I used to hate flying. It still terrifies me to tempt gravity and nature so. But I have to fly a lot since I go to conferences and user groups all over the place. One of my tricks is that I love to get a window seat and look out at the amazing view.

Today I flew back from Orlando where I had just been at DevConnections (which I wrote about here). I flew from Orlando to Washington Dulles, then from there a short 1 hour flight home to Burlington, Vermont. Because it was a short flight, we were in a small plane and flying low. It was a fabulously goregous sunny day. I slept for the first bit of it but then woke up whe the pilot said “if you look to your right, you’ll see a great view of NYC”. I was on the left so I was looking at Newark. However as we got a little further north, it got better and better.

I lived in the Hudson Valley for 8 years prior to moving to Vermont. I was also quite in love with the Hudson River. My favorite bike rides were ones where I rode my bike across some of the many bridges that span the Hudson. Eventually, we were following the Hudson as we headed north and it was right out my window. By the time we got over Poughkeepsie, I was able to identify so much of what I was seeing because they were places I have spent a lot of time. I was able to see New Paltz and the Shawagunks. Then Rhinebeck which led to something that made my heart jump. I quickly followed the road out of Rhinebeck with my eyes and made my way to the house that I lived in for a very wonderful 6 years of my life (okay, that’s discounting an icchy boyfriend that lived there with me for a short while (but hindsight’s 20-20, right?). I couldn’t really see the house, but I saw what was my pond when I lived there and filled in the rest of the view from memory.

I kept my eyes peeled to the landscape all the way to Burlington. Up the Taconic and Hudson river, the Hudson bridge and the town of Hudson. The Castskills (where I have spent a lot of time not only hiking and winter climbing, but bicycling through as well in my “former life”) then Albany , the Adirondacks, Lake George and finally Lake Champlain. Even flying over Vermont, it was easy to pick out the place we put in to paddle Dead Creek, the Addison County Fairgrounds, Snake Mountain, Vergennes, Shelburne Bay and Shelburne Farms. Then finally Burlington. It was a pretty boundy landing due to some strong winds, but we did it safely and I got to drive home on some of the same roads that I had been watching from my birds’ eye view.

I wish I could have filmed the entire thing, but hopefully by blogging it, I’ll be able to come back and enjoy the memory here.