John & Anne Wiley

2010/08/01

Civilized life above…

Filed under: Aviation,by Anne,Flying,Has Photos,Nature,NxNW Adventure — Anne @ 17:45

Recently I thought about what luxury it feels to eat avocados from our tree and chips from TJs over the skies in Montana, Wisconsin, and Ontario in the plane. Our afternoon appetizers – which have also turned into being dinner. We brought a few along, in various states of hardness and have waited until they ripen. They have spread out their ripening quite nicely, and we now have one left, and it needs to be eaten today. We spoon the avocado out and eat it with what are now crushed chips. The chips at the beginning of the trip were whole, but the bag is now is pretty crushed from everything around and on top of it, but still adds that nice salty taste to the avos. I thought how surprising it would seem to people to realize what a civilized life we have at three thousand feet in the air.

0066 Circles, Yellows, blue, brown

0066 Circles, Yellows, blue, brown

Today I sewed – a purse needed a repair as the zipper was getting stuck.  I started it while waiting in the terminal, and then needed to leave with the needle & thread still stuck in the purse. So when there was a quiet time I completed the job in the air. Most often we are looking at the sights. We also listen to air traffic or look at maps & charts, or weather. I thought about people below hearing a plane overhead, not guessing the woman in the plane (me) was sewing!

0069 Circles - Yellow
0069 Circles – Yellow
0077 Regina park & gov't bldg

0077 Regina park & gov't bldg

by ~Anne

Prairie Part One

Filed under: Flying,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,Random — John @ 05:25

Terrain is changing, and weather might be too. Looks like if we’re lucky tomorrow will see us reaching at least Edmonton. Today we droned across Manitoba and some of Saskatchewan, to land in Regina. The landscapes just west of Winnipeg offered an interesting mixture of shapes, colors and textures.

0126 Manitoba Twist

0126 Manitoba Twist

Vistas gradually changed, and some time after crossing the provincial border we saw lots of bright yellow in some of the fields.

0133 Sask Watch

0133 Sask Watch

Descending into Regina the city impressed us. Maybe we were expecting some desolate prairie hamlet, but it’s a pretty cool little city.

0136 Regina

0136 Regina

We saw lots of stuff that would be right at home in Santa Barbara: health food stores, college kids, arts and culture, and a magnificent urban park (the tip of which is visible lower left). Lots of evidence that civic leaders envision a sustainable future for generations.

We briefly considered camping next to Tripp at the airport, but a new rule prohibited that. Next we were offered a great new minivan for a cruise around town and out to a campground. By the time we found dinner and reached the campground our resolve had weakened considerably, so after noting the campground is next to the highway we opted for another hotel. Along the way we had noticed this 70,000 seat stadium filled with a roaring crowd.

0078 Rough Riders Rule

0078 Rough Riders Rule

Turns out this was a big game, and Regina won. People had come from miles around, so of course every hotel was booked. By now it was getting late for setting up the tent, and mosquitoes were forming into large squadrons. We finally found one room, in a hotel that’s still being built. We parked on the frontage road and lugged our stuff across an obstacle course with bugs dive bombing us to the door. I fully expected them to follow us in, but somehow they respect the lobby and our room as a sanctuary.

Now hopefully we can catch up on sleep, and bolster our courage for camping tomorrow.

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