27 November 2014

Stardate 2014.907

Top to bottom: Mount Adams (in state of Washington), Mount Hood (Oregon's tallest), Mount Jefferson (Oregon's second tallest) and Three Fingered Jack.

Oregon

Oregon has numerous beautiful landscapes. There are mountains, an ocean, rivers, a desert and lots of forest land. While attending graduate school at Oregon State University, I had the opportunity to summit Oregon's highest peak, Mount Hood, twice. I also had a failed attempt on Oregon's second highest, Mount Jefferson. Top to bottom in the above photo: Mount Adams (residing in the state of Washington), Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack.

_____________________________________________________________________

Snowcatcher and I are off to Oregon to attend my nephews wedding. It's a cold Friday afternoon at Denver International, and we're happy to be in the concourse. All in all things went well. We didn't wait too long to clear security, although my hat got stuck after passing through the x-ray, and I got in trouble for being on the wrong side of the conveyor to retrieve it. After check-in, we ate some food and took a stroll to our gate. We settled in for an hour or so of airplane and people watching.

Our Airbus 319 arrives at the gate.

Soon our ride taxied up to the gate. It's an Airbus 319. In short, it's a flying aluminum culvert with two engines hanging on the wings.

We were storks for awhile.

The tail section of each Frontier airliner sports a picture of some type of wildlife. We were storks today.

Drag race anyone?

After leaving the gate, we rolled-up next to another Frontier jet. Then we had a drag race to the runway taxi lane. We won!

The pilot was starting to give it the gas.

A Southwest airliner, and a Frontier airliner, line up behind us for take-off.

Front Range, urban sprawl, Westminster/Broomfield area

Our flight flew over the suburban sprawl of Westminster, Broomfield and Boulder.

Boulder Flatirons

A popular climbing area, the Boulder Flatirons caught late afternoon sun directly below us.

14,255-foot Longs Peak, Colorado's 15th tallest, enshrouded in clouds and creating its own weather (top center).

Longs Peak is Colorado's 15th tallest mountain at 14,255 feet. The peak is hiding under clouds and most likely creating its own weather (center top).

It's stormy over Colorado's Front Range.

The weather deteriorated as we flew over Colorado's front range...

Rising above the storm.

...however, we popped into the wide blue yonder fairly quickly

We're somewhere over eastern Oregon.

As we flew across eastern Oregon, heavier, rain-laden clouds floated below us.

Descending into another layer of clouds while on our descent.

As the airplane descended for landing, it pierced several cloud layers.

Dropping out of clouds on final approach to Eugene Airport.

Just as we broke out of the clouds, the pilot hit the throttle, propelling us back up through the clouds for another go-around. It was kind of exciting. The cabin became quite silent.

Just before landing, the pilot gave it the gas for another go around.  At this point, we're banking left for another final approach.  We had to drop back down through a cloud layer again.

Banking left for another final approach.


We dropped out of the clouds again and landed according to plan.

A little air breaking action.

After a little air brake action, we taxied right up to the gate of Oregon's Eugene Airport.

More Oregon to come.

Adios

2 comments:

  1. Gosh, I wish I had the skills and ability to climb a mountain like Hood. That would be a winter wonderland for sure!

    It was yet another awesome trip. Can't wait for our next adventure!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What is it about Mt. Hood? It gives me a similar feeling to the rather awe-inspired love I have for Mt. Shasta in Northern California. Majestic and solitary and near-yet-remote. What a great shot of the four mountains rising out of the clouds.

    Your airplane photos are making me want to fly to Colorado! The Flatirons, Longs Peak, good ol' Denver International - which, by the way, has just about the best airport food I've ever eaten.

    I hope Frontier didn't charge you extra to recline your seats ... they seem to charge for everything else nowadays. :)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...