Running through Chicago

Somehow, even though our plane left a little late from San Francisco, we made it to Chicago on time. And, there was no time to get bored during a layover because we had only 50 minutes to get from one plane to the next. Jonathan and I were walking so fast we were almost jogging to our next gate...but we made it! We then got on the plane to learn that we would leave late because the plane was waiting for everyone's luggage to make it on the plane. We were happy for this news too...since everything we'll need for the next six months was in our four bags!!

1-SFO airport-Jonathan enjoying Peet's coffee

During our morning flight, we got some great views.  We saw the Sierra Nevada all snowy with frozen lakes, the basin and range (formed from an almost rifted continental crust) in Nevada (I was watching a movie as we flew over the Rockies...), to the flat plains of the Midwest.  We could see the city lights of Chicago as we landed and there was so much snow on the ground.  Even though it was dark, the white snow was reflecting tons of light making it quite easy to see!  The best part of the flight's "window entertainment" (many times this is better than any movie/book because it is so neat to see all of the land structures from the vantage point of a airplane) was the clear shots we had of Lassen and Mt. Shasta while we were flying over California.  If you did not think California had volcanoes, think again, we actually have many.  Mt. Shasta is a very big volcano actually, with five glaciers on it (including the largest glacier in CA), even though it may not look like it in the photos.  It is 4,317 m (14,163 ft) and it erupts on average about every 600-800 years.  The last eruption was in the mid 1700s.  Even though it may seem like we have plenty of time before it could erupt again, scientists still monitor it because 600-800 years is only the average; the periods between eruption could be shorter or longer...and after all it is a huge stratovolcano!  For more on Shasta or other Cascade Range volcanoes, check out http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/volcanoes_casca de_range.html#shasta.

2-Ms. Brooks at SFO

3-Our plane to Chicago

4-Mt. Shasta and Lassen Volcanoes from airplane

5-Mt. Shasta

6-Snowy Sierra Nevada Mountains