Departure Day

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I flew from Cleveland to Anchorage, by way of Chicago. The Cleveland airport seems to have had a proliferation of shops along the concourses. It never fails that my plane departs and lands at the VERY END of the concourse, making for a long, long trek to the gate. I always thought that they should just put gates 25-30 close to the hub and skip the 24 empty gates in between, but now I see that the reason they have 30 gates is so they can fit in more stores, bars, and restaurants!

The strangest thing I saw on the plane from Cleveland to Chicago is a guy with a nearly shaved head, except for a block "O" (looked like OSU) growing out of the crown of his head. Weird.

While Cleveland airport's restrooms are frequently in need of attention, Chicago (ORD) has the coolest restrooms! They have sink troughs with no-touch water, soap, AND dryer stations! NO drips, and NO mess! Way to go, ORD! I wish I'd taken a picture of that - it was THAT cool!

After leaving Chicago, about 3 hours into the trip the pilot said we were over Medicine Hat, near Calgary. From my drive last fall, I knew we were relatively far west, and I thought, "Cool, we're almost there." Nope. Looking at a map, I could see just how far we still had to go...nearly 1,000 miles more!

I lucked out and was seated next to a woman flying home to Alaska, so as we got closer, she pointed out landmarks. The mountains were beautiful. So striking! Even after we crossed into Alaska, we still had a distance to go.

When we landed, I saw my first moose, up close and right in the airport! (Taxidermy, of course, but very impressive size!)

From there I headed to My Place, Anchorage to meet up with Virginia.

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