On Saturday, while everyone else was plotting how to get a first view of the 787 Dreamliner during its (probable) Tuesday test flight, I joined a group of children from Spokane for a flight to the North Pole.
One of the perks of being welcomed into the elf brigade for the night was a visit to Santa’s flight center, where I was able to snap photos of these very important internal memos.
And, my favorite:
There was a little problem at lift off (something broke during installation) but a fun, new sculpture with a 14-foot wingspan, the Aer O Toaster, can now be seen inside the terminal at Spokane International Airport.
Artist Ken Yuhasz says his toaster is based on the classic late ’30’s Sunbeam toaster – the ‘Flying Toaster’ used as a screen saver on countless computer screens during the 1980’s – and is a re-creation at one-half scale of the Gee Bee racing plane from the early 30’s.
“The proportions are exaggerated, almost cartoonish, and I’ve had a keen interest in this strange little plane for quite some time. It’s been my experience during the build and now that it’s installed to have people of a certain age recognize the plane within the toaster, or visa versa.”
Today ( Saturday, June 6, 2009) if you’re flying to or through Seattle-Tacoma (SEA), Portland (PDX), and Spokane (GEG) airports, go over to the Southwest Airlines gates and ticket counters and see if you can get it on their party.
The airline is celebrating 15 years of service to these airports with history and trivia “gate games” that give customers the chance to win prizes, including free tickets.
Maybe there’ll be cake.
After a lovely week touring Spokane, Washington, I spent a few hours hanging around Spokane International Airport.
While disappointed at having to pay to use wireless Internet at the airport (I was spoiled: all downtown Spokane is a free Wi-Fi zone) I was delighted to find the Simply Northwest shop filled with a surprising selection of local and regionally-made items.
I learned that Spokane is the home of those still-somewhat-hard-to-find Bumble Bars (organic, gluten-free, vegan), and had fun choosing a few Papa Ray’s muffin and scone mixes that come packed in cute carrot and apple-shaped fabric containers.
And when I couldn’t quite decide which bottle of local wine to buy (the shop is post-security) the sales clerk suggested I go next door and taste a few of them at Vintage Washington.
