Ecstatic to spend the Monday morning traveling through airports and around aviation, I was excited to take a trip on the “big planes.” Here’s a pic of us just taking off from Wichita:
Little did I know that this particular Monday morning, I would have the pleasure of seeing a good friend and colleague, also departing for Denver, at the Wichita airport. It was none other than our K-State pilot friend and Marathon runner: Heath! He wasn’t sure if he would make our flight, as he was “jump seating” over to Denver. Lucky him, he got to sit in the cockpit and made the flight! : )
*When we arrived in Denver, Heath was kind enough to show me around the airport on my lay over and also escort me to my departure gate. What top-notch service!*
It was not too long before starting to see mountains:
And some pretty clouds (Which is my most memorable part of airline flights. I remember my first airplane ride-and the big clouds! I think at age 6, I was hooked, even though I did not know it yet.)
And, I’m not sure, but I think this MAY be the Grand Canyon we flew over??
And soon we arrived in Denver, Colorado-known for its unique airport:
And here is whom I came to see: PAUL!!!!
Paul toured me around the area for a bit and showed me the coast : )
He took me out for a picnic lunch (some delicious local food) of fish taco’s and what I like to call “American Burritos.” The fish tacos were SO delicious. Lightly breaded fish with some fresh tomatoes, cilantro, lime….and some type of homemade taco shell. Oh, and the American Burritos were a collaboration of a soft shell which housed some sautéed meat, French fries, cheese…and I’m not sure what else, but it was delicious. What a great picnic lunch.
After our picnic by the water, we were off. I enjoyed the signs, like this one below-a combo of California and Mexico--"Calexico":
It was not too long before we met our good friends: The Border Patrol.
NO I didn’t do anything wrong—they just have lots of checkpoints on the way out of California. Each station asks: what is your residency. At the first stop, I looked at Paul, thinking "are they kidding? Is this a trick question?"
ANSWER: United States.
I just wonder what they have to do if you said anything but U.S.? As we are born and raised here, I was not in any hurry to find out nor did I want to cause any trouble!
And here, my friends, you can see the Mexico Border--that black fence off there past the "sand mountains" as I like to call them:
After several hours in the car, we stopped for the night near Flagstaff, Arizona. Next stop-The Grand Canyon. While this is a detour from the route home, we think it was well worth the trouble.
More to come on an upcoming post.
Here's a pic from driving to the Grand Canyon bright and early the next morning:
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