Sometimes I think I should have been a pilot.
I’m not actually sure the realities of that job would be the best fit for me – and I love my actual job – but I know for sure that I’d never get sick of gazing down at our beautiful planet from the air.
I’m forever a window seat person. I’m that passenger who spends the entire flight with their face pressed against the glass (I mean, not actually pressed against it, because gross) staring out at the scenery. I put a lot of thought into choosing my seat, looking at the likely flight path and aiming for whichever side of the plane will offer the best views. At this point, I pretty much have it down to an art form. Or maybe I’m just a dork.
Anyway. I flew to California this past spring, and it was the first time I’ve flown west since we moved here. And wow, have I been missing out! The Colorado mountains are always beautiful, but looking down on jagged snowcapped peaks from the air gave a whole new meaning to the word.
In fact, the entire route was almost completely cloudless, so I spent the whole flight using the live flight-tracker and my knowledge of the Western US to identify (and take way too many photos of) the highlights. I learned that the layered red rock landscape of southern Utah looks even more bizarre from the air, the Grand Canyon is enormous (I mean, I knew that. I’ve been there. But seeing it from the air really emphasized just how huge it is), and Lake Powell and Lake Mead really are frighteningly low. Also, there’s a lot of desert in southern Nevada and California.
I was hoping to have equally wonderful views from the other side of the plane on my flight back to Colorado, but a 2+ hour weather-related delay resulted in a nighttime flight, the only views being the occasional burst of city lights and a whole lot of darkness. Better luck next time, I suppose.
This was actually my first ever visit to Los Angeles, and I’ll be writing all about it in upcoming posts. But for today, I’m just going to share some of my favorite airborne photos. They’re not the best quality since they were taken through the window (obviously) but hopefully they still do a decent job of showcasing the beautiful views I enjoyed from the air.
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