Six planes, four airports, one blizzard

[bixaorellana]

....... or, How I Spent Christmas Vacation, by Bixa.

December 20 was a very cool, overcast morning in Oaxaca. Here is the craft which carried me on the first leg of the journey, to Mexico City.

Goodbye, Oaxaca, goodbye!





Mexico City airport is huge and it's always a good idea to get close to where your gate might be. I also had to pass through immigration to get my document stamped. On the way, I was delighted to see this sculpture by Jorge Marín <--link. I attended an exhibition of his work a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

The layover was endless and for whatever reason, American Airlines doesn't have a regular waiting room there. That means either sitting in the boarding area (cold!) or trailing back and forth in front of the duty free shops. It wasn't until my return trip to this airport that the real meaning of "Dufry" hit me. Pretend you have no command of English, then try saying "Duty Free" quickly.

I was touched by the concern shown for our health that is so prominently displayed on these cigarette cartons. I noted that there was no similar warning on the booze. They probably didn't dare do anything to rattle the cages of passengers wanting to self-medicate during the adventure of airplane travel.

Finally, finally farewell to Mexico City and on to Dallas.

The late takeoff and arrival from Mexico made maneuvering customs and getting to my connecting flight a hellish rushing through the massive Dallas airport. It was imperative that I pee, though, which is when I discovered these cryptically juxtaposed signs.
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After pitching a hissy fit, along with some other disgruntled travelers, I boarded an almost empty replacement plane for the last leg of the journey.
At least I got to enjoy this sunset, which seemed to last forever.

.......... to be continued

[Deleted]

Good start, and at least we know you didn't die!

[bixaorellana]

For fans of the weather, read all about the history-making Christmas blizzard here.

My mother lives in the extreme sw corner of Oklahoma and my son was driving there from Las Vegas. My stepfather saw the first weather bulletin, and we nervously monitored the news until Son O'Bix finally arrived, just hours before the storm hit. It started with sleet, which by the next morning had frozen to sheets of ice beneath the snow. Even in my sleep, I could hear the wind all night long.

This is what I saw the next morning when I peeped out the bedroom window. This was before the snow really started accumulating.
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These two pictures were taken just hours apart. You can't see the lake at all.
       

From the front storm door, fairly early, as the grass can still be distinguished from the drive and street.

Christmas day was very bright and mostly clear.
My son lent me a pair of his very big sneakers so I could go out and look around.
I will grudgingly admit that snow can be pretty.
These collapsed greens are the remains of the herb/vegetable garden.

My mother made a festive meal, including her wonderful baked ham that I'd been craving and her signature meatballs, for which my son lives. She actually made three batches of meatballs -- one for the night Son O'Bix arrived, one for Christmas day, and another batch that she got up at some ungodly hour to make so her darling grandson would have lots to take back to Nevada.




My younger brother came over with his family. This is his grandson, the only "great-" so far. It was fun to have a little kid there. He was still excited about more presents and family, even though he'd had a gala morning with paternal grandparents earlier.









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Because of the ice and my lack of appropriate footwear, I was trapped in the house for days.
I documented the receding snow. The first picture is early morning.

Let's take a closer look at that thermometer. Yee-gads! Those are Fahrenheit degrees, and at least 40 degrees colder than my tropics-loving body wishes to endure.





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The geese return to the lake. At first they scampered away when I tried to snap them. They probably were reading my mind about another, better use for them than camera fodder.

I was totally delighted to see this concrete bench. It was at my grandparents' house my whole life, and I'm glad to see my mother managed to get it to her home when she sold the family house.







Don't go 'way -- there is more to come!

[imec]

Great thread and great pics bixa! I'm particularly fond of the Stack o' Tequila - a veritable Burj Dubai of hooch!

[bixaorellana]

Really, Imec?! I would have thought you'd prefer the snow pictures. ;D

(Thanks!)

[Deleted]

I am remembering my visit to Oaxaca and leaving on the last plane out of there for Mexico City because of a hurricane on the way.That is where I had a virtual meltdown,decompensated at the American Airline check in because I lacked some document ,and subsequently missed my plane. I came very close to being incarcerated. I think that's where I remember the tequila part .I did make it to Dallas eventually...
Sorry,these Mexico City airport pictures triggered a PTSD attack...

Great pics Bixa,always wondered what the terrain at your mother's home looked like and how she adapted to it from her Louisiana roots.
I do not miss snow,the last time I visited NY in the winter I got snowed in at my mothers.

[bixaorellana]

PTSD = post-traumatic syndrome something-or-other?

Thanks, Casimira. Actually, even though the climate in Oklahoma can be brutal in summer and winter, it's quite pretty at my mom's, with the lake, mature plantings, and birds. The Granite mountains are also close by, so the terrain is varied and interesting.

Um, "hissy fit" is a fairly bland term for my confronting the Am.Airlines desk people in Dallas.

[bixaorellana]

We left at dawn on the 29th for the Lawton airport, 45 miles to the east.


The interesting rock outcroppings are part of the Wichita Mountain Range.


These American Bison are at the entrance to the airport. They are statues. The ones lying down were blown over by the storm, which had been much worse north of where I was. There was no newspaper delivery for several days, as the trucks couldn't get out of Oklahoma City.


The Lawton airport is very similar in size and aspect to the Oaxaca airport. You will note one very important difference, however, between this picture and the one in the OP.

And we're off!


Goodbye snowy fields.


This plane will take me to Dallas, where I'll connect to Mexico City and then catch another plane home.
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Approaching Dallas

Landing in Dallas.

I'm only in this airport long enough to clear security and to get to where I board the flight to Mexico City. A view from the Skylink:

And then I'm aloft again.

The approach to Mexico City. There were freezing temps in the middle of the country, but it certainly looks warmer down there than were I was.

Stay tuned, please. There is a treat in store at the Mexico City airport.

[bixaorellana]

I had to go through immigration in Mexico City, and was delighted to see that the pointlessly long approach to the functionaries was enlivened by a series of bright wall paintings, all extolling the natural treasures of the country.

The pictures at the beginning of the series couldn't be captured because there were people sitting in front of them. However, I went along happily snapping the rest, pleased that I'd have something different and fun to show here.

Then a guy in immigration dept. uniform came bustling up. He gestured behind him and said that "they" told him to get me to stop taking pictures. I of course argued, but he was insistent, and said I had to erase what I had. I told him I was afraid to start erasing because I was afraid of losing pictures of my family. He said, "I'll do it for you", reaching for my tightly clutched camera. I whined some more, he insisted some more, then I said, "Look -- why don't you just go back and tell them the pictures were erased?" He did a slight double-take, then said, "Okay, but don't take any more."

So, you don't get to see the entire series, but I hope you'll all enjoy this romp through some of Mexico's touristic offerings.

















If you've come this far, you might as well stick around & go the rest of the way home with me.

[bixaorellana]

Almost twelve hours since I left my folks' house this morning, I'm finally poised to take the last leg of the journey home.


After a longish but bearable layover in Mexico City, we're allowed to board so that we can sit in the plane instead of in the airport. And sit. and sit.


The darkening sky was pretty, but I wanted to go home. At one point, I caught myself praying mentally to this guy: getusoffthegroundgetusofftheground.

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The plane moves! Yes! ..... No. Time to sit some more. Nice shot of the snow-covered peaks, though.


Wheeee ~~ here we go! I'm quite happy because I managed to get my seat changed and now have two front bulkhead seats to myself. But it's a shame my window faces east. Through the window on the opposite side of the aisle, I can see an impressive sunset and the vast spread of Mexico City. It was probably better not to clamber over the two men sitting in those seats to get some good shots, though.


Look how the snow on those peaks shows up even in the dark. They're the same peaks shown above.


Let me tell you, when I got off that plane in Oaxaca and felt the balmy air, I could have kissed the tarmac.

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey!

[bjd]

My only memory of Dallas airport dates from 1977 at Christmas. I was poking around waiting for my plane to Austin and some bitch in a fur coat was having a fit because she had missed her plane and was shrieking at a customer service person. "Ah"m fram Amarilla an' mah husbin' is a lawya an you git me on that plane". This was long ago, when it wasn't so awful to travel by plane.

Glad you made it home, Bixa. Why on earth did the Mexico City airport people not want to to take pictures? Are they state secrets?

My "favourite" airport shop is this one in Munich (there were actually two of them)



Right next door to the one selling souvenir beer mugs.

(pls check photo size before posting - ty, wizard)

[imec]

I love this thread bixa - great job! So glad you persevered with the security guy - love the airport murals - especially the odd looking SeaDoo.

bjd - so what did you buy?

[bixaorellana]

I probably sounded not unlike the woman in pelts, Bjd, except rather than "impressing" them with my familial connections, I pointed out that my missed connection -- caused by their airline -- was horribly inconveniencing the family member who was picking me up. It turned out that we hadn't missed the connecting plane because there wasn't one, due to mechanical problems. Apparently I wasn't the only passenger unwilling to accept their "solution" of giving out stand-by tickets for a later flight, as somehow a replacement plane was found for us die-hard fit-pitchers.

Great photo of an airport shop that uh, really fills a niche.

Not to put down my host country, but SHEESH are they quick to go into officious overdrive. There was of course no rule against taking pictures. It was simply that some simpleton in uniform saw an opportunity to throw some weight around. I was just lucky that the guy sent to stop me was kin to the woodsman who was sent to take out Snow White.

Thank you for the kind words, Imec. You were definitely one of my inspirations in this thread, as you have often shown the way to finding what is different and interesting about everyday life.

[bjd]

Actually, Imec, I didn't even buy a beer mug.

On that same trip, I found this wonderful poster in Toronto airport.



I had visions of people trying to sneak into the country with a chicken under their arm.

[Deleted]

Those Mexico City airport paintings look like they were done by a pop art descendant of Van Gogh.

[Don Cuevas]

I saw a bit of the Pyramid at Tulum through the bedroom window in one of the murals.

About prohibitions on photos: we were waiting at the Irapuato, Guanajuato state, Mexico bus station and I was taking pics of food stands. When I took some of buses, a security guard came over and politely told me it was prohibe. He didn't ask me to delete the pics after I apologized and pleaded prior ignorance.

[hwinpp]

Great thread, Bix.

Because of the ice and my lack of appropriate footwear, I was trapped in the house for days.

Why does this not surprise me?

Agree with the others, the murals at the MC airport are an attraction by themselves.

[traveler63]

Great thread Bix and yes I am back but not perking on all 8 cylinders. (Grand daughters went home on Monday). I love your pix of the Mexico City airport and your pix of your home town. I am trying to think back because Lawton, Oklahoma rings a bell for me, I think that I have some distant relatives from there. Unfortunately, I will have to do some digging as all of my family are no longer with me, but I have a lot of addresses. Wouldn't it be a hoot, if we knew some of the same people or better yet, if we were related. !!!!!

[bixaorellana]

Traveler63, it would indeed be a hoot if we could find relatives in common, but it would also be very improbable from an Oklahoma connection. My dad was in the air force, which is how we wound up in Oklahoma. My dad's roots were in Missouri (father) & New Hampshire (mother), but you can see the place I count as my home town here.

Lawton is the home of Fort Sill Army Base. This history, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawton,_Oklahoma, rather glosses over the treatment of the native American.

[lola]

I love this trip, bixa. Just now checking in.

I admire your presence of mind, helping the airport guard find his inner woodman.

Outside as I type a big snowstorm moves across the midwest, no doubt headed this way from your ma's.

[spindrift]

That's a mighty amusing thread, Bixa... I love the continuous shots out of the plane windows and especially the one portraying Mexico City all lit up. I haven't counted up the hours that you had to travel to reach Dallas - and here I was thinking it was only a quick flight from Oaxaca....in case I'd fly to you from Dallas! I know what it's like being without 'appropriate footwear'...this has happened to me so many times in the past that I now tend to travel with more shoes than I could possibly need and for every occasion. They weigh heavy.
You were even up to taking pics out of the car window at dawn! I am impressed.
Thank you for posting a great thread.

[existentialcrisis]

Bixa - love the shots out the airplane windows! I always think it's so neat to fly over various terrain and cities for the first time (like the first time flying over the rockies, or the prairies, or the alps, or the CN tower) and I am loving these shots of Mexico! Also love the sculpture and murals in the airport.

[bixaorellana]

, Lola ~~ I knew you would get that! Yuck -- I hope you all don't get snowed in. A bad side effect of that happening at Christmas was the abundance of snackables in the house, including cakes and pie. I have no spine.

Thanks so much for the kind words, Spindrift and Existentia, you makers of mighty threads! I had to do what I could with what I had. Although the blizzard made its own photo-ops, I would have preferred the opportunity to document the town in a more normal way.

I do love out-the-airplane-window shots, and am pleased I'm not alone in this.

Mexico City airport always has some kind of art exhibition going, probably several for all I know. I missed seeing any of them this time -- guess I wasn't near the right section. Here is one from the very earliest days of AnyPort.

[lola]

And I love that Jorge Marín sculpture.

We'll have to sit around some gentrified Parisian sidewalk cafe and trace our common MO genealogy.

[hwinpp]

Mexico City airport always has some kind of art exhibition going, probably several for all I know.

Yes, I think I once saw one by the Mexican woman with the uni- brow, forgotten her name.

[bixaorellana]

Lola ~~ anyone in Harrison County?

*snork!* Frida Kahlo, HW.

[lola]

hmmm. shoot not that I know, but let's keep working on it. Everyone's at least a 6th cousin, I read somewhere.

[hwinpp]

Jan 8, 2010 5:46:10 GMT bixaorellana said:

Lola ~~ anyone in Harrison County?

*snork!* Frida Kahlo, HW.

Right, you seem to be a fan

[spindrift]

I am one of her fans

[Deleted]

She did not really have a unibrow, but she gave herself one in a number of self portraits.