I had been intending to go flying with my friend Mitch for years. Last month, we finally went — a scouting mission from Watsonville, his home base, south to Pfeiffer beach in Big Sur.

During the flight, covering about 50 miles each way, we flew over the coast of Monterey Bay, the Salinas River, the Monterey Airport. We flew over the evening fog rolling in off the bay, over the dramatic mountains of the Big Sur coast, over the hidden homes, road and trails of Big Sur.

Everything looks different from the air, especially from a two-seat plane like Mitch’s. You can open the window and poke your camera out, feel the wind on your face.

At the end of the flight, we were joined by Mitch’s friend and hangar-mate Jessy, an aerobatic pilot. The light was amazing for some air-to-air photography.