My Guild Experience Part One: The Flight...

      I kind of already mentioned that I got to Connecticut, but I didn't mention what the trip was like. The drive from my home to Sea-Tac airport seemed like such a long drive. Mom and Dad both drove to the airport with me. Dad was going to fly with me to Connecticut while Mom was to return home with the automobile. About the only interesting thing I saw on the drive was a guy licking a CD while driving. Either it was a new, original, and oddly interesting way of cleaning the disk, or he just happened to like that CD a whole lot. I don't know... It did provide some final humor before my departure.

      As we arrived at the airport and saw planes parked out on the runway, I decided the decal on the Alaskan Air-Lines planes' tails looks like Abraham Lincoln with a Lion's mane. Odd, I know – but it's true!

See?

      One of my friends told me to take special note of the Airlines I flew with. He said that as friends, we should be recommending good businesses to each other. I agreed (Mostly because it gives me another opportunity to prattle on...). My Dad and I flew American Airlines. It didn't seem too bad of a company. The first flight (Seattle to Dallas...) was pleasant enough for a night-flight. The stewardess (Such a better name than 'flight attendant'...) was offering me refreshments in what seemed like seconds after we had taken off. (Refreshments I stupidly refused... Obviously I was just too tired.) One helpful thing was that checked baggage was sent right on through to Hartford , so we didn't have to worry about it at the layover. (Dad was charged for that checked luggage, though, when it should have been complimentary (Both bags were very much within the parameters that were given on their internet site.) so that counts as a point against them.

Sea-Tac... in all its awfully photographed glory.

Our sitting... place... sign... thingy...

      The entire boarding process was remarkably straightforward and simple. Finding our seats was no trouble either, but the row down the center of the plane seemed rather thin. Once in our seats it seemed like barely an time had passed at all before the captain had made his little speech and then the plane was taxliing down the runway and headed for the point where it would begin the exciting process of lifting off. From my window I could see the runway lights all lit up. Orbs of orange and green. They dotted the runway in rows, winding this way and that. Planes blasted past, leaping from the shackles of the runways and dear Earth and slipping into freedom by becoming airborne. In the far distance lightning flashed here and there; the slender streaks bringing the near clouds into brilliantly lit view even in the dark of night. Too soon was the plane turning on the runway and heading off in a new direction. Then it sat patiently, awaiting its turn chance to break the barrier between earth and sky. One plane, two, three lifted off ahead of ours before, suddenly, it was our turn. The plane rolled into position, the engines flared, and we were hurtling down the runway. The lights that dotted the perimeter, originally illuminated orbs of essence, now transformed into streaks that blasted past the window. I felt myself pressed back into my seat and the floor lifting below my feet, and then the plane was soaring through the air. Buildings grew smaller as we flew further away from them. The city around us was lit by thousands of little specks of light, all reaching out in a web towards the distant horizon. One large chunk of brightly lit earth gave way to smaller groupings which were separated by odd shapes, designs of black, unlit ground. In little time though, the lighted cities, the lightning, all this was lost in the distance and instead replaced by pitch-darkness and the monotonous blinking of the strobe-light on the end of the wing. (My seat was right above the plane's wing. I thought I glimpsed a gremlin on the wing, tearing at panels and biting wires, but it must have been my imagination...) For the longest time, very few lights appeared on the ground far below, and even more often few did I see at all.

      The pilot was a nice enough fellow and he flew the plane quite professionally. Overall it seemed quite smooth, with gentle banking (though I did experience turbulence more often than I had anticipated...) Out of the plane's window I could see the stars as they hung in the sky, almost dangling about the plane. But even more beautiful was the crescent moon that shone from far above.

Sea-Tac from my plane window...

I know it's small... but that's the moon!

      The airport in Dallas was rather neat indeed. A monorail delivers you from gate to gate and the seats were fairly comfortable. They had a TV running the entire time, showing the latest news coverage. (Boring...)From where we were sitting in the Dallas airport I could not see the sunrise, but I did see a very pretty pink sky. I looked at everyone with their coffee and I really have no idea why didn't purchase some for my own self. I won't make that mistake again... ever...

      Lifting off the second time was just as exhilarating as the previous time. It certainly is an incredible feeling. The clouds beneath the plane formed a thick bank of white marshmallow soup. They stretched just about as far I could see. The flight from Dallas to Hartford was so different from the previous one. The cloud banks in the sky during that flight shimmered in the moonlight and curled about like mist or steam

      I'd been wanting to write about the flight... but now that that's over – I'll be posting as much as I can on the happenings at the Guild. In short – just these last four days have been absolutely incredible.