Annual Colorado pilgrimmage

Diane and I headed to Colorado over the Labor Day weekend. It was her first trip west of the Mississippi River, and with exception to our Andes mountain excursion in Argentina (as retold here by a friend), the highest elevation she has been at in her life.

It was quite the whirlwind trip since we only had five days to do a lot. I also wanted to spend a lot of time with my mom and sister, who still live in Fort Collins. In the end, the trip was quite entertaining. Diane got to see Denver, Boulder, and a lot of landmarks around Fort Collins, including Old Town Square, New Belgium Brewery, Coopersmith's Brewery, and a lovely hike to Loch Vale in Rocky Mountain National Park. Below are some highlights of the trip.

For me, one of the perennial highlights on trips is the airplanes I get to fly in. We flew United, which I had not done in a long time. But since American Eagle has left Albany, there is one fewer way to get to Denver than in years past. Our trip both ways connected through Washington Dulles (IAD). Here are some airplanes I have known:

From ALB - IAD we went on this very nice (and new) Embraer 700, which to my surprise had two-abreast seating. It was quite lovely and a great ride. Upon arrival at IAD, we parked next to this B757 with the blended winglets. Look at the height on those things. (Sadly, due to the gate arrangement at IAD, I could not get a shot of the A320 that took us to DEN.)From DEN - IAD, we flew on this B757 - no winglets, sadly, as you can see from the in-flight shot. Upon arrival at IAD, we parked next to this ginormous B777. Look at how the people on the ground measure up to that engine.

I also did some plane spotting at the airport. Here is an SAS A330 that arrived while we waited.

A South African A340 parked across the terminal.
Finally, on our way back to Albany, here is our Embraer 700, which we got close and personal with. And our approach to Runway 1, and landing.