Saturday morning I was taken to the Salt Lake City airport where I spent my last bit of time with my family for what will be at least 3 months but likely at least double that. It was a good time but really quite self explanatory. I made it to my gate and characteristically chose to be one of the last passengers to board, found my seat, and got settled. The captain announced his intentions for routing us around Colorado due to some turbulence there and the general consensus from the cabin was that no one really cared as long as we reached our destination on time. The last passenger boarded, the captain announced that we were cleared for our new flight plan, and we eventually started making our way away from the gate, a move that lasted all of about literally 20 seconds before we hear the captain telling us that for our new flight plan we need about 1000lbs more fuel so we have to go back to the gate to refuel. After about 10 minutes of fueling he tells us that we need some clearance and a little bit of paperwork before we can go anywhere at which point the sentiment from the cabin was something along the lines of "what the heck were we cleared for 15 minutes ago and why does that change after re-fueling??" At any rate, we finally made it off the ground about 40 minutes behind schedule. After a long week of skiing I had anticipated sleeping during the 2-3 hour flight to Dallas but I decided to delay my sleep during take-off due to the beautiful mountains seen through my window. Keep in mind, living in the flattest state in the country I am completely deprived of mountains or even hills.
What I saw with my face pressed against the little airplane window was breathtaking. It started out with the mountains that rose up from around the city of Salt Lake. Rugged masses of land shot high up into the air with small bits of white snow on their peaks. These mountains merged into others and they gradually changed shape and contours as we cruised past far above them. My idea of isolation was restructured as I watched paved roads run for miles over the landscape weaving around canyons to stay on flat ground. Occasionally a rooftop would glint in the sun for a few seconds and then disappear into the rocky panorama as if it was never there at all. I took time to imagine myself out on those roads either coming from or going to civilization. It seemed completely solitary out there. I was spellbound as shallow rivers that fed from mountains snaked along in valleys they had cut out over hundreds of thousands of years. I was mesmerized by the plateaus that would drop off vertically on one side and rise up to a tall summit on the other. My eyes became tired as I did everything I could to stay awake staring at the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Eventually my body could hold out no longer and I woke up to the captain announcing our descent into Dallas. When I looked out the window, all I saw was a vastly expansive plain with evident signs of farming.
The Dallas airport was much less interesting this time around. I neglected to mention it before but on my way to Salt Lake City I had a 1hour 50minute layover in DFW and managed to meet up with Christina for almost an hour outside of security. It was a real treat to see her again and made my Dallas experience extra special. Unfortunately on my way back I got off the plane and literally ran to my gate and made it there as soon as they called my zone. It was neither special nor fun especially as compared to my previous experience.
The last leg of the flight was enjoyable because in the final 30 minutes I looked out the window and saw fireworks bringing sparkling life to the land below us. It was a cool perspective on something many of us are very familiar with. I wouldn't say that it was necessarily better to see dozens of firework shows at once from a distance than it is to see one show close up, but it was a new and interesting perspective.
Dominique picked me up and took me to a friend of her's house and at about 11:30 we all went to Sandbar to bring in the new year. Happy 2012!!
What I saw with my face pressed against the little airplane window was breathtaking. It started out with the mountains that rose up from around the city of Salt Lake. Rugged masses of land shot high up into the air with small bits of white snow on their peaks. These mountains merged into others and they gradually changed shape and contours as we cruised past far above them. My idea of isolation was restructured as I watched paved roads run for miles over the landscape weaving around canyons to stay on flat ground. Occasionally a rooftop would glint in the sun for a few seconds and then disappear into the rocky panorama as if it was never there at all. I took time to imagine myself out on those roads either coming from or going to civilization. It seemed completely solitary out there. I was spellbound as shallow rivers that fed from mountains snaked along in valleys they had cut out over hundreds of thousands of years. I was mesmerized by the plateaus that would drop off vertically on one side and rise up to a tall summit on the other. My eyes became tired as I did everything I could to stay awake staring at the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Eventually my body could hold out no longer and I woke up to the captain announcing our descent into Dallas. When I looked out the window, all I saw was a vastly expansive plain with evident signs of farming.
The Dallas airport was much less interesting this time around. I neglected to mention it before but on my way to Salt Lake City I had a 1hour 50minute layover in DFW and managed to meet up with Christina for almost an hour outside of security. It was a real treat to see her again and made my Dallas experience extra special. Unfortunately on my way back I got off the plane and literally ran to my gate and made it there as soon as they called my zone. It was neither special nor fun especially as compared to my previous experience.
The last leg of the flight was enjoyable because in the final 30 minutes I looked out the window and saw fireworks bringing sparkling life to the land below us. It was a cool perspective on something many of us are very familiar with. I wouldn't say that it was necessarily better to see dozens of firework shows at once from a distance than it is to see one show close up, but it was a new and interesting perspective.
Dominique picked me up and took me to a friend of her's house and at about 11:30 we all went to Sandbar to bring in the new year. Happy 2012!!
