Mine and hubby’s fight back home, from the far distant city we had traveled to, departed super early. In fact, as we were boarding our flight, it was only 3am back home. No one wants to get up at 1am (back home time) and leave at 3am (back home time). As a result, our flight was half-empty.
This was fantastic, because there were lots of empty seats on our flight!
The window seat next to me was empty. Whoo Hoo! I love to gaze out the window whenever I fly. However, this becomes problematic when everyone around me is wishing I would close my window shade (like everyone else on the plane) so they can watch their movie.
And for my part, I can’t fathom why on earth everyone would close their window shades to watch movies they could watch any other time at home … when right outside the window are amazing views that are breathtaking and unparalleled! It’s just as well that I always wind up in the middle seat. Saves me from breaking “airplane etiquette.” (Ha!)
Our plane lifted off, beneath grey cloudy skies. Within just a few minutes our plane had broken through the clouds and was rising above … with the sun just beginning to peek over the cloud-horizon to the east.
I was thrilled to watch the sun rise above the clouds! What a special treat! Thank you God for joys of a half-empty flight!
Four hours later, as our plane crossed over into the airspace above Washington state, I was beyond excited to see the Grand Coulee far below! I’ve always wanted to see the Grand Coulee. In the photo below it probably looks to you like a river. And that’s true, it is a river – the Columbia River. However, when the Grand Coulee Dam was built, the water backed up behind the dam filling a massive deep gorge/coulee which ran for many miles eastward across the state.
In all the many years my family has lived in Seattle we have never taken a trip over to see the Grand Coulee Dam or the Grand Coulee. It was such a treat to be able to see the Grand Coulee from the air. (as an aside, the Grand Coulee Dam is basically in the very center, slightly left, of the photo, where it looks like the river ends)
Back in September, at my son and daughter-in-law’s annual Labor Day party, my daughter-in-law introduced me to ADSB-Exchange (Serving the Flight Tracking Enthusiast – ADS-B Exchange) which is a flight tracking website where you can watch any flight which is currently in the air.
I was fascinated by ADSB-Exchange and began watching airplanes passing overhead. Shortly thereafter, hubby had to travel for work to Philadelphia, and then again to Omaha, Nebraska. I was so entertained with ADSB-Exchange that I actually sat and watched hubby’s flight all the way back from Philadelphia. (I wrote about it here: Not alone – Daily Blessing Life Lessons )
As I watched hubby’s flight back from Philadelphia, what was absolutely fascinating to me was that the planes headed in to SeaTac … they all began dropping in elevation at the exact same spot – as they crossed over the Columbia River, just before the Cascades. Every single plane started dropping at that point.
On our half-empty flight home, as I gazed out the window (delighting in the fact that all the seats around us were empty, so I could keep the window shade up without bothering anyone’s movie), I was beyond thrilled to see the spot where we crossed the Columbia and immediately began dropping in elevation. Just like on ADSB-Exchange! But I was watching it in real time! That was the coolest thing ever! It was right here …
And there’s Lake Chelan! That’s so exciting! Back in 2007 our family took a short May getaway over to Lake Chelan.
With the largest portion of the lake (the lower portion in the photo below) being located on the eastern side of the Cascades, the area receives very little rainfall. The landscape around the lake on this end is very arid and dry.
However, as you can see below, the lake reaches far back into the Cascades … and as it does so, the landscape changes from dry, barren, and arid to lush and green, with lots of tall evergreen trees! It was so exciting to see Lake Chelan from the air! Thank you God for joys of a half-empty flight!
Flying over the Cascades! I love the Cascades! Thank you God for joys of a half-empty flight!
It’s Glacier Peak! Isn’t that a terrific view! Glacier Peak is considered to be one of the more dangerous of the volcanoes in the Cascades because it is so remote and hard to access (being “buried” in the heart of the Cascades). This makes it challenging to monitor for volcanic activity.
It’s Mt. Baker! I love Mt. Baker! Thank you God for joys of a half-empty flight!
Thanks to a half-empty flight the entire row across from hubby and me was completely empty. This meant hubby could move over and have spectacular views out that side of the plane of Mt. Rainier. It that not breathtaking! Thank you God for joys of a half-empty flight!
It’s my city! Stretching out on the horizon are the snow-capped Olympic Mountains. Then the beautiful waters of the Puget Sound. That “river” in the bottom left of the photo is the Montlake Cut – a manmade channel which was dug to connect Lake Washington (further inland) with the Puget Sound. The locks for raising and lower boats are located just a bit in from the Puget Sound. The locks were always a fun place for us to take the kids when they were little. And if you look closely, you can see a bridge across the Montlake Cut down in the bottom left of the photo. This is the area where hubby first worked, when our little family very first moved to Seattle almost 30 years ago.
Thank you God for joys of a half-empty flight!
What about you? What blessings has God blessed you with today?
