HELLO HONOLULU

 I'm back at 15 Craigside, and as much as traveling is great, coming home is better.  The best part was that my brother, who was on life support two weeks ago, is now recovering well.  So much so that there will be a family reunion in Las Vegas next month.  Oh, that graphic to the left.  That was a flight this past February from SFO to HNL.  I will board maybe the same plane, which will be a 777.

I left you yesterday in the United Club of the Harry Reid International Airport.  I continued on a United flight to San Francisco.

It was in the 90's all week in Las Vegas.  The surprise of this flight was seeing so much snow.

Then the salt ponds of the East Bay approach to the airport.

Called the San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds, they stretch over 16,500 acres.  These salt evaporation ponds have been there since around the time of the Gold Rush in the 1850s.  Real salt, like from Leslie, were produced here for your table.  The colors depend on the type of shrimp and microorganisms that dominate, plus the stage of evaporation.  Most of these lands have been taken over by various governments, and there is a 30-year plan to return the habitat to the natural state.  Meaning the disappearance of colors.

There are no United Club photos for one simple and dumb reason.  I made the reservation and just took the word of the United person on the other end of the line.  Never looked too closely at the ticket that came via internet.  When I flew from Honolulu to Las Vegas, there was a 2-hour stopover at the airport.  This time, the first flight closed the door in Las Vegas 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time.  We left a bit early for the normal 1 hour and 30 minute flight.  I happen to look at the second ticket and was shocked to see that United 300 for Honolulu departed at 12:40PM.  This first flight touched down in SFO at 12:29PM.  An Alaska Air plane blocked our entrance for at least 5 long minutes.  It was 12:45PM when I rushed over from my E-gate to a high F-gate.  Took at least ten minutes, so I could only assume my flight had left.  Well, people were still there, so I asked an employee when this plane would leave.  He said in a minute, and I was the third person to step into the plane, which was a 777.  Unfortunately, the business class has half the seats facing the rear, and I was at the window in one of them.  I hate traveling backwards.  Thus, the first photo of the San Francisco Airport as we are departing.

Good lunch with beer.

Gorgeous first photo of Honolulu.

Then two of Diamond Head.

So I'm home and all is well.

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