[Leica] IMG: Monument Valley from 35,000'

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

I don't write things like this here very often but today was so
amazing I felt I had to share.

We had an amazing flight today. Even the pre-sunrise drive to the
airport (okay, a somewhat stressful drive since we over-slept by 30
minutes and had to scurry) was glorious with the Sierra sharply
silhouetted against the pale dawn.

Leaving Sacramento we climbed out over the Sierra, crossing the
eastern escarpment just north of Tioga Pass, all of Yosemite and
Hetchhetchi layed out before us. Then the town of Lee Vining beside
Mono Lake with the Owens Valley stretching southward, then Death
Valley from the east, the long sun angles really revealed  the
landforms: the dunes at Furnace Creek were amazing. Even the descent
into Las Vegas was gorgeous although the horrors of development by
mountain-top removal, was distressing.

But that was all chicken feed compared to the flight from Las Vegas to
Baltimore.

We departed to the west, circling the Strip (I think it's mandatory by
the Chamber of Commerce) before heading out over Lake Mead. The new
bridge just south of Hoover Dam has its complete shape. I couldn't
tell if it's open for use, though. We flew the length of Lake Mead
(which is down many feet) and then began to skirt the northern extent
of the Grand Canyon. I have never flown over this territory before and
the variety of land-forms and color was amazing to me. We were clearly
able to pick up the highway from Jacobs Lake (which we nearly flew
over) with its long valleys, and then the eastern-most extent of the
Canyon and then the merely amazing cut of the Colorado from Lees Ferry
through Marble Canyon.

We even enjoyed the escarpment of Grand Staircase Escalante National
Monument with US 89(alt) running at its base. Fabulous!

But then I knew we would see Monument Valley - and there it was. I
awoke from my exclaiming to Jan - oh look at that - grabbed my iPhone
and shot a few images. It's different from 35,000' but wow - it's
still impressive.

<http://adam-bridge.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Monument-Valley-Ariel/14151390_NqvKF#1043966285_LytUz-A-LB>

You should get both images easily through the links. One was shot in
iPhone "HDR" mode, the other is more conventional. The colors seem
quite true. The light was vivid.

We also flew over Mexican Hat and the Goosenecks, then the Four
Corners, saw Ship Rock off to the south-east, then (just because) we
got Mesa Verde, Cortez Colorado and then the Rockies themselves that
were in full color with aspen forests mixed in with the pines.
Amazing!

Clouds then covered up the Midwest until we reached the Appalachians.
The eastern range had good color but it was partially obscured by a
low thin cloud layer.

As we descended into Baltimore we got a fine tour of the city before
landing at BWI from the north about an hour before sunset.

A truly amazing flight.

Best to all!

Adam