Sky Photos

I had to get up at 3:15 Arizona time to get to my flight to get home

 Urgh!

I wore this:

pants: SoHo Apparel
blouse: from Macy's awhile back
sweater: WalMart
jacket: Tulle

Here's the beautiful city of Minneapolis from the tarmac:

And here's a fire training plane!  

I guess they start it on fire and have the fire department put it out?

This shed houses LOTS of salt for deicing during the COLD and ICY

Minnesota winter.

And then we took off!

And keep your hat on;

there were no clouds on this whole flight, AND I was seated next to the window,

so I took MANY photos.

Put your seat belt on and let's GO!

Look: it's Ikea!

And the Mall of America!!!

The sweet little treelined streets of the Twin Cities:

Minnesota is "the land of 10,000 lakes"!

Lots of big rivers, too.

I think this is the Mississippi, but I lost track a little as the plane circled around after takeoff.

Sitting in the river between the two white peaks on the bank

is a barge.  The barge is a big mostly empty boat they shovel things in 

(mostly coat and dirt sorts of things) and then push them down the river with tug boats.

The boats make a really deep low "waaah-WAAAAAH" noise.

My college dormitory was right along the Mississippi River

and I heard that sound so much over three years that it blurred into the background.

I smile when I hear it.  It's comforting.

Look at the beautiful colors of the fall foliage around the rivers:

Minnesota farmland is usually squares with the house/barn buildings gathered together in a little pile.

Each square is a different color, depending on what is growing there

(and whether it's been harvested yet!)

We flew over other states, where they farm in circles.

Weird!

Obviously aliens!

And then we came to the Rocky Mountains.

They are BIG and covered with snow and beautiful.

I had trouble reading my book because I was engrossed in what was going on out my window!

Here are some reddish mountains!

And a big red canyon!

Wonder which one that would be in Northern Arizona . . . ?

Here is the Cholla (pronounced "CHOY-uh") Power plant near Joseph City, Arizona.

That water is Cholla Lake.

I love the patterns on the ground.

Here's Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona (12,637 ft).

It's near Flagstaff.

Here's Roosevelt lake.

The mountains behind Roosevelt lake are called Four Peaks.

Phoenix is to the south of Four Peaks, so I usually see these peaks from the other side.

A neighborhood of BIG houses in the foothills.

Neighborhoods of regular-sized houses:

And downtown Phoenix - 

we made it!

We even got to drive over the airplane bridge!

And then Greg picked me up and I went home to snuggle my kitty babies.

It was a lovely trip and it's wonderful to be home!