Matthew Singer

Month: June 2014

  • Mexico, Auroras, and other June Fun

    Mexico, Auroras, and other June Fun

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    I’m a bit late getting some updates out, so I’m going to condense about 3 posts in to one in the hopes that I can get caught up. So let’s start with my trip to Mexico.

    If it wasn’t obvious from my last post, I went down to the Mayan Riviera with Erin and the rest of my family to celebrate the marriage of my sister and now brother-in-law. We all stayed at an all inclusive resort on the beach in Playa del Carmen, which sounds like a great idea, but in practice, I don’t think I’ll ever do it again. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice being able to walk up to a bar and drink as much as I want, or to grab food from any of the numerous restaurants and snack bars at any time. But the food was mediocre at best. Part of the excitement of visiting another country is to sample the local cuisine, and I feel a little cheated out of that experience.

    In addition to the wedding, this was a pseudo honeymoon for Erin and I, since we never really got to take one after our wedding. We were celebrating our 4th anniversary while we were down there, and this would be our last vacation with just the two of us. So, a relaxing vacation on the beach didn’t seem so bad. We got in on Wednesday, May 28 and on Saturday, it rained. It continued to rain fairly hard and steadily until we left the following Wednesday. So, in the end, we got two good days at the beach. But I got no reef time in either. It doesn’t help that after the wedding, I wasn’t feeling too good. I think it was something I ate.

    My sister’s wedding was at a place farther inland in the middle of the jungle. The rain did help cool things down, but the humidity was still a pain to deal with, especially inside. So, I had to step outside often to get some fresh air. The rain does have a positive effect of bringing out frogs. In fact, I managed to find three species of tree frog, and heard several more. These guys are so cool.

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    I also managed to get in some birding and herping for lizards. One night, Erin and I walked along the edge of the jungle and beach at night and found an anole, though I don’t know what kind. The most frustrating part of the whole trip was finding all these new and awesome species of animals and not having any resources with which to identify them. This is the last time I travel without at least a bird guide.

    A day after we returned, we got notice of a red alert for an aurora. We were still exhausted from travel, and I was going to blow it off, but just before bed, I stepped outside and saw one of the brightest light shows that we’ve had to the naked eye. I grabbed my camera and captured a few images. It was worth losing some sleep over.

    Aurora Borealis

    Erin got word that there were Mountain Lady’s Slippers in bloom at Idler’s Rest. So, one day, we headed into town with the dogs and went for a short walk through the park. We found the orchids that I have been searching after for the past four years.

    Mountain Lady's Slipper

    Last Thursday, I celebrated my 32nd birthday. Erin gave me the best present I ever have and will receive for a birthday. But I’ll save that for another post.

  • Flight Paths

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    If you don’t already know me, I have a thing for maps and geography. It’s an absolute delight to see the landscape from the air. I’ve been bringing my GPS with me when I fly, mostly to keep track of flight progress and to identify what I’m seeing out the window. But it’s also interesting to see how the FAA routes flights. Spoiler Alert: it’s not a direct path between cities.

    The two tracks above show the flight path between Phoenix and Cancun in both directions. The straight line between the two airports would cross into Mexico from New Mexico and remain over Mexican airspace except for a few points at the lower spurs of Texas. In fact, I was sure that this is what we were doing, but hadn’t paid close attention to the borders on the map. Of course, later it hit me that we were being routed to stay in American airspace as long as possible, which seemed odd for a flight headed to Mexico in the first place.

    I wasn’t able to get tracks of the flights between Spokane and Phoenix. Apparently, the Airbus A319 is better at blocking GPS signal than a Boeing 757. But for the most part, I can identify landmark features by sight along that route. Overall, the flights were nice. We flew over Hells Canyon and I saw the expansive Frank Church wilderness (on the way down) and the Wallowa Mountains (on the way up). The Wallowas still have way more snow on them than their eastern neighbors. We flew past the Ruby Mountains in northern Nevada, the same mountains I was amazed to see from the ground when we drove down there two years ago. We flew past Cedar Breaks and Zion National Park, and we flew over the Grand Canyon, the first time I had actually been able to see it from the air. On the flight home, we flew right over Lewiston and Pullman before landing in Spokane. had I been on the other side of the aircraft, I would have been able to see my house from above.

    On the flights between Phoenix and Cancun, I saw White Sands, the Guadalupe Mountains, and then the flat lands of Texas. Over the Gulf, I noticed spots of brown, probably oil stains from all of the drilling. Once we hit the Yucatan, I noticed a decidedly different terrain. Everything was green and fairly unbroken. It’s mostly undisturbed jungle with a few roads and dwellings. But for the most part, a sea of green. Quite a contrast to the American west, which is brown and arid, but also carved up with roads and farm fields. Of course, the geology of the Yucatan likely makes it a poor place for large scale farming, and the jungle is now largely protected for its ecological value.

    I find it fascinating to look at the world from above. It provides a sense of scale and context to the places that we use and enjoy, and really cements how connected everything really is.