The “LAX from the Westin” Picture Gallery

This gallery is linked to the subject matter of my previous blog.

Some interesting observations came to mind when I was trying to pick pictures for this blog. One is that quite a few of the aircraft that I used to see in those days are no longer flying. This list includes the Boeing 747 (with the exception of the later B747-8), the Airbus 340, and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and McDonnell/Boeing MD-11. There is even a picture of a freighter DC-8 above! The Airbus 380 and Boeing 747-8 aircraft only arrived later, and soon they too will be no more.

Also of note is that a few of the airlines that were in existence at that time are no more, including Continental, Northwest, and US Airways.

The picture in the collage above of the small rolling suitcase taken in front of the door of my hotel room as I prepare to depart Los Angeles to come home is symbolic of the nature of my work-related travels in those days. The bag carried everything I needed for a short trip. It was small enough to fit into the overhead bins of the aircraft I flew on, so that I did not have to check-in any luggage. I could get through airports quickly without having to wait at luggage carousels or in check-in lines. I was constantly traveling – in and out of hotel rooms, arriving and departing at all possible hours of the day. The passageways, the concession stands, and even the restrooms, of the United and American Airlines terminals at LAX became very familiar to me.

A person can do it, especially at a younger age, but you may not really fully realize what the experience of constant long-distance travel is doing to your body and soul, especially as it is happening. Some of us simply had to do it.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unlikely

These days, it is quite unlikely that you will find me in the kind of of situation you see in the picture below.  This picture was  taken near LAX, during a time when I used to frequent that part of the world for work.  Even then, it was quite a fluke to be be in a position to take a picture like this.IMG_1977And then, it is probably unlikely that Wonder Woman would ever be stopped by a storm trooper.  She would have been too quick for him.  Also, any sensible person knows that they are from different times in history, err.., story telling.  I am not sure she could rescue anybody in the shape that appears to be in.  And the storm trooper should probably be fired.  He looks quite harmless.  This picture was taken on Hollywood Boulevard.IMG_2278This was a unlikely sight for me – a waterway near Minneapolis full of dead fish and a few rusted vehicles buried in the mud.  But apparently, fish kill are not that unusual in Minnesota.  I do not know the story behind the buried vehicles.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHow likely is it to see two planes in the configuration seen here?    Take a guess as to where this picture was taken at.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Weekly Photo Challenge: Half-Light

“Morning Has Broken” as performed by Cat Stevens
Eleanor Farjeon

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the world
Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dew fall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God’s recreation of the new day

A farm in the countryside beside the C&O Canal towpath trail.

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Early morning light on the Potomac

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Boat goes out into the bay early in the morning at Paihia, New Zealand.

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Daybreak at Rotorua, New Zealand.

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“The End”
The Beatles

Oh yeah, all right
Are you going to be in my dreams
Tonight?

And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love
You make

The sun sets over LAX.

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Other entries for the challenge here.

Continue reading Weekly Photo Challenge: Half-Light