In the air PHL to PDX

kw: travel notes, photographs

Note: click on any picture to see a 1-2 Mpx version.

I use the Philadelphia airport only once or twice a year, so every time I do the artwork in the terminal has been changed. This exhibit was an eclectic collection of art, some to be worn and some to be shown, mainly in metal and enameled metal such as this cute piece. It is about eight inches tall.

We are on our way to Oregon for Thanksgiving with my Dad and his wife of one year. We've been holiday hosts for so many years, it is good to have someone else take care of things this time! But our son's college schedule limits the length of our trip. We'll be there just two full days plus whatever time remains of today, our first travel day. Getting across country, each way takes a full day.

I learned something about the Philly airport. In the past, we've gotten there only a little over an hour before a flight, because we usually fly at 6am, a less popular time. But we were expecting a real zoo, and the last time, we were almost an hour getting through security, which made me a bit anxious. So we timed our arrival for about 3:45. That turned out to be too early! The airline staff weren't there yet and the e-ticket kiosks were not turned on yet. So we sat for half an hour: scheduled opening time is 4:15. By that time, there were a lot of people there, but still not the crowd I'd expected, so we got our bag checked right away, zipped through security, and had a full hour before boarding time.

In Chicago, we had a 2+ hour layover, which a late plane stretched into more than three hours. That gave me plenty of time to get good images of the Field Museum's Diplodocus and put together this panorama. The Field Museum uses the skeleton to advertise their store, the corner of which can be seen at lower right.

If we were willing to pay for a nonstop all the way to Portland, we could be done with the whole trip in six hours plus the two in PHL. Instead, we were 3.5 hours in O'Hare waiting for the four-hour ride to Portland. Going back, we'll have our layover in Dulles Airport (Washington, DC), then a 1-hour hop to Philadelphia. I've never used Dulles before.

In the air, the land below was under clouds until we got past Minnesota. I had a window seat and, in preference to watching the movie on a tiny screen fifteen feet away, just watched the landscape. Though I took a few pictures of the landscape, the air was hazy almost everywhere until near the end of the flight.

As we got over Oregon, I was able to see the Cascade volcanoes. This is the best of the images I took. It shows Mount Adams right in front of Mount Rainier. I boosted contrast quite a bit. We're looking sideways through fifty or more miles of blue sky, and I only partly compensated for that. I love mountains.

The last leg of our journey was an hour's ride on the light rail to where Dad could pick us up.