Flying from Phoenix to Seattle to Calgary
Saturday, November 23rd – time to go home. Well, not quite home for me – I’d spend tow nights in Calgary with my kids and their families. The first photo shows our view from the third floor of the Marriott at 07:25. Our flight didn’t leave until 12:18 but we had to fuel up the car and I wanted to be at the airport very early because I didn’t know how long dropping the car off would take – I remembered the Rental Car Center being a long train ride from the terminal when we arrived.
Returning the car to Sixt was extremely quick and simple, and by 9:05 we were already at the PHX Sky Train. This electric train first opened in 2013, and was extended to the Car Rental Center two years ago. It’s now 5 miles (8 km) long, with trains capable of reaching 38 mph (61 km/h).
A final comment about the car – renting the BMW 430i convertible was absolutely the right choice. It’s a superb vehicle and played a big part in the fun we had. Renting from Sixt was a positive experience at every step – I go a great price, communications were excellent, and staff was friendly and professional at every point.
We managed to get the front seats on the train, so I was able to get lots of photos of the system.
There are six stations on the line, and stops are very short.
Travelling with a view like this made the trip seem much shorter 🙂
Each of the PHX Sky Train stations has an artist-designed floor. This 200-foot-long one, called “Diné / Navajo Connection,” was designed by Jannelle E. Stanley in 2014.
We lucked in again and got comfortable seats right at a window overlooking the very busy American Airlines area, so waiting another 2 hours was fine.
At 12:34, 16 minutes late, we turned onto the active runway.
The Arizona Cardinals had two aircraft on the ramp. I assume that’s who made our Marriott hotel experience so unpleasant.
A bit of the Air National Guard lineup as we went by at 100 mph or so.
Goodbye, Phoenix!
One of the really big wins on this trip is that after 5 years of flying being painful – sometimes extremely painful – because of my brain injury, I once again enjoy flying. No, I once again love flying. This photo in particular makes me want to leave again today. Maybe just to Dawson or Inuvik, just to fly.
Seven minutes after takeoff – north of Scottsdale, I think.
Seeing landscapes like this is rather like looking at LIDAR images back home, with all the vegetation removed so you can see every detail.
At 12:52 we were over an impressive mine that I haven’t yet found on the map.
When I first saw this right at 1:00, it took me a while to realize that it wasn’t my imagination, we were actually going to fly over the Grand Canyon! I expected that we would be far to the west of it.
I did a fair bit of editing on the next two photos to get rid of the haze.
One more photo at 1:12 then I must have gone to sleep until we started descending into Seattle.
Downtown Seattle at 3:02 – the Space Needle can be seen at right centre.
The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge crosses Lake Washington.
I always like to see Boeing Field busy.
We were almost ready to touch down when full power got added and we started a go-around. The captain said there was a runway incursion. A go-around happens when the pilot has just saved your life, so I have no problem with them.
We had just over an hour at SEA, and at 4:58 we were taxiing to take off for Calgary. My initial plan had us overnighting at Seattle which I hate, then I changed the dates by one day – this was so much better.
We soon climbed into cloud, then at 6:03 we were descending into Calgary.
Calgary had gotten a very heavy dump of snow and things were a mess. We were delayed a few minutes while they cleared a place for us to park.
Luggage was extremely slow – I expect the snow was wreaking havoc with that system as well.
One of my granddaughters and her boyfriend picked us up in his Subaru WRX, so the snow was no problem getting us to Andrea’s home 🙂
I had booked a flight home for Monday, giving me a free day to spend with my kids and their families.
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