Trip photos
When you run a sword troupe, you need to check your luggage for things before you leave for the airport. It is very possible that there are things in your luggage that would cause problems at an airport.
But, knives left behind, we got to Logan airport with only a few traffic problems.
Sadly I was in terminal C for Jet Blue and my wife in terminal B for American.
But, we could wave to each other as we talked on our cellphones.
Sometimes texting does not mean what it looks like. She means my plane would arrive first.
No, really.
As I waited at the airport I discovered my camera now had some sort of blur in the images. I was not happy about this.
My plane did get there first.
The Dallas airport isn’t really hopping at 10 at night...
My wife did make her triumphant return to Texas after 35 years.
The next morning we went into Dallas.
We drove past where some famous person from my state was shot 50 years ago. But we were one road over, so no one shot at us.
Even from that grassy knoll.
There was some big demonstration going on at the Dallas city hall.
I was surprised to find vikings in the Dallas library.
Maybe Dallas is the real Vinland?
We went to “Trader’s Village” which is a big flea market.
My wife did like this truck, but we didn’t buy it.
(Wouldn’t have fit in our carry on...)
Driving across Texas to visit phoenixisrisen we saw how flat it really is.
But, when visiting her, we saw a rainbow, so that must have been a good thing.
I can see problems with some places in Texas. If you got the wrong door at this place and got the laser and not the wash, you might need a new car.
We did find the legendary lost city of gold. But, apparently it is now a restaurant.
Sadly, on Sunday my wife had to go home.
I walked around Texas. Long walk.
I did find my hotel glowed blue at night.
I did wave to my wife as she flew away. I couldn’t tell if she waved back.
But, I could track her phone and tell when she got home.
As we are living in the future, we used our video phones to talk to each other.
Note the fancy stand!
Monday I picked up the guy from marketing from my company and we visited a supplier in Fort Worth.
Tuesday we flew to Portland by way of Phoenix.
Flying out of Phoenix I got a window seat.
It did look like Arizona should.
I liked that the Phoenix airport had a bridge the planes went under!
Phoenix is very big. Much bigger than I realized.
It does eventually stop and the desert begins.
One of the things you notice flying into Portland is the volcanoes!
Flying over the area around Portland it reminded me of some of the river valleys of Vermont.
The Columbia River valley is pretty clear from the air.
But, Portland was cloudy when we landed.
By the time we got out of the airport the sun was shining.
Maybe the fighter jets overhead scared them away.
Those volcanoes are everywhere out there.
I did see one of the awnings I designed in the mid-90’s out there.
The awning is holding up, even if what it is attached to might not be.
After our tour of the building we took a drive up the Columbia.
It is a very nice drive.
The guy giving the tour wanted to go up to this house on the cliff. But, I didn’t want to take the 3 hours he said it would take.
I waved to a train in case it was perrin_o_ravnos driving. But, since he works on trains in New England, I guess it wasn’t him.
We went to see a waterfall by the highway.
It makes a nice little river that runs back to the parking area.
This is the same train track as where I saw the train. It must be something when the train goes over it just over your head.
I was told EVERYONE MUST SEE THESE FALLS.
They are very nice.
But, then we set off back to Portland.
In Portland we had a lot of traffic.
The Holiday Inn in Portland had a very big lobby.
There was that volcano again.
charliemc and her sister met me and brought me to where they work.
As it is the HQ of the Rose Festival, they have a lot of roses.
And, their office has a very nice view of the riverside park.
There was also the tale of the $28,000 piano, but that’s not my tale to tell.
They brought me to a Chinese restaurant where I had a black noodle dish I had never had before.
Portland is the rose city and they even show up on the utility access panels.
I did very much like the way the sun looked bouncing down between the buildings.
As I like bridges, they brought me to see most of the ones in Portland
There are other sites to see in Portland as well.
I was quite happy they took the time to show me around. I know they are very busy, so it was very nice of them to take the time.
But, having been up that day since about 1AM Pacific time, I did peter out fairly early.
Wednesday was my day to fly home.
I had breakfast at the airport.
The floor of the airport has a map of the Columbia river built into it.
And, apparently fish swimming up stream.
My view leaving Portland was not so good.
I felt a bit cheated by having a “window seat” where all I could see was the port side engine.
And, it was VERY loud. Loud enough for me to get out my sound meter app.
I was only back at the Dallas airport for about 45 minutes. Sadly all the restaurants in my terminal were the sit down and eat ones, so I just grabbed stuff from the convenience store there.
They did have a weird maze thing there.
Personally, I think it is sort of mean to put a maze in the terminal where folks are already having trouble navigating.
There are elevated walkways, a maze, two levels of restaurants and an elevated tram system that comes through the place.
I think this is Coruscant. I didn’t see any Jedi dropping from the sky, but who knows. I was only there 45 minutes.
I did get home. I had an aisle seat on the way home, so no good photos.
I was glad to be home. I am also glad to have met people I’ve only met on line. But, it is good to be home.