On another trip

We're away again! I'm writing this at the Courtyard Marriott hotel near the Hilltop Mall (!) in Richmond, CA. We explored the Mall last night after discovering that the charger for Chris' cellphone had been left at home in the kitchen (deliberate use of passive verb there). The mall has a little "train" to ride on from one anchor store to the next, if you wish, and the shop assistants are mostly Spanish speakers. In fact I used my Spanish last night. Outside our window, with a misty view of The Bay east of San Francisco, are two tall pine trees that sway in the breeze. We're on a level with the tops of the pine trees.

Moving walkway at Chicago Airport

Yesterday's flight across the continent was enjoyable, allowing us remarkable views of Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyscrapers. Chicago O'Hare airport was predictably huge and we had nearly 5 hours in which to wander around Terminal 1, which has 5 concourses. I liked the decorations in the underground passage between them -- jazzy lights and curves. Flying on to SFO on a direct flight rather than the two legs via Las Vegas that we'd booked (the Ottawa flight was late setting off so the agent rerouted us) we overflew a great river, the Missouri perhaps, the prairies and the foothills, desert like, of the Rockies, then the snowy steep mountains themselves, with spectacular anvil clouds over part of them. Orographic cloud over the coastal hills as we approached the Bay, Chris remembering the approach from the old flight sim we used to play with in Cwmbran 20 years ago, on the Atari computer we used to own. Our luggage had come ahead of us on a previous flight.

Thunder clouds over the Rockies

A long taxi ride with a Chinese speaking gentleman to where we're staying cost us $100, and it's just as well I had printed out the google map instructions or he'd have got lost. We crossed big bridges across the Bay past the container port and had good views of the city skyscrapers.