(Continued from “Forty Years Ago.”)
The new Houston Intercontinental Airport had opened less than two years before and, at the end of 1971, I was there for my first flight on an airplane. By the end of the day, I was going to be far away from Houston, far away from anyone I knew.
There were several of us flying standby that day. In those days, flights often flew at less than capacity and still made money. There was little concern that I wouldn’t make the flight, of course, I wouldn’t know until it was time to board.
After all of the regular ticketed passengers had boarded, the ticket agent started to call for the standby passengers. I was pleasantly surprised to end up in first class, the one and only time that’s ever happened.
The food in first class was excellent and the drinks were free. I was quite surprised with the shish kabob, though, which I had never had. Along with the more familiar beef and veggies on the skewer were mushrooms, which I didn’t discover until I bit into one. The taste and consistency were not at all familiar and I didn’t care for it. While today I do eat meals with mushrooms in them, mushrooms are far from a favorite.
While the flight wasn’t a direct flight, I didn’t have to change planes when we landed at an intermediate stop in another large airport.
One more takeoff and landing before arrival.
Our next destination has long been a Colorado destination – more tomorrow with a video photo presentation of our visit there, including a bachelor herd of sheep with big horns.
The first night of our 2011 trip was Labor Day – camped at Canton Lake, west of Oklahoma City. We had a reservation for 1 night at the Sandy Cove campground near the dam on the northeast end. We had stayed there in August 2009 and liked it well enough to stay again.
It was a good location for photographing the sun setting across the lake and I hoped to be able to do a sunset time lapse. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the sunset in one continuous time sequence, but was able to get two good segments, which are included in the video.
It was obvious that the lake was lower this year than it had been in 2009.
The swimming area buoys were certainly high and dry.
The video includes photographs from both Karen and me, two time lapse sunset segments and a short “home video” segment of our campsite. I’ve produced the video in three formats 1920 x 1080, 1280 x 720, and 640 x 360.
Canton Lake links and resources:
Our first day of travel:
I had four days off in a row and we took a mini-vacation to the Mississippi coast. It was hot, hot, hot – but, at least, we had the opportunity to see and do something other than sitting at home in the air conditioning since it’s even hotter at home.
We did get to see some fireworks.
I was pretty pleased to get these pictures. I’ve always had problems getting good images of fireworks.
Mueller State Park, Colorado, August 28, 2004
The snow on Pike’s Peak had fallen during the previous night. By the end of the day it was gone. It was a sure sign that the summer was drawing to a close.
We had rented a cabin for a week in an area next to this park.
The Mueller Park area was once part of Mueller Ranch, created by W.E. Mueller by combining ten ranches and homesteads that he had purchased. In the 1980s, the Mueller family designated the ranch as a game preserve. Later the ranch was purchased by the Nature Conservancy, Colorado State Parks and Division of Wildlife. The old ranch road in the photo above is now one of many trails in the park, used as both a hiking trail and a horse trail.
Related web sites:
Related posts:
Photo Galleries:
Cripple Creek, Old Colorado City, Manitou Springs, etc. – August 22, 24, & 27, 2004
Dome Rock State Wildlife Area – August 29, 2004
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument – August 24, 2004
Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs – August 22 & 23, 2004
Gold Belt Byway – August 29, 2004
Mueller State Park – August 28, 2004
Ouray and Vicinity – September 8 & 10, 2009
Pikes Peak – August 25, 2004
Royal Gorge – August 23, 2004
Well Christmas has come, and soon will be gone.
It’s cold here and, while we had some flurries this morning, it’s not a white Christmas. The winter storm that hit the southeast US missed us.
Our youngest daughter, her hubby and kids are traveling from the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee on their way home. Part of their travel was to be through some areas with snow, but, hopefully, it wasn’t too bad. Living in the north, they are familiar with winter weather.
We had an abbreviated visit with our older daughter – shorter than planned. Her husband had a bad cold and stayed home. She had a short visit with her mother-in-law and then came up the hill for a middle of the day meal with us and a few hours with us before leaving with enough time to get home before dark.
I hope that the rest of the holiday season – and next year – is great for everyone.
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Holiday Cheer.
December 25, 2010
Well Christmas has come, and soon will be gone.
It’s cold here and, while we had some flurries this morning, it’s not a white Christmas. The winter storm that hit the southeast US missed us.
Our youngest daughter, her hubby and kids are traveling from the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee on their way home. Part of their travel was to be through some areas with snow, but, hopefully, it wasn’t too bad. Living in the north, they are familiar with winter weather.
We had an abbreviated visit with our older daughter – shorter than planned. Her husband had a bad cold and stayed home. She had a short visit with her mother-in-law and then came up the hill for a middle of the day meal with us and a few hours with us before leaving with enough time to get home before dark.
I hope that the rest of the holiday season – and next year – is great for everyone.
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