Chapter 2: Flying West

for mom ;)

It's a pretty short flight from Denver to SF, heading straight west, which meant we followed I-70 all the way across Colorado over mountain towns I could identify. And we were sitting on the left side of the plane, AKA the mountain side, for the flight. I mostly just watched the landscape change outside the window for the first half of the flight (the deserts over western Utah and Nevada had me turning to my book for a bit)

I don't guess I realized there was only 2 degrees of latitude difference between Denver and SF!

So here's the satellite flipped to show the view from left to right on our flight west and the terrain we'd be crossing.

over Denver

it wasn't long before I poked Marci and said, "I can see your house from here!"

Idaho Springs has this distinctive "split" look as I-70 passes over the top and the town spreads below it in this thin strip. At the top of the cliff towering over Marci's backyard is the interstate.

the northward hook up towards Georgetown

Over A-Basin and Grey's Peak

There's Lake Dillon top center (below) where Deana, Steph, and I sailed a few summers ago now. That's the Breckenridge mountains above it.

Colorado Hwy 9 running south from Lake Dillon

Over Keller and Red Peak, approaching Vail, far right

I liked how the haze and spots on the plane window look like stars here

Directly over Vail now

Over Eagle and Gypsum

Approaching the canyon on the way to Glenwood Springs

Glenwood Springs

Over Rifle, you can start to see the edge of Utah far right

and that was only about 20 minutes!

Over Utah and what I'm guessing to be part of the Canyonlands National Park

Over Death Valley National in Nevada

Crossing over the border into California over what I think must be Yosemite or Stanislaus National Forests

Over New Malonies Lake 

over the last set of mountains before SF

Approaching the bay, of course, we encountered the omnipresent coastal clouds that drape over the city in the mornings. 

hello San Francisco!

Next up: still heading west,  from the airport (top left) to Fort Funston (that bottom right green area along the coast)