On the Road - Denver

So this past week, I was on the road in Denver. The folks I was working with in Denver are the best, nicest I've ever had the opportunity to spend a week with. The Supervisors even had a large fish tank in their office ... a group project. I couldn't resist contributing a little "no fishing" ornament.

Adding to my collection of airport photos. Here are some of Denver. When you first get off of the train from your terminal to baggage claim, there are these neat paper airplane shaped pointers that lead you from the train to the escalator up to the main terminal.

The main terminal looks like a tent. I tried to get a picture from the outside, but it was not good. This one is what it looks like inside. Very airy and open. A nice change from an airplane.

There is a really weird thing about the Denver airport in the train tunnel. The train has these cutesy sounds like a train whistle and clanging, which is ok. But there is some "art" and I use that term loosely inside the tunnels. Some of it was ok, but as you near the station, there are these arms with pick axes jutting out into the tunnel. Each is at a slightly different angle so the effect is that as the train whizzes past, it looks like they are moving to strike down. It was very creepy.

My schedule has been quite hectic the last few weeks. Between work and family trips, out of the last 21 days, I've spent a grand total of 4 nights in my own bed. Brutal. In that same time, I've been on 12 different planes and in 5 different towns. Add that all up and what do I get??? A big whooping summer cold is what! I started coming down with it mid week in Denver and by the time I left, I could hardly talk. I was severely medicated on the planes home. Looks like my big plans for the 3 day Labor Day weekend are hosed. I'm spending them in bed!

On the Road - Tampa again

My project in Tampa is ramping up and I'll be spending a lot of time there. I promise to not post too much about Tampa ... but here are a couple of photos that I wanted to share. The first is a shot of the neat mosiacs on the floor of the airport.

The other is a sunset shot of a thunderhead that was building and eventually dropped a bucket load of rain on us.

On the Road - Midland

On the road again ... even though I just got back from vacation! This time, I am in the same time zone as my husband. What a treat! Midland is a really nice, clean town. I took this shot of a herd of bison at a local park.

Some airports keep the planes on the outside,

Midland brings 'em right in over the baggage claim area. Actually, Midland is home to the American Airpower Heritage Museum which houses and preserves authentic World War II artifacts and memorabilia, including uniforms of Allied and Axis countries, armament, photographs, weapons and equipment, and, you guessed it PLANES!

Vacation - Day One

One of the perks … maybe the ONLY perk of being a road warrior is the frequent whatever points that I accumulate. This week my husband and I took advantage of those points to take a vacation. Two free airline tickets took us to Salt Lake City via Las Vegas. The Las Vegas airport has slot machines in the gate area. Hard core.

Picked up a rental car and headed for Logan, Utah for our first free night. Here is a shot of the Latter Day Saints Logan Temple on the hill in Logan. It was a very imposing sight.

We asked a local for directions to a restaurant with local flavor. Unfortunately for us, it was a Mexican food restaurant. Call us Mexican food snobs if you want, but we didn’t’ travel to Utah to eat Mexican food!!! It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t terrific either.

On the Road - Lubbock airport art

Passing through the Lubbock airport this weekend, I saw this wall sized picture of cotton. When you fly over the Texas Panhandle in the fall, fields are white with snow ... if it is a good year!

A few months ago, when I was going through security, I dropped a glass bottle of patchouli oil perfume. Maybe it was my imagination, but I think I smelled patchouli as I went through security this time! oopps!

On the road - Tampa

Traveling again. This time to Tampa. Easy direct flight on Southwest. A little choppy because of the storms.

The Tampa airport has something I've never seen in an airport before. An aquarium. Neat. This picture is a little blurry but it does show the nice coral formation in the middle. I think the coral is fake (resin). The fish did not seem to mind though.

The air, when I got outside the airport, seemed rather hazy. The evening news was full of information about wild fires around Florida and how the smoke was clogging the air. Lovely. People in cars commuting with masks on.

About 32 hours to get home

Into every road warrior's (and other travelers) life delays must come. My number came up for a monumental delay. I arrived at the Palm Springs airport at 12:30 pm on Thursday for my flight home. Thankfully, I had upgraded to first class. First my flight was delayed an hour waiting for the plane. Then once everyone was boarded, I noticed that there wasn't the usual movement of the flight attendants up and down the aisle. Instead, they were talking to the captain.

Nice man, Captain Veser, kept us informed for the next 3 hours as we sat at the gate. He let us know that there was severe weather in Dallas and did not close the cabin door and push back. Now to some who read this blog, this doesn't mean much, but for those who travel extensively, it was significant. It meant that he thought it would be a long delay and did not want us shut up getting antsy. An open door means fresh air and for those that are a little anxious in closed spaces, it means less anxiety. Finally, he told us that they were cancelling all flights to Dallas for the day.

The station manager told us to deplane, collect our bags from baggage claim and go to the ticket counter to get rebooked. Here's a tip, when they tell you to get your bags and THEN go to the ticket counter, ignore them, go to the ticket counter first. The baggage people have to unload the bags from the plane and load them on the conveyor belt ... that takes time and if you are waiting for your bags ... someone else is getting your seat. Fortunately for us, the airline decided to move our flight in toto to 8:00 am the next morning. Unfortunately, whoever put the new flight in the system neglected to put that it was already full. It just showed up as another flight. So on Friday, 50 people from San Diego who thought they had confirmed seats on the plane showed up only to be told they would have to fly standby!

Because I'm an elite member of several hotel frequent sleeper clubs, I was able to get a room without any difficulty in a hotel very near where I was staying before and very near the airport. As I walked to downtown, I remember that a local person had told me it was too bad that I wasn't going to be in town on Thursday because every Thursday they have a street fair. What luck! So my extended stay in Palm Springs was actually not so bad as people watching is a favorite pass time of mine. Jugglers, musicians, artists, and people with their dogs. Simply wonderful.

On Friday I was up at 5:30 and at the airport early because I knew there would be a long line to check bags and to get through security. I really feel for those poor TSA workers sometimes. I wonder how many times a day they have to tell people they cannot carry liquids in more than 3.4 oz through security?

On the plane. Again delays. The storms are still moving through Dallas. Finally 2 hours late, we are wheels up! About an hour out of Dallas, I notice that we have gone into a holding pattern. Subtle, but after the 3rd right turn, that's a holding pattern. We landed an hour late ... not bad.

My flight from Dallas to Austin was also delayed but DFW kept me busy by first sending me to one gate, then another, then back to gate 1, then to the gate that we finally used. Here is a photo of a really neat artsy thing in terminal C. You stand in the middle and there are instructions on how to move around the maze and then end up back in the middle and it will play a melody for you. Very cool.

Wheels up 3 hours late. Finally landing in Austin, I knew I was home when I saw the bluebonnets and other wild flowers in the green area along the runway. Palm Springs was nice, but there is no place like home.

On the Road again - Palm Springs

On the road again. This time to Palm Springs. Palm Springs is a beautiful place. This is my first visit. The first clue that this is someplace different and special is when you step off the plane and walk toward the terminal. The "concourse" is an open air mall like area that is covered by heavy canvas tent like. Very pleasant. Very beautiful. Like an oasis ... go figure! It is an Oasis!!!

I finally got home and could upload pictures. Here is one of the Palm Springs airport Sonny Bono Terminal.

Detroit airport art

One of my favorite things when traveling is to see how the airports "dress" up or put on a show for the weary traveler. In Austin there are local art displays that are changed every few months, piped in local music and live local music in the evenings. In Atlanta, there are sculptures of giant ants on the ceiling over baggage claim.

On the road last week, I traveled through Detroit on my way to Windsor, Ontario. This is a picture I took with my cell phone of the tunnel connecting Terminal 2 with Terminal 1. It's a little hard to see. There are moving walk ways on either side of the tunnel (the blue and green area) that are flanked with undulating frosted glass that picks up the color. The pink/red area is the round atrium leading into the tunnel. The tunnel plays a light show in concert (pun intended!) with the new age-like music. Very relaxing. Very neat. Imagine getting off a 3 hour plane ride and schleping to baggage claim when you stumble on to this!