Cloud Watching! (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, August 11, 2016)
I love clouds!
As a kid, I used to lie on the ground many a day and just stare up at them. Forever.
A couple of weeks ago, we went on a vacation to visit family in upstate New York, and on the flight out of Colorado, I looked out the window and saw these! They were incredible—pictures never do them adequate justice—and I just couldn’t pass them up! So, I took out my iPad and began snapping shots of the cloud banks we approached.
Also as I looked outside the Embraer-175, I also noticed how squeaky clean the aircraft was! In fact, it appeared near brand new. I loved how the sun glinted off the air frame and engine! But, upon closer inspection, I did see a bunch of splatter on the leading edge of the wing. Huh, thought I, what was splattered all over that leading edge? How high do insects fly? Well, a quick look into this as I wrote this post told me that the upper range can be about 6,000 feet, but most flies and bugs seem to hit their ceiling at about 2,500 or so (+/-) feet, depending on temperature.
Squeaky Clean! (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, August 11, 2016)
Of course, I also looked to the wing to make sure there were no…you know…creatures playing around out there with our aircraft (the Twilight Zone’s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”)….
Nope. Nothing there. (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, August 11, 2016)
When we do these trips, I do, what I call, “Eating Across America.” This simply involves chowing down on whatever comes my way as I graze throughout the day, and traveling across the country is no different! I eat about six times a day, “smaller” meals (“smaller” to me is not necessarily “small” to you…), and on an aircraft, the pickins can be a tad slim, so I take what I can get! Usually I pack food with me, but this time things got away from me and I came empty-handed. Anyway, my “ingestion” can, however, be quite intimidating to the untrained observer. I’m a professional [in my own mind], so don’t try this at home. But, even to me, sometimes the aftermath isn’t pretty….
Grazing Across America (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, August 11, 2016)
So, here are the photos I took of the clouds we flew over! So beautiful and breathtaking!
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Runnin Off at the Mouth.... 
The song “Above the Clouds” by ELO is playing in my head now, Frank. Some cool pics here, and a reminder of one of my favorite things about flying. I always enjoy that rare chance to look down at the clouds and see our world below from a different perspective.
I remember taking off from Portland, Oregon one time on a rainy day, and we got up there … and I saw the brightest sun shining across the top of the clouds. Really impressive sight.
Good post — and you know I liked the TZ reference. Gotta check that wing!
Ha! Thanks, Paul! I always love the different perspective that flying gives us! It’s very metaphysical to me. I remember similar, years and years ago, and it was stunning—again, on a metaphysical level. So rainy and nasty and dark, then, seconds later—BOOM! Bright blue sky and brilliant sun! Thanks for bringing that memory back out of me! :-]
Beautiful photos, Frank! I’ve only been up in an airplane once in my life. I was very young and very scared, and the trip was a short one, so I didn’t get to enjoy any pretty cloud formations. But your photos prove that while we can definitely enjoy clouds from the ground, it’s something else entirely to experience them up close and personal.
Thank you, Wendy!
Wow, you really need to experience flight again! Like scuba diving, it opens up an entirely new world of perspectives! But, yes, the cloud formations on this trip were simply incredible! My little iPad photos do them scant justice, but I was so mesmerized, gazing out the window….
Love these photos.
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