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PHX Airport Ready for SuperBowl LVII Fans

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The Kanas City Chiefs will play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, February 12 in Glendale Arizona at State Farm Stadium.

Thousands of football fans will be heading that way, whether they have tickets to the game or not. And most of the fans flying to the game will be arriving and departing via Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).

The days leading up to the big game will be busy. But February 13, the day after Super Bowl LVII will likely be one of PHX’s busiest days on record. The airport projects a 50% increase in traffic on that day.

But they’re ready.

“Our staff has been working with airlines, the TSA, the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, law enforcement, our restaurant operators and other partners to ensure we are ready to welcome visitors coming in for the Big Game,” said Director of Aviation Services Chad Makovsky. “Phoenix Sky Harbor is no stranger to welcoming visitors to big events and to town for the Super Bowl. With our focus on service as well as recent enhancements we’ve made to our facilities, we look forward to providing our visitors with an exceptional experience.”

Airport officials tell us the NFL and Host Committee have put up some signs welcoming travelers. And that many shops are already selling Super Bowl and team merchandise.

There’s a countdown clock running in the PHX Bag Claim. And a long list of travel tips for Super Bowl LVII visitors on the airport website.

One key tip to keep in mind is the PHX RESERVE program which allows travelers flying out of Terminals 3 and 5 to reserve a time to go through the TSA security checkpoint.

Reservations can be made up to six days in advance.

For those with bags to check:

On Sunday, February 12, and Monday, February 13, anyone boarding the PHX Sky Train at the 44th Street Station or returning a car at the Rental Car Center can check their bags before getting to the terminal. That’s a big time saver for those who can take advantage of it.

This service is available for those flying American, Delta, Southwest, or United. Bags must be checked a minimum of 90 minutes before your flight. There is no additional charge to use this service, but individual airline bag fees will still apply.

The airport’s team of Navigator Buddies therapy dogs is working on an MVB (Most Valuable Buddy) promotion. And the TSA’s canine explosive detective canines are also in training for the game.

More details on Super Bowl LVII events taking place at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) to come.

Farewell to the Boeing 747, the world’s first jumbo jet

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First Boeing 747-121 , 1969 – Courtesy Museum of Flight

Curent and former Boeing employees, customers, and aviation fans of all sorts gathered at Boeing’s Everett factory on Tuesday to mark the deliver of the final 747 aircraft to Atlas Air Worldwide.

The event closes out more than a half century of production of the iconic airplane.

747 Memorabilia

Here is some 747 memorabilia we found in the SFO Museum collection at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

Pan American World Airways, Boeing 747 – 1969

And here’s a video from December 6, 2022, when Boeing rolled out the final 747 from the factory in Everett, WA. in advance of its delivery to Atlas Air.

Trip Report: 3 Oregon Hotels + 1 Cool Restaurant

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The Seattle-based Stuck at the Airport team took a short road trip to Oregon last week to join a special dinner hosted by Humble Spirit.

The new(ish) farm-to-table restaurant in historic downtown McMinnville celebrates the wonderful wines and seasonal bounty of the Willamette Valley.

On our winter tasting menu: Hazelnuts and Pork Belly, Whole Trout, Winter Braised Vegetables, as well as meatballs, burgers, and other dishes made with beef, chicken, and pork attentively raised and harvested on Tabula Rasa Farms in nearby Carlton, OR.

Farm products even make it into the restaurant’s version of Oreo cookies. Evidently, the recipe for the now-classic snack called for sweetened pork lard, an ingredient later replaced with hydrogenated cottonseed oil. The Humble Spirit chef has his own oreo cookie-like dessert (complete with milk for dipping) that puts sweetened pork lard from Tabula Rasa Farm hogs back into the mix.

Hotels That Embrace History With Wit and Charm. And Books

It’s a small town, but there’s plenty to do, see, and learn about in McMinnville and surrounding Yamhill County. There are oodles of wine-tasting rooms, plenty of charming restaurants, and a thriving art scene. And if you time it right, you can land in town during the annual UFO Fest, honoring a 1950 UFO sighting documented with some pretty believable photographs.

It’s impossible to take it all in during a quick visit. So we were delighted that our home for the night, the 36-room Atticus Hotel in historic downtown McMinnville, is filled with locally-made products, specially-commissioned artwork, lots of handmade furnishings, and Oregon-made products (including Pendleton bathrobes) at every turn.

We loved that each of the hotel’s 36 rooms has an antique door knocker, that guests are offered a complimentary glass of bubbly before they even check in, and that the front desk will make you an espresso drink any time of the day or night.

But what we truly loved about the Atticus Hotel is the history lesson front and center in the lobby.

In the early 1900s, McMinnville was known as Walnut City and walnuts galore were grown and shipped from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. A Columbus Day storm in 1963 took out almost all of the region’s walnut trees and now the region is known for its hazelnuts.

In 1908 McMinnville’s Walnut Club built a promotional archway of walnuts and in 1909 that charming display made its way to the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exhibition, the first World’s Fair held in Seattle. That archway has been recreated in the lobby of the Atticus, complete with constantly refilled bowls of walnuts and hazelnuts. (Each room has a bowl of nuts and a nutcracker as well.)

2 Choices to Stay in Portland, Oregon

The pandemic may have kept people from visiting Portland, OR, but it didn’t do much to slow down the construction of new hotels already underway. So if you head to the Rose City now, you’ll have an even wider choice of lodging options.

We stopped briefly in Portland on our way to and from McMinnville and did return visits to two of our favorite hotels.

The Sentinel

The Sentinel, which calls itself Portland’s ‘most storied’ hotel is made from two historic downtown buildings. The hotel’s east wing is the former Seward Hotel, built a few years after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition. (That hotel later became The Governer Hotel).

The Sentinel’s west wing was once the very grand Elks Lodge.

We love the murals, the ornate lobby ceiling, the fitness center in the former ‘vault room’ complete with a punching bag in the safe, and the faux library and cozy touches in the “Room at the End of the Hall.”

The Heathman Hotel

Located smack dab in the middle of Portland’s cultural district, the Heathman Hotel, which opened in 1927, has been an iconic go-to spot for musicians, artists, celebrities, and other performers.

One of the key features of the hotel is the restored former Tea Court Lounge. It is surrounded by the hotel’s two-story library. Go ahead, take a book off a shelf. The collection is filled with close to 3000 signed editions of books by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, U.S. Poet Laureates, a former U.S. President, and hundreds of other noted authors who have been guests of the hotel.

With the hotel’s permission, we made sure there is now a copy of our new guidebook, “111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss,” on the shelves.

It looked like Stephen King’s book needed some company.

SFO Museum’s 52 Objects: Baby on Board

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Courtesy State Library of Queensland via Flickr Commons

It Happens: Babies Get Born on Airplanes

Babies don’t always arrive when they’re supposed to.

And once in a rare while, they’re born on airplanes.

Airlines know that. And so as early as the 1970s – and likely before – disposable obstetrical kits such as this one in the collection of the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) were stocked onboard.

The museum shared this unusual object as the first item in its new ’52 Objects’ series. And we can’t wait to see what’s next.

Courtesy SFO Museum

The kit has an illustration of a stork – and a rabbit – on the lid delivering a baby. And the contents include a disposable scalpel, a bulb aspirator, and a receiving blanket among other things needed to deliver a baby.

The Smithsonian Museum of American History has a similar kit in its collection and has a photo of the box opened so we can see some of the items inside.

Courtesy National Museum of American History