thankful that I had repaired my craft, I grabbed an old ancestral lance from 10 generations ago, and 98 and I proceeded to Caledon Eyre. While there was great fun to be had, the aerial conditions were obnoxious, and the speed and manuerverability of my small craft were laughable, compared to most all of the other airships. Finally abandoning the lance as a useless weapon considering the comparison between my airship and the others present, I pulled out my Ordinal Malaprop repeating engine rifle. Needless to say, the wind wasn't right, and trying to fire a heavy ordinance weapon while flying in an imbalanced, slow-moving, even slower-turning blimp in the best of condtions is barely tenable, I finally settled for remaining stationary and firing hapharzardly and randomly at passing by aircraft. In return for our efforts, 98 and I were "honoured" by several rams from the impregnable Pearse war blimp. Finally, it was announced that the aerial tourney was over, and we all parted to our several locales of personal residence.

Sir Edward Pearse and Lady Christine McCallister-Peare's humongo-giga-gigantic Zeppelin

A bevy of airships.

Frequency Picnic's Hobo Blimp above us in the distance.

Heading Home.

With such an eventful day behind us, 98 and I headed back to his Tamrannoch manse for some personal time. Somewhere in Caledon Prime, we ran across Sir Edward and Lady Christine, and had a pleasant aerial conversation discussing the futures of Caledon, Steelhead, New Babbage, and the several Tombstone sims. After parting their company, 98 and I arrived at his manor, and the rest of the night is definitely not for the readers of this blog! *grins*