Although I don’t fly as often as I used to—for which I am thankful—I still always enjoy sitting by a window and seeing the world go by 20,000 feet below. Given the weather—cold and clear—I was excited about flying from Detroit to Burlington today anticipating views of ice on Lake Erie and Lake Huron. The image above is a NASA photograph from a satellite made in January 2005.
As cold as it has been the past several weeks, I was pretty sure there would be significant coverage. I was also pretty sure some would be a “jigsaw puzzle” of ice, rather than one large surface, because temperatures, while cold, had fluctuated quite a bit which could result in the ice breaking up and refreezing.
So, because I am no longer a frequent flyer who automatically gets whatever seat I want, I paid $15 for a seat not over the wing on the north side of the plane. I confess, my mind went a bit crazy: “Why pay these guys extra on a seat on a flight that was already expensive? There is not even any more leg room, just a window without a wing below! And the window will probably be all crapped up. Blah, blah, blah!” On and on until I said to myself “STOP! It is only $15 and it gives me a great possibility of seeing some stunning patterns.”
I was not disappointed and certainly got a $15 value…and then some.
No movies for me when I have views like these!
Still Learning To See 
Awesome
Clearly, the definition of “Happy Travels”
gorgeous!!! xxo
On Sun, Jan 28, 2018 at 11:05 PM, Still Learning To See wrote:
> John Snell posted: “Although I don’t fly as often as I used to—for which I > am thankful—I still always enjoy sitting by a window and seeing the world > go by 20,000 feet below. Given the weather—cold and clear—I was excited > about flying from Detroit to Burlington today anticipa” >
Really great that you knew to tell yourself “STOP”–and you certainly captured some priceless images for the cost of the hourly minimum wage in Seattle! 🙂 You must have enough airplane window photographs to do an aerial show! I’ve saved that first image in my “John” photography folder–that dark blue line cutting through those incredible swirls is magical. Thanks yet again for your sight and knack for finding beauty everywhere.
John, you are a great photographer because you saw it coming. You gathered from experience the possibilities and you were ready. The images are beyond description. Our planet’s beautiful face. You got it. Thanks for sharing. t
Gorgeous — and all the more so knowing you were able to circumvent the scratched, double-paned airplane windows!