John & Anne Wiley

2010/07/30

Missed Moments-GT&R

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Nature,NxNW Adventure,Random — John @ 14:00

You may recall that back on the 23rd we flew some particularly spectacular sights but weren’t able to share pix. Here then are a few from our exploration of the Grand Tetons and Rushmore. The view up-slope from our hotel provided a great start to the day as we could see the chair lifts taking tourists up for a low and distant glimpse of what we were about to survey on wings.

8168 Jackson WY

8168 Jackson WY

The airport is much closer to the Grand Tetons, and our excitement built considerably as we approached Tripp and contemplated our route along the range.

8252 Teton Setting

8252 Teton Setting

A few minutes later our magic carpet provided this view back toward Jackson with the airport just out of view to the left and of course the town further out of view beyond. Some peaks in the range have a distinctive “Matterhorn” look, as you can see in one of the snaps I’m about to put on my Photo Page.

8365 Back Toward Jackson

8365 Back Toward Jackson

Next we toured massive Yellowstone Lake, and this tiny slice of shoreline shows one of the many areas of bubbling hot springs and mud pots at the left edge. The lake is surrounded by a tumble of small peaks and a distant rim of tall mountains. As we traversed the vast valley I explained to Anne that the entire thing is a volcano. She tried to grasp that for a few minutes, looking for a large cinder cone or crater. “This whole valley to the mountains all around in the dim distance,” I repeated. It’s called a super volcano, the last time it erupted launched an ice age, and it’s due to blow again. Pretty sobering to contemplate that from a few thousand feet up where the whole thing surrounded us.

8382 Yellowstone Lake Pots

8382 Yellowstone Lake Pots

Not many miles later we searched a rock outcrop for signs of the Mt. Rushmore monuments. In the dim haze we first spotted a few large buildings and a parking lot so we flew toward it. Such an enchanting moment when rock outcrops suddenly emerged into crisp faces.

8468 Mt. Rushmore

8468 Mt. Rushmore

Now we’re off to find coffee and then back to Tripp for more miracles…

Wawa & T.Bay

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,People,Random — John @ 03:26

Big Brother and Cousin Corpo slowed our progress today. First came all the hoops of CBP’s new and improved eAPIS reporting system for planes flying across U.S. borders. In the old days they were interested only in people and things entering the country, but now they are intrigued by departures as well. If larger than a Canada goose flying across, you must answer lots of questions and carry documents. Once out of the land of the free you must deal with an entirely different Canadian Customs than 2007 or so when we simply taxied our plane into a box painted on the tarmac, picked up a phone to assure them we had no weapons or other stuff they didn’t like, and we were free to fly on. Today we waited two hours while two armed men drove the five miles or so from Soo Canada to that airport. We had failed to phone giving two hours’ notice of our intention to invade this beautiful land. Now we know, so hopefully next time the CanPass system they told us about will ease our transition North. Once they’d done their work we enjoyed a few minutes of easy conversation and laughter as people rather than the roles we humans so often become entangled in. At least the roles and procedures help us all feel safer, right? 😉

While waiting we tried to activate Anne’s phone for use in Canada. Verizon it seems has special torments for anyone taking phones into Canada. To get it working we were to dial a number on the phone, but of course the phone didn’t work. Mine somehow did, so it’s activated. Now I have the right to pay the better part of a dollar per minute of talk time. As an added bonus, the new Android phone I bought for the trip is equipped with a data connection that racks up charges even when not in use. I think that great feature is now turned off. Too bad that neither the data connection nor the phone voice connections work reliably. 🙂

Happily, we did finally take off to see how far we could fly around the top of Lake Superior toward Thunder Bay. The scattered clouds were too low for us to fly high and thus shortcut more of the highway’s curves to save time, so we kept within 5-10 miles most of the way. A nice benefit of flying low of course is the intimate perspective on our green planet. There were many small lakes in variety of shapes and hues, like this little gem surrounded by miles of forest.

0046 Small Lake

0046 Small Lake

The first airport along the Trans-Canada highway from Soo is in the small town of Wawa. Do you love that name too? At the edge of Lake Superior a couple of miles from town was a scene so placid as to be ethereal.

0061 Quiet Waters

0061 Quiet Waters

I just love the curve of the ripples in the lagoon. Be sure to click and see the largest version of this one. I’ll probably post larger versions of some snaps from this flight on my Photo Page too.

Rounding the tip of Superior just offshore is a cluster of small islets descending gracefully into the clear water.

0075 Floating Islands

0075 Floating Islands

At last we turned away from the moderate headwinds and sped toward Thunder Bay, where a long row of bluffs reflects the lowering sun.

0082 Approaching T. Bay

0082 Approaching T. Bay

It wasn’t getting dark as this photo seems to show. Thick clouds were blocking most of the sun, and much of the remaining light surrendered to fairly thick smoke from fires further North. T’Bay is off to the right of this photo, in the distance. Thus ends another glorious day on our North by Northwest adventure. We bid you pleasant dreams and happiness in your homes as we wander the continent.

Soo View

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,People — John @ 02:11

We’ve arrived in Thunder Bay after a tiring day that offered many invitations to frustration. Turns out this is declared to be a “Cultural Capital of Canada.” That got us a bit excited when we read it at the airport in Soo Canada. When I asked the airport line guy upon arrival here, he just stared at me speechless. Finally he stammered, “Well, we have some nightclubs…”

Meanwhile, thought you might like to see the snap I caught of the Locks as we turned East after takeoff from Soo US for a quick tour before turning West again toward the Soo Canada airport.

0038 Sault Ste Marie Locks

0038 Sault Ste Marie Locks

The Canadian side is across the top, the surviving rapids are below the darker green island with a cloud shadow, just right of the bow of the ship in the nearest Lock is the observation area we climbed up in, the white square building in front of the middle of the ship is one of the cool museums we visited. In a while we’ll probably post more words and pix from the day.

2010/07/29

Sault Ste. Marie – the Mighty Locks

Filed under: by Anne,Has Photos,NxNW Adventure — Anne @ 04:27

In the great Displays at the museum I learned a few things (John did a great explanation of how the Locks actually work) & these stood out:

If all the water in the 5 Great Lakes was spread across the U.S., the entire surface of the country would be under nine & a half feet of water.  That’s a LOT of water.

The size of the longest freighters going through the Locks are 1,000 feet long, just 250 feet shorter than the Empire State Building.  Here’s a photo of Part of one Lock:

0017 part of a Lock

0017 part of a Lock

The Locks are Very protected because of their economic importance.  In fact, a guard went through my purse to check for guns before we could enter the museum.

Soo Looks & Locks

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,People,Random,Tripp — John @ 04:03

Today we playfully walked back to the airport to check on Tripp, chatting merrily and pausing to look at flowers and other fascinations. Our plan was to arrive in time for the Wednesday aviation-buff lunch. Every week some local EAA (the group that does Oshkosh and much more) chapter members and others just interested in planes and/or flying, gather for lunch and socializing. Well, we were 1-1/2 hours late so only half a dozen were still around.

0005 Tripp at KANJ

0005 Tripp at KANJ

Still we had great conversations with them, and also ended up with a “courtesy car” to tour Sault Ste Marie. In many ways it’s an ordinary town with Wallmart and other businesses stretched along the highway. But down by the locks it’s a major tourist attraction.

0008 Workers & Observers

0008 Workers & Observers

A temporary “attraction” is the major construction work that’s disrupting commerce but entertaining at least two old guys who were watching the two workers whose helmets you can barely see down in the hole.

0025 Boat Tour

0025 Boat Tour

A bigger attraction is the frequent boat tours of the locks and surrounding waters. Some in each group seemed to enjoy every moment, while some seemed to be loyal accomplices who’d rather be somewhere else. I enjoy watching people interact, and this moment in time evokes so many stories in my mind. What was the woman in the gray parka thinking just before she noticed my camera?

The biggest attraction we saw was the old street parallel to the locks, lined with fudge shops, cafes, restaurants, antiques, curios, and of course ice cream.

0016 Street Scene

0016 Street Scene

The older girl in the family at left seems at the age where text messages are more interesting than ice cream (or most anything else). There are some great museums on the canal side of this street, and those too attract many visitors.

After our own walking tour, we hopped back in the car to drive further along the lock and tour the town a bit.

0031 Kite

0031 Kite

At the Lake Superior end of the locks we paused to watch a guy flying a complex kite. Want to guess how fast those cars and trucks on the bridge are going? I won’t keep you in suspense, or let you worry about them being so close together at freeway speed. They are parked. Occasionally they inch forward one car (or truck) length, and that gap passes lazily back along the line like the movement of a caterpillar (which might move at about the same average speed). No, it’s not rush hour, it’s the US/Canada border crossing. The entire length of the bridge is stopped in both directions. At least they have a great view. We wanted to walk up there, but were told there’s no pedestrian access to the bridge. We have an airplane that might make for a less time-consuming crossing tomorrow. 🙂

0032 Rail Bridges

0032 Rail Bridges

We were briefly intrigued by the different railroad bridges. Anne couldn’t figure out why the high one doesn’t go anywhere, until I pointed out it’s a drawbridge. It has massive counter-weights hanging on cables at each end, and the whole thing raises up so ships that are tall and wide can pass freely through the lock. The bridge adjoining to the left is a more classical drawbridge that splits in the middle, also balanced by the big concrete blocks on angled girders at each end. That one would only pass ships that are tall but not broad (I’m guessing older ships on which only the masts were tall).

OK, we’re off to dreamland. Tomorrow we’re hoping to reach Thunder Bay and beyond as planned. Weather looks likely to cooperate.

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