Althouse: Althouse flies.

August 12, 2015

Althouse flies.

I almost never do this.

Got here yesterday:

68 comments:

Michael K said...: Looks like Vegas.; 8/12/15, 10:18 AM
CWJ said...: Both of those photos are very cool. Love the composition of the second one. Doubly cool if taken from a moving car. I presume that was the case.; 8/12/15, 10:18 AM
mccullough said...: Inspecting overpasses is no way to vacation.; 8/12/15, 10:21 AM
Unknown said...: Looks like Phoenix to me.; 8/12/15, 10:24 AM
Emil Blatz said...: Phoenix or Vegas. Flying coach?; 8/12/15, 10:27 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I'm pretty sure it's not Rio de Janeiro, judging from that billboard.; 8/12/15, 10:30 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne aka Doug Emhoff's Pimp Hand said...: Not Phoenix. Doesn't look like the area around Sky Harbor.; 8/12/15, 10:30 AM
Birches said...: I say Phoenix. Could be off the 202 by Sky Harbor.; 8/12/15, 10:36 AM
Michael in ArchDen said...: I think it's LAX...; 8/12/15, 10:38 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Wherever it is, I bet Trump is speaking:); 8/12/15, 10:43 AM
ndspinelli said...: Unless it's for a funeral or wedding, only fools and cheapskates fly to palm tree areas in August.; 8/12/15, 10:44 AM
Scott said...: It's definitely Las Vegas. The billboard on the right side of the second photo is advertising a Copa Air (United) flight to Rio. United has direct flights to Rio from Las Vegas.; 8/12/15, 10:46 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne aka Doug Emhoff's Pimp Hand said...: Definitely not Phoenix. That's not AZDOT landscape gravel and there are no saguaros. Those are Date Plams, which don't grow well in Arizona, so I'm guessing Palm Sprints maybe?; 8/12/15, 10:48 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne aka Doug Emhoff's Pimp Hand said...: Sorry, "Palm Springs".; 8/12/15, 10:48 AM
rhhardin said...: I flew in 1986 once (People Express, $25), and before that in the late 70s. Huge high mileage flight schedule before 1976.

Today if you must go, drive.; 8/12/15, 10:51 AM
Kevin said...: My recent attempt to join my wife on her business trip to Poland resulted in sitting on the tarmac for 3 hours while they tried to fix an engine. They finally cancelled the flight, and there were no other options until the next day. I got a voucher for a hotel 30 minutes away from O'Hare. A HoJo that was the worst hotel I've ever seen, a true flea-bag. Stains on the carpet, everywhere. I was glad I didn't have a UV light to shine around my room. The only rebook I could get would get me to Krakow Friday evening instead of Thursday morning. Turning 5 days in Krakow to 3. For an $1,800 airfare. Decided to just go back home. The airline said they'd refund the full fare. A week later, I get an email voucher for a future flight. Not. Gonna. Happen. Disputed the charge on my credit card. Got the full refund.

Traveling is FUN...!; 8/12/15, 10:56 AM
Birches said...: Sprawl in the other picture is too big to be Palm Springs. But that waterish looking feature is throwing me off. Did the giant storm yesterday actually fill one of the washes/"rivers" in the Valley? Looks too green. Gotta be somewhere else.; 8/12/15, 10:56 AM
Coconuss Network said...: "America, Home of the Free and the Brave". Well, not free but definitely brave.; 8/12/15, 11:03 AM
MadisonMan said...: If you've had to fly, I hope it's on someone else's dime.

The timing is not great, either. Flying to the SW in August? When it's such a delightfully cool week here in Madison?; 8/12/15, 11:04 AM
YoungHegelian said...: Oh, I'll bet the Professor's in Vegas for the International Society of Legal Bloggers conference. She should have told us, her beloved crypto-fascist commenteriat, so that we could have shown up in our brown shirts & kept "order".

"Shaddup, fool, da perfessor's talkin'."; 8/12/15, 11:04 AM
MadisonMan said...: Am I the only one who just googled 'International Society of Legal Bloggers'? :); 8/12/15, 11:06 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "That's not AZDOT landscape gravel..."

Ha ha.

Yeah, why am I here in this heat? One word: family.; 8/12/15, 11:10 AM
Birches said...: AZ in August is almost like a deathwish for someone from Wisconsin. Just googled the weather...it's not pretty.; 8/12/15, 11:15 AM
Deb said...: ^Then I hope all is well.; 8/12/15, 11:15 AM
Birches said...: Vegas would be better. At least it won't crack 110.; 8/12/15, 11:16 AM
BudBrown said...: Orlando or Miami.?; 8/12/15, 11:17 AM
Quaestor said...: The high cumulus says "not Vegas" to me; the skies there are typically cloudless with some haze. That aerial landscape does not look like any part of Nevada I've see from the air.

That overpass resembles the Miami Metromover, but the palm trees look wrong, more like a arid landscape, than a Caribbean one. Parts of South Florida, particularly the inland parts of Palm Beach and Boward counties, look at bit like that upper picture from the air. The grid of roads without much evidence of habitation, the uniform color, the extreme flatness with no highlands, even on the horizon... is familiar. Parts of French Guiana looks like that for the same reason: sugar cane, hundreds of square miles of cane.

Miami.; 8/12/15, 11:20 AM
traditionalguy said...: That's Orlando Airport: I guess a cruise or Disneyworld.; 8/12/15, 11:21 AM
Quaestor said...: Orlando...?

The agricultural landscape near Orlando (what little that remains, that is) doesn't look that from the air. Ocala, which is nearby, looks almost like western Kentucky, sort of rolling terrain with lots of livestock, cattle and horses are big business there.; 8/12/15, 11:27 AM
kcom said...: If I'm not mistaken, there are mountains in the background. No Miami. No Orlando.

The obvious guess is Austin, TX. It's hot, it's family. I'm sure they must have palm trees somewhere. Don't know if these are the right ones for Austin.; 8/12/15, 11:28 AM
Jason said...: Rock gardens? In Florida? A whole state filled with #FLORIDAMEN? Piss off, wanker!

Here in Florida we put sawgrass near those overpasses, and fill the depressions near offramps with water and infest the resulting ponds with alligators. It's the only way we can discourage the Cuban drivers from taking those 25 mph ramps at 65.

Plus it makes for more interesting recovery/rescue operations.

#FLORIDAMAN!; 8/12/15, 11:34 AM
BudBrown said...: A lousey player piano woulda probably already been shot in Miami.; 8/12/15, 11:35 AM
Etienne said...: By the way, Vegas smells just like Riyadh: hot concrete.; 8/12/15, 11:35 AM
kcom said...: Copa Air flies from Austin.

And here's a place in Austin that sells "all the palms that grow in Texas".; 8/12/15, 11:36 AM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Ann Althouse said...I almost never do this.

That's a phrase Laslo hears a LOT.; 8/12/15, 11:36 AM
MadisonMan said...: The high cumulus says "not Vegas" to me; the skies there are typically cloudless with some haze.

Monsoon season in the SW. Lots of cumulus development.

Austin is not ringed by mountains. This is Vegas. (IMO); 8/12/15, 11:51 AM
Quaestor said...: Following the link provided by kcom I discovered Ganoderma butt rot.

Sounds horrible. Sounds like fatal decline of Titus.; 8/12/15, 11:52 AM
BudBrown said...: I always miss the stupid mountains. Clouds look like outside my window over
towards Macdill.; 8/12/15, 11:57 AM
traditionalguy said...: Enlarged the pic and see mountains in the distance so I agree that is NOT Florida. Vegas is a good guess.

I was wishing Althouse got the urge to enjoy a cruise as a bucket list item.; 8/12/15, 12:00 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: It's Vagas baby! You can see the Vegas needle in the background.; 8/12/15, 12:07 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: And for the first photo, I'm going to guess the Chicago river.; 8/12/15, 12:09 PM
Meade said...: "Monsoon season in the SW. Lots of cumulus development."

Meteorological poetry.; 8/12/15, 12:10 PM
Meade said...: "they are meteoroids"

Don't forget the Preparation M.; 8/12/15, 12:13 PM
Meade said...: "Wherever it is, I bet Trump is speaking:)"

Yeah, speaking out of his wherever.; 8/12/15, 12:15 PM
Quaestor said...: Zooming the image on Fickr shows what's not evident on the blog page hotline. Those are mountains in the distance. Copa Air has a Las Vagas terminal. There is some cloud cover over Las Vagas today.

But here's the clincher: Look at the control tower in the left background and compare it to the features under the Copa air billboard.

Not IMO, nailed, it's Las Vagas.; 8/12/15, 12:20 PM
BudBrown said...: The palm trees. Tampa's been on a palm tree planting splurge. I dont want to
know if it's anything to do with the stimulus. I assume there were past splurges
as there are some really tall palm trees around. There's your palm tree fanatics and then your normal oak/magnola/weedtree/anythingbutanotherdangpalm tree types. You
hardly see any new oak trees. I wonder if that's because of the all the restrictions
on cutting the suckers. My dad was from Oklahoma and he was a palm tree lover. We moved into my mom's dad's house back in the 60s and my dad had 5 or 6 nice palm trees planted. That's the good thing with palm trees, you can transplant pretty sizable ones. Anyway my mom was not a palm tree kinda gal and when my dad was out of town on business she had somebody come and cut em all down. Not transplant, cut.; 8/12/15, 12:20 PM
Quaestor said...: G_Damned Safari! Changed hotlink to hotline when I wasn't looking!; 8/12/15, 12:22 PM
Brill said...: Which son is getting married? Very exciting.; 8/12/15, 12:22 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: "Well, I suppose these freeways made this town and a lot of others like it possible. 'They're the cathedrals of our time,' someone said. Not me." David Byrne, True Stories.; 8/12/15, 12:26 PM
Original Mike said...: Is that a flaperon?; 8/12/15, 12:26 PM
Quaestor said...: Vagas, Vegas, what's the diff?; 8/12/15, 12:35 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: That's McCarran all right. Check street view-- they use that pink gravel landscaping everywhere. After a while, I bet I can find that exact view.; 8/12/15, 12:36 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Also, the number on the overpass column is typical for McCarran.; 8/12/15, 12:51 PM
Quaestor said...: What I took to be a control tower (there are several around McCarran International) is the Stratosphere Tower at SkyJump, another Las Vegas eyesore designed to bleed the middles class of their savings.

The point of that structure is to ride to the top and do a fucking bungee jump at the parking lot, and it you don't you're CHICKEN!
Then well-armed with a totally artificial sense of invulnerabilty, the slots and the blackjack tables look very tempting. Yeah,put that hundred dollar chip on 17 Black, if you don't you're CHICKEN!; 8/12/15, 12:51 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne aka Doug Emhoff's Pimp Hand said...: Meade said...
"Monsoon season in the SW. Lots of cumulus development."

That's another reason I know it's not Phoenix. Based on the windy weather we had yesterday (Sky Harbor was temporarily closed at one point) Althouse wouldn't be blogging, she'd be sedated!; 8/12/15, 12:54 PM
Quaestor said...: Is that a flaperon?

Yes.

BTW, NorthOfTheOneOhOne, it's Vegas, without question or doubt. That's been settled a while.; 8/12/15, 12:56 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/12/15, 1:06 PM
David said...: Tehran! Althouse is in Tehran to save the world.; 8/12/15, 1:11 PM
Bricap said...: Copa Airlines does not fly to Phoenix. It does fly to Vegas.

Date palms grow in Phoenix. I grew up there and had one in my front yard. They might not bear that much fruit, but they do grow there.

So my guess of Trump Taj Mahal in the other thread was wrong. Trump has a hotel/condo building on the Strip, but I don't think it has a casino license, so probably no lounge at this one, either.; 8/12/15, 1:20 PM
chickelit said...: I'll never forget one upstanding German's lament about Las Vegas: "They gamble in shorts!"; 8/12/15, 1:58 PM
Ben Morris said...: So this is prob just Vegas, but I tried putting it into Google Image search anyway and got a bunch of fancy-ass houses: https://www.google.com/search?tbs=simg:CAESzQEaygELEKjU2AQaBAgACAkMCxCwjKcIGmAKXggDEiiyDbENhRXeFLANqQ21DdMU2BSvDe047CrtKucq6DjrKuEq6z7sPvk4GjDlGbnIhqMXeAHgAnOPU0z-zmW429jaSyylLmJpK4SAUgsHJxvYXjsV2sputcHCXh0MCxCOrv4IGgoKCAgBEgR0sS6ODAsQne3BCRo4Cg0KC2NvbmRvbWluaXVtCgoKCG92ZXJwYXNzChIKEHB1YmxpYyB0cmFuc3BvcnQKBwoFdmlsbGEM&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CB0Qsw5qFQoTCL_M_O6bpMcCFYQ3iAodKQoKuA&biw=2560&bih=1271; 8/12/15, 2:02 PM
Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said...: Spectacular weather this week. Temps in the low hundreds. Current humidity on our balcony is 27 per cent. Slight breeze outta the west. Going down to 75 to 80 at night. We know of at least one other prominent blogger in town this week, but I'm guessing it's a coincidence. If the professor would like to attend Puppetry of the Penis, I can hook her up. How do you feel about men who wear capes... and nothing else?; 8/12/15, 2:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Unless it's for a funeral or wedding, only fools and cheapskates fly to palm tree areas in August.

Especially when there are already palm trees scattered all around the Capitol in Madison.; 8/12/15, 2:42 PM
Rusty said...: Hope it wasn't an Airbus. Those things fall right out of the sky.; 8/12/15, 3:12 PM
Scott said...: I used to like to fly Continental because they had no Airbus aircraft in their fleet. After the United merger, however, it's hit or miss.; 8/12/15, 10:43 PM
Unknown said...: San Diego?; 8/13/15, 6:41 AM
Rusty said...: Blogger Scott said...
I used to like to fly Continental because they had no Airbus aircraft in their fleet. After the United merger, however, it's hit or miss.

Doesn't really matter.
As long as none of them are using Rolls Royce engines.
Not very reliable, RR.; 8/13/15, 7:29 AM
320Busdriver said...: As one who gets to drive the bus I say the pax experience is better than in the 737 ;p. Its wider and quieter. When it comes to the pointy end, well, its just much more civilized.; 8/13/15, 11:24 AM