October 19th: Back to the East Coast

I woke up the next morning, finished packing, then Timmy, Tara, Canyon, and I sat down and had pancakes for breakfast before I had to say goodbye and start the drive back to Phoenix. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had a great time and it had been a lot of fun to catch up with them again!

The drive went just fine, the rental car return was really quick, and check in and security was really fast, too. I treated myself to Wendy's for lunch (mmm, greasy burgers...), then spent a little time airplane spotting before it was time to board.

The gate itself was pretty crowded, but I found a wide open area with lots of empty seats at the end of the terminal. It was great for plane watching, too...there was a really nice view of the runway. I hung out here until it was time to board.

We flew past Sedona, Flagstaff, and Meteor Crater on the way out of Phoenix.

Timmy and I had flown over this in his plane the last time I visited them. I'd love to see it from the ground someday!

I had to connect through Denver on the way home, and there was plenty of great scenery along the way.

We landed at Denver just fine, the layover was relatively short, and soon it was time to leave for Dulles.

It was getting close to sunset when we left Denver; the colors were fantastic. Even better, we wound up with an empty middle seat! The guy that had the aisle seat and I both cheered.   :)

We eventually climbed above a cloud layer, then the sun set and there wasn't much to see. I spent part of the flight editing pictures and the time went by pretty fast. We wound up getting back about 20 minutes early, which was a nice way to end the trip. It had been a lot of fun...I'm glad I got to go!