Flying over water

Coming back from Seattle, I changed planes in Midway, Chicago. I used to think Midway was 'midway' between something and something else. But going west I had to change from B Concourse to A Concourse to catch the next plane. I walked past a huge display on the way and discovered that Midway Airport was named after the WWII Pacific Battle for Midway Island. I didn't have time to read the whole display because I had to get something to eat, go to the bathroom and catch a plane. But I was shocked and amazed to know that. There was some big Chicago connection to the Battle of Midway but I really didn't get it walking by fast.

On the way back I changed planes again at Midway. And we flew back to Hartford over water.

I didn't have a book that obsessed me, as I did from Hartford to Midway, so I stared out my window seat window.

We circled and flew out off the lake front--big buildings I recognized--all the way across Lake Michigan. Since 1/5 of all the fresh water in the world is in the Great Lakes, they are big, bigger than you and I might imagine. It was like flying over a sea. It went on and on, that Lake. Then we flew over a slice of northernmost Ohio and hit Lake Erie. Again, lots of water. Not as big as it's cousin Michigan, but Erie takes a while.

Somewhere around Buffalo we turned a tad south and flew over the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. From the air you can see why they're called 'fingers'. They go south to north and are much longer than wide. There are 11 of them, you know, all with odd names. And one of them is the deepest lake in the US, almost 700 feet deep, the bottom of that lake is below sea level.

(I checked with my hand to make sure my flotation device was indeed under my seat. It was.)

I think we flew over every one of the Finger Lakes on the way to Hartford.

I've never been on an airplane that flew over so much water that wasn't going to Europe. And after being in Seattle, a place surrounded and overwhelmed by bodies of water, it was a fitting end to my trip.

(In Seattle, I ate dinner on Friday night at a restaurant on a huge fresh water lake in the middle of the city, which is surrounded on the West and North and South by salt water. That lake is where Tom Hank's houseboat was in "Sleepless in Seattle". The things you learn when you travel....)