Day 8: Travel Day
Welcome
Yesterday we travelled from Las Vegas to Seattle.
We were grateful for our afternoon flight time which meant that a gentle 11am lobby call could be enjoyed by the more bleary-eyed of us in the tour party. There was one final ride to enjoy in our enormous Chevrolet Suburban and then we left it at the rental car return of Harry Reid International Airport, Jon saying a final goodbye to this mighty king of the roads.
After checking our bags, we headed through security and began the search for food. The best option by far was Pei Wei Asian Kitchen and I ordered myself a chicken Lo Mein and added extra vegetables as well as a sachet of sriracha. While we waited for our meals Gabe popped over for a quick spin on one of the airport slot machines and came back two minutes later and seventy-eight dollars richer.
Shortly before 3pm our Alaskan Airlines Boeing 737 lifted off the runway and performed a gentle climbing turn, offering us a final parting glimpse of the strip and the all-seeing eyeball which was furiously advertising its U2 residency. We levelled out and headed northwest, crossing the eastern part of the Mojave Desert and then heading out over the Great Basin.
The Ivanpah Solar Facility, a concentrated solar thermal plant which uses mirrors to focus solar energy on centralised towers which then heat steam for a turbine generator.
We crossed into Oregon and soon we could see the rich green of the Central Pacific Coastal Forests, and the peaks of the Cascade mountain range which stretches all the way from northern California to southern British Columbia. The flight was beautifully scenic, and we were blessed with one of the more brilliant afternoons we have experienced in the Pacific Northwest, not a single cloud in the sky to obscure the views of these rugged landscapes.
The snowy, volcanic peaks of the Three Sisters in Oregon, and the Pacific Coastal Fog creeping across across the Cascades.
The landing at SEATAC was smooth and gentle and once we had retrieved our luggage, we caught the shuttle to pick up our rental vehicle. Although we were at the head of the queue it took an impossibly long time to complete this process and I can only imagine that the enthusiastic gentleman behind the counter at Enterprise rentals was dragging things out because he enjoyed our company.
The best part of an hour later we were in possession of a Chrysler Pacifica, a comfortable grey minivan that is a refreshingly normal size. We drove to our hotel and finished our travel day in the laundry, creating enough clean clothes for the next leg of shows.
I’ll leave you in art corner with a fantastic sculpture that stands above carousel eight at SEATAC Airport.
