|
Here and There…Now and Then |
BWI Airport
It’s not exactly an Eero Saarinen but I’ve always liked BWI airport. Also, dropping people off there is a good excuse to stop take a short detour to G&M to buy some of the best crab cakes anywhere. They aren’t particularly cheap but at a half pound each and almost all crab meat, they’re worth it.
China Clipper Model, BWI Airport
I drove out to BWI Airport this morning to pick up Margaret, who returned today from Chicago. I had a little time after I parked so I walked to the international terminal at the end of the building. I’m not sure why but the area was practically deserted. I took a few pictures of this model of The China Clipper (NC14716). The original was built for Pan American Airways by the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Maryland. Per Wikipedia, “In 1961, the Martin Company merged with American-Marietta Corporation, a large sand and gravel mining company, forming Martin Marietta Corporation. In 1995, Martin Marietta merged with aerospace giant Lockheed to form the Lockheed Martin Corporation.” The China Clipper flew the first commercial transpacific airmail service from San Francisco to Manila in 1935. It was lost in a crash on January 8, 1945 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Cathy at LAX
Cathy and I began a ten day trip today, getting up at 3:40, driving to the commuter parking lot on Georgia Avenue and catching the 4:21 bus to BWI airport. That was the beginning of a 23 hour journey spanning four time zones. Our first flight left BWI at 7:00 AM EDT and arrived in Los Angeles at 9:45 PDT. Add three hours to that for the time zone change and we were in the air about 5 hours and 45 minutes. We had an equally long layover in LAX, not leaving until 2:40 for Seattle. We walked nearly two miles from terminal 6 through tunnels under terminal 5 and then up and through terminal 4 to the Tom Bradley International Terminal (a.k.a., Terminal B), walking the length of that (and back). That wore us out but also passed a good bit of time.
This photo, taken from Terminal 6, is of Cathy resting her ankle briefly with a view of “The Theme Building” in the background. We had lunch and then went to our terminal ahead of boarding. You know how in airports there are often announcements where a person is named, but it’s never you so you don’t pay attention? While we were waiting for our flight, the woman on the PA called my name and asked me to come to the service desk. Needless to say, I was surprised. I was even more surprised when I went to the counter and she handed me my driver’s license. It had been in my pocket and apparently fell out. The amazing thing is that not only was it found but someone went to the trouble to find out where my next flight was leaving from and get it there. I didn’t know it was even lost until it was returned. I was more than a little grateful.