The boys and I flew back to LA today. We left Annapolis early, finding this amazing icicle growing outside the garage this morning, and to more snow – including astounding quantities piled up everywhere at Baltimore airport. They’ve closed one of the carparks and piled the snow a couple of stories high – to clear the runways. And the great news – Alex found the camera! It had fallen out of my pocket and wedged in an obscure spot under my seat. Jacqui had looked there Sunday, but it was only visible once we removed some a couple of seats to make space for the luggage.
We flew via Atlanta, and we didn’t have much time to get from one flight to the other. I’d booked on Delta’s website, and presumed that if they offered the connecting flight to LA, it’d be plenty of time to get from one plane to the other. But not so much, Atlanta is one of the biggest airports in the country and the next flight was in a different terminal building!
But the mobility assistance guy who arrived to push my wheelchair was terrific. He got us from one terminal to another (via a dedicated subway that’s entirely within the security zone), and to the gate with 5 mins to spare. I’m so glad we had him along – even if I’d been able to walk that fast, I doubt we could have even FOUND the gate for our second flight in time. I’ve had assistance at each airport – someone meets me at the plane door with a wheelchair and pushes me to the luggage pickup where I’m reunited with Bertha. Without exception, they’ve all been very friendly and helpful. Come to that, everyone here is. Customer service people are obviously hoping for better tips or sales, but even your average person on the street is unfailingly polite and helpful.
Flying over Texas and Arizona you could see the economic issues from the sky – at least in the housing industry. Large slabs of land had been partially prepared for development – and then abandoned. Half built houses, large numbers of new subdivisions with streets and kerbs, but not a single house built or started.
I also saw a huge meteor crater flying over Arizona – after a bit of googling, I think it’s “Meteor Crater” outside Flagstaff as listed in Wikipedia. Huge, perfectly shaped, amazing to see from the air.
My friend Bryan from work met us at LAX – he’s joining me for a road trip to Sequoia National Park, Yosemite, Monterey, and then down the Californian coast to San Diego this week. We got the boys all checked in for their flight to Sydney – and succeeded in getting them exit row seats to give them some more leg room. We tried but failed to get some dinner in the space saucer restaurant – it’s only open part time due to renovations, and we missed them by a half hour. Oh well. After some debate we left the boys to their own devices and Bryan and I set off – we were keen to get as far north as possible to allow for plenty of sightseeing tomorrow! We got as far as Fresno (360 km north of LA). The roads here are generally much better than in Australia – not as well maintained, but built to allow for much more (and faster) traffic.
Driving to Fresno it looked like Holland, except for the occasional hills and mountains on the very distant horizon. Totally flat, and agricultural. A freaky feeling when it’s interspersed with very American strip malls, motels, etc along the road – like they’ve somehow put two continents into a blender, and this is the result.