November 26, 2001
snow
don't you love the completely mesmerizing / hypnotizing effect of moving snow when you're travelling through a storm on the interstate? this sucks when you're driving, but it can be pretty cool when you're not.
which brings up a slightly related memory. one time my dad and i took a trip to nevada with a pilot who flies small airplanes. i took turns sitting next to him in the cockpit. the trip to our destination was beautiful. no clouds... just the sun rising over the mountains and reflecting off the great salt lake. the view from the cockpit of an airplane is immensely better than the crappy view you get through the plastic porthole windows in commercial jets. it's also lots of fun to watch all the navigation, listen in on the radio communication, and all that stuff. anyway, getting to the point: on the way back, we found ourselves in the middle of a snowstorm - at night. the trip was bumpy for the entire 90 minute flight. but what was strange was the view out of the window. there are no streetlights in the sky, so it's completely dark aside from any light produced by the aircraft. which means those blinking strobes on the wings. so we could feel forward motion and the endless turbulence, but outside the window? nothing. except every time a light would blink, you could see the snowstorm illuminated for a very brief moment. so brief that you couldn't actually see the snow moving. it was like a still photograph snapshot of snow, lit up every few seconds. hard to describe, but very strange. (i haven't experienced this in commercial jets, either because i haven't flown through a snowstorm or because they spend most of their time flying above such storms...)
26 Nov 12:00 | Link | Category: From the Old Site