Zooming to the Arctic

It’s that time again. Adventuring to the Final Frontier. 

As I begin this post, I am on my way to Anchorage. And as I stare at the world below, it’s just hit me how much I’ve seen through the tiny oval/square-ish window of a Boeing. Oceans, cornfields, rivers, mountains, glaciers, forests, cities and towns, sunrises, sunsets, storms. Half the time I don’t know what I’m looking at, but I often wonder about what’s happening all the way down there. 

Whenever I fly over places like Alaska, or other areas where there are no cities or people, my imagination tends to run a little wild. Has that land ever seen a human footprint? Will it ever? How would I get there if I wanted to go? Where am I? How much snow is really on that mountain? How long has that glacier been there? Will it always be there? How many animals are down there?  I wonder if I was down there, would I finally see a moose? What kind of fish are in those rivers and lakes? I bet they’re huge. Where are the bears? I bet they’re huge too. How tall is that hill? How many trees are down there? How long does that river travel? I love looking at the clouds. I love seeing the shadow of the plane on the world below. I don’t love thinking about how high we are, but I try not to let my mind wander quite that much.

Pictures through those tiny windows never do the land justice, but often times, I try to get a quick shot. 

(***I’m 76% positive we just almost collided with another airplane. It was really close and it zoomed just below us. It didn’t look like a commercial jet. I bet it was Sarah Palin. Reminder to google this once I land). 

I can already feel the air cooling down outside as we get closer and closer to the arctic. One day I’d like to drive to the Arctic Circle. Just to say I’ve done it.

(***Update: I was not able to find any information on jets almost colliding mid-air above Canada. Nor was I able to find out the current location of Sarah Palin. I may have been wrong.)