Thursday, May 18, 2017

Look At A Snowy Mountain On Way To Check Aging Arizona Relatives

You are looking out a window here at something I do not see out of any of the windows I look out of at my current location.

The closest such thing to my current location is Mount Wichita, about 3 miles to my southwest.

So, what is this fluffy mound of white we are looking at here?

The text accompanying the photo is explanatory...

Attached photos taken this evening of a snowy Mount Rainier and Glen Canyon Dam with Lake Powell in the distance. I am currently in the Phoenix zone for a couple nights. Tomorrow's plans may include a welfare check on aging relatives who reside in Arizona year round.

The emailed photos are from Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew, Jason.

The last time I saw Mount Rainier out of a window was way back in 2008, on July 20 and August 20 of that year, coming and going from the Puget Sound zone. Since my last look at Mount Rainier was in summer, it was not quite as white as Jason's view from yesterday.

If I remember right the last time I saw Lake Powell was in October of 1997. The last time I saw Glen Canyon Dam and the section of Lake Powell we see in Jason's photo was back in October of 1994, which was the first time I Houseboated on Lake Powell, from much further east, launching from Bullfrog Basin, floating as far west as Rainbow Bridge, before careening down the Moki Dugway on the way to the San Juan Inn in Mexican Hat and Monument Valley.

The aging Arizona relatives who live in Arizona year round, on whom Jason may do a welfare check, would be Spencer Jack's grandpa, who is also Jason's dad, and my brother, plus Spencer Jack's great grandma and grandpa, who also are Jason's grandma and grandpa and my mom and dad.

I assume Jason conveniently flew south from Bellingham International Airport. This airport has full sized commercial jets operated by entities such as Alaskan Airlines flying out of town. Bellingham is about 30 miles north of Mount Vernon.

Bellingham is a smaller town than the Texas town I currently live in. Bellingham is way closer to Vancouver, B.C. and Seattle, Washington than Wichita Falls is to Dallas/Fort Worth, Oklahoma City or Amarilla.

But, Wichita Falls does not have an International Airport with full sized commercial jets operated by entities like Alaskan Airlines. Not even Texas-based Southwest Airlines operates out of this town.

This town's lack of a real airport perplexes me. When I moved here such a primitive possibility did not occur to me. American Airlines is the only commercial airline way out of this town. And that is via an American Airlines off shoot called American Eagle, which flies you to D/FW International Airport, where you then get on an American Airlines plane to get to where you want to go.

I am eagerly awaiting Jason's report on the welfare check on his aging relatives...

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