Click to enlarge pictures.
Through a little haze you can see the muddy Mississippi River. Notice the clear blue oxbow lake - once a part of the muddy river - now cut off by sediments.
Nothing is quite like flying coast to coast for 5 sunny hours - facing north - with the sun at your back - and watching landscape go by.
Lulu and I were headed to Pasadena for the Rose Parade and then on to a week in Hawaii. Because all the planes seats were not filled - we were upgraded to the first class cabin. What that means is simply more butt room and leg room - free booze - and the first one out of the plane. I would never pay the $2000 to $3000 they charge - but since I was already using frequent flyer miles to fly free for my ticket - if they wanted me to sit up there - I might as well go.
The flight left Atlanta at noon - and arrived in Los Angeles around 5 PM our time - 2 PM their time. It always amazes me that you can fly west 5 hours and land at close to the time you left. To occupy some of my time in the air - I had my camera and my GPS.
Here are some of the highlights -
The GPS shows exactly where we crossed the rive from Mississippi to Arkansas. We crossed right over Bill and Hillary Clinton's old home in Little Rock. We were going 428 MPH - 7 miles high - due west.
The blue looking thing in the middle is Ship Rock - New Mexico. It is an ancient volcanic neck left over after years of erosion. In our living room - I have a picture of my sons in front of this giant monolith.
In Arizona you see the Meteor Crater. About 20,000 years ago - a meteor about as big as the White House hit in the desert creating a giant hole that would hold about 10 Rose Bowls. We visited there in 1977 when we took our camper across the USA. Drew was 6 months old - and my Dad was 61 and he went with us. Along the top of the picture you say the famous Route 66.
Meteor Crate - Arizona - I was looking north - the sun was in the west.
The Colorado River forms the border between California on the left and Arizona on the right. They dammed up the river to bring water to the desert by irrigation. It formed Lake Havasu. On the "island" in the middle is the city of Lake Havasu.
A closer view of Lake Havasu shows London Bridge. To promote the city - the people went to London and bought the old London Bridge. They took it apart piece by piece and re-assembled it here. There are several restaurants and river walks around the bridge. Lulu and I visited there about 5 years ago on one of her convention trips to Sand Diego.
"Coming in to Los Angeles" - it was a clear day - you can see the Hollywood sign - even another plane landing next to us. Downtown Los Angeles is really disappointing except for the "Dragnet" Police Headquarters and the Farmers' Market.
After we landed - we drove to our motel on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. Next day we attended the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl. Then we were off to Hawaii.
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