The View From Above

From a distance the world looks blue and green, and the snow-capped mountains white. - Julie
Gold

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain! - Katharine Lee Bates

As I was rambling, that ribbon of highway I saw above me, that endless skyway I saw below me, that golden valley, This land was made for you and me. - Woody Guthrie

If you have never had the opportunity to experience the beauty and splendor of our country from an aerial view, I highly recommend doing so. My favorite part of air travel has always been to gaze out the window, staring down upon the land. Until my trip to Vegas, I had only flown as far west as Charlotte, NC (is Atlanta further west?), as far south as the Virgin Islands, and as far north as NY. With the exception of my excursion to the Virgin Islands, much of the scenery has remained the same. On previous flights, the Cotton ad has been the mantra in my mind: "The fabric of our lives". I think there was once an ad that compared our land to a quilt and that is why that phrase has always come to mind while soaring above the land. Our country does resemble a quilt from an aerial viewpoint. The colors and shapes side by side creating an intricate pattern remind me of the quilts we have at our home that were lovingly stitched by hand many years ago. This trip broadened my view so much more! Although Ethel and I were obviously being made to repent for our sins by being deprived of the opportunity to see the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains from the seats we selected on the left side of the plane to avoid a jackass Duke fan (full story to follow in another post - yes, Ethel, it will come!!), it was still incredible to watch the land change as we traveled west. All of the quotes cited at the beginning of the post ran through my head at some point during the flight. (Ethel, didn't know all that drivel was going on inside the likes of my head, did you?) I wish I knew WHERE we were, but for some distance all I could see when I looked down were circles. It must have been some farm area where the crops had been harvested. I wondered why crop circles were considered to be so amazing after seeing circle after circle. OK, so they weren't as intricate as those that "aliens created" (whatever!), but still quite nifty from thousands of miles above. The circles led to the area I sarcastically called DIRT. Yes, there were crevices and carved areas to be seen, but essentially all that could be seen was orange-brown DIRT as far as the eye could see. Ethel was voraciously reading her book while I viewed the scenery below. I am lucky that she didn't end up smacking me because I interrupted her many times just to tell her that there was dirt outside the window. "Hey, look...dirt!" I did manage to break up the monotony by pointing out what quite possibly could have been a lake....the color of dirt. Following Dirt came the majestic mountains...some even covered with snow! Awesome! I believe I came up with an easy way to make my fortune during this trip...I told Ethel that for geeks like me who love to look out the window acting like a dog sticking its head out of the car window, it would be wonderful to have a booklet with aerial views and labels identifying what was below. "When you see the land covered with crop circles, you are above Kansas (I pick on Kansas because the geology prof I had at UNC constantly spoke unfavorably of the land in Kansas..."flat, like Kansas"....Kansas being said with complete and total disgust). The Land of Dirt is Arizona." How fun it would be to try and match the pictures to the views below! "Hi, my name is Kristin. I am a dork." Ultimately, flying above practically nothing and then seeing Las Vegas appear in the valley of the mountains was breathtaking! It was not what I had pictured at all! And then at the airport while on the runway...those casinos rising up out of nowhere...unbelievable! The return trip was equally interesting, but quite different since the majority of the flight was dark. Watching the sun set behind us as we traveled into the darkness was incredible...the sky was a multitude of colors: pinks, yellows, purples! After the sky was completely dark, I could only make out a few landmarks. The snow from the Rocky Mountains contrasting from the dark of the mountains was the only indication of land existing below. I could not believe just how dark everything looked and that only enormous cities with their multitude of lights were visible. Do people really live that far apart or does the flying altitude prevent one from seeing only the most populated areas? Even when the clouds and darkness blocked my view, I still could not keep my face away from that window. As far as flying goes, I hate the take-off and landing....the idea of how many things could actually go wrong combined with the stomach-turning dips makes for an unpleasant few minutes. Additionally, the ascent and descent pain my ears horribly! The first and especially the last 30 to 45 minutes of flight are pure torture. However, the pleasure I derive from pressing my face to the glass, gazing down at the view below is one I cannot fathom ever waning. HHHMMM....Deep thoughts by Jack Handy, er, I mean Kristin.

Ethel, bet you didn't know all that was going on in my demented mind!