A Memorable Flight
This has got to be the most beautiful sights I have ever seen! No second thoughts whatsoever.
So I miss my friends in NY and not yet full used to my life in Seattle – so to get a taste of how life was, back in NY, I am traveling there this weekend. Right now I am about 30 min away from Seattle – wait, that’s flight time – so it should be around 300 miles (since an Airbus A320 travels around 560-620 mph in good weather conditions and I cannot say there is even a small blemish in the clouds today! So I must be flying over the Rockies right now – seems like it anyway – Maybe the gorges that I am seeing are parts of the Bryce Canion.
I wish I was a an artist – I wish I could draw this thing – but only if wishes were horses 
Maybe even the best artist cannot draw this beauty in a physical medium – you have to experience it.
This is my 5th cross-country flight – Coast-to-coast non-stop and I always liked the flights.
At the east coast nothing can beat the majestic show of pomp that NYC skyline is – if you land/take off at night. Oh I don’t know if you’ll get a more engrossing skyline anywhere else in the world – you just have to see the skyscrapers of midtown and downtown rise out (as you descend) of the vast see of light that is the tri-state metropolitan area (NY, NJ and PA). If you fly to NY from inside the US, you’ll get to see the orange glow of NYC about half an hour before you are anywhere near it. Then you’ll see the sea of light and then in the last moments of your flight you’ll see the Grand NYC skyline emerge from there! It’s like a Hollywood movie – I have to tell you.
On the other hand, if you land/take-off from Seattle during the day – that’s another sight. It’s not called Emerald or Green City for nothing. Seattle is an isthmus surrounded by quite a few water bodies and mountain ranges. It’s between the Lake Washington and Pudget Sound (which connects to the Pacific ocean about 50 miles west of Seattle) and surrounded by modern satellite cities like Redmond (Microsoft), Kirkland (Google) and Tacoma/Renton (Boeing), Bellevue (residential area).
And the whole area is so beautiful – you have to see it once in the summer – if you are in the USA.
But tonight’s experience is quite different from these sights – tonight is the first time I am flying out of Seattle at night. And I thought why do they brag that Seattle is the west coast;s 2nd largest city. Well I live and work in the heart of Seattle – and I always got the impression that it’s s small city (maybe 10 miles by 10 miles). Now when we took off – I saw that the story is indeed like the tri-state area – vast sea of lights!!! No doubt I am a prouder Seattlite (is that what we are called?) now! That’s nowhere near the best part thought…
I always say and believe that man can never meet nature’s beauty.
So right now – I am over the Rockies. It’s 30 min pat midnight. And a few days after a full-moon (I think 2-3 days). For the record, it’s 2 days after the lunar eclipse that I saw while playing tennis! There is a bit of cloud in the sky – more like a mist coat strewn here and there.
And the mountains below me are full of snow.
You can guess what I am about to say – Soft moonlight falling on the deep gorges and peaks on the mountains below me – strikingly highlighting the ravines and the whole terrain. And the misty clouds diffusing the moonlight in a dreamy sort of way!
Oh man – I really have never seen anything like this – Is this what you call ghastly beautiful?
There is not a single sign of humanity as far as I can see – only white snowy mountains and deep gorges – shining off the moonlight. Brings a mixture of feelings – lonely, scared and hauntingly beautiful. yes even though it’s so haunting – it’s so beautiful!
If you are reading this blog – please do take a flight out of Seattle at night – on a clear night – with abundant moonlight around. Well yeah – you are right – you need luck to see things – and I guess some people have all the luck! heh heh heh…
As for me, my colleague was talking of a hiking trip to the Bryce Canion sometime this summer – now I have to do it!
Good night – see you tomorrow at NY!