Come Fly with Me!

Nothing like a quick little trip to visit my folks in the Bay Area.  My Aunt and I decided it was 'girls weekend', so off I went -- without my kids!  I haven't taken a flight in over five years. And with all the changes that have happened, as you can imagine I was a little leery of what to expect.  We flew out of a small, newer airport here in the Valley, and it was pretty casual.  Yes, we still had to take off our shoes and walk through a metal detector, but we've been doing that for years, not such a big deal.

We boarded our plane up the tail cone staircase -- that was a first for me!  We got all settled in our seats, and then we sat there.  The pilot came on the overhead speaker to tell us about the flight, temps in California, and why we were just sitting there.  Seems the plane needed a pitstop to change a tire.  They jacked up the plane while we were in it, and got it done.  We took off late, landed late.  It was beautiful flying into the city and being able to see all the lights at night.

On the way back, we left from an International Airport, and yes, security was much tighter.  After removing shoes, putting all the 'stuff' thru the xray machine, we had to stand like you see on tv:  Between two big boxes, hands raised up to our ears, feet shoulder width apart for 10 seconds.  I happened to be wearing two metal bracelets, so I was stopped, they had to be inspected.  Some gal wearing gloves came and turned them on my wrists as she looked them over, making sure they weren't.... well... you know how it goes.  I have to admit to a thought I've had after that, however.  If people are recognizable by their dental xrays, will they also be identifiable by their airport body xrays?  Are they beginning to collect those?  Oh such paranoid thoughts, but its a strange world we live in at times.

Our plane took off on time, no mishaps, no tires needed to be changed.  We sat on the left side of the plane, and according to the captain, it was going to be a pretty view along the coast as we flew south.  And he was right!  It was fun looking down at buildings, cars, life as it was going along at its own pace.  We landed in good time, a few minutes early, during the eclipse at sunset.  It was gorgeous, I tried to snap a few pictures and liked this one the best. (Can't tell its an eclipse, but I liked the heat it implies)