ME to FL to CA to ME

  

🛪 BGR to DCA to TPA

Do you know the story behind airport codes?  Before commercial flights even existed, the U.S. Weather Bureau used two-letter station identifiers (like LA, CH, or NY) to track weather data.

When airports began opening in the 1920s to 1930s, pilots used those same weather station codes to identify where they were landing or taking off.

But as air travel exploded, the system needed more combinations so they added a third letter and modern airport codes were born like. 

In the US, they added X at the end of the identifier like LAX, PHX and PDX.  X doesn't stand for anything at all.  

But Canadians are intuitive.  They added the letter Y meaning that the place has a weather station.  Thus the famous YYZ for Toronto, Vancouver → YVR or Calgary → YYC were born.

And then... the international standardization came later.  In 1947, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was formed to create a global, three-letter airport code system.

They made sure codes were unique worldwide and that no two airports share the same one.  Even it means that it's funny or unfortunate like BUM for Butler, Missouri, EAT for Wenatchee, Washington, PMS for Palmyra, Syria, LOL for Lovelock, Nevada and OMG for Omega, Namibia.

And that is your fun fact history trivia for today!

So then our next travel destination is Tampa, Florida!  Yup.. from the northern most state to the southern most state in the east coast.  

  

This travel was both personal and strategic.  But mainly personal so I don't get in trouble with my adult daughter.  She lives in Tampa for what seems like forever now and it's really nice to travel to a warmer weather.  And flying out of Tampa to my next destination is cheaper 😁

Overall it was a great trip of course!  First time that I rented an apartment instead of getting a hotel room.  The main tenants are college students so there's a lot of activities.  One of the nights my daughter saw a girl in distress so she called 911 to make sure the girl was alright.  We did not hear anything back but we both hoped that she's fine.

We mainly stayed in the area and watched a lot of movies.  It was a very relaxing visit indeed!

 

🛦 TPA to DFW to ONT to PHX to DCA to BGR

And then off to Lake Arrowhead, CA.  Yup.. from the east coast to the west coast we go!

  

“True friends are never apart — maybe in distance, but never in heart.”

- Inspired by Helen Keller

I've known these people for a good 20 years... give or take.  We all met in Boise, Idaho.  Half are in the Air Force so they expected to move on and some like me who wanted a change of scenery.

We just clicked.  We laughed at silly jokes, we sing a lot of karaoke, we go crazy when we hear "shots!", there's a lot of non-sense talks.  But when it really matters, when it really counts, we know that someone will hold us in their arms and tell us that everything will be alright and that they are always there.

Lake Arrowhead sits in the San Bernardino Mountains, in the San Bernardino National Forest.  The elevation is around 5,125 feet above sea level.  The road is freaking windy!  A few of us had so much fun driving up and especially down that road.  And the view, when the air is clear, is a-ma-zing!

  

  

Of course there's always time to go out and breath fresh air.  Lake Gregory is a favorite fishing spot and very picturesque.    

This trip was very unexpected for me.  I thought there will be awkwardness or that some of them will change and will be very annoying.  But it turned out to be one of the best weekends of my life.  It felt like time stood still while we were apart then it started turning ticking again when we got together.  Of course there's a lot to talk about, a lot of catching up but the closeness was still there.  Everything felt so familiar.  Everything felt so natural.  We even bonded over Dan da Dan.  My love for certain anime reignited.  

I know it won't always be happy moments but I didn't want it to end.  Usually, I will be grateful for the great memories then move on.  I kept coming back to this one for a long while.  I kept imagining what would happen next.  I kept asking what if.  I guess I'll never find out. 

   

Where to next, Puu?

Maybe I'll write about the Six Pinnacle Pursuit of Greenville, Maine.  Maybe some winter adventures.   

In the meantime, check out my store to see more images like this!  Or maybe follow my Instagram page.  Or maybe get some free stock photos.  Thank you internet!

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