Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Mystery Airport


My big boss signed up for a conference but ended up with a conflict. My boss didn’t want to go, so I drew the next short straw. So Sunday I boarded a plane for the eleven hour door-to-door trip. I like to post pictures of places I go, but I am so uselessly paranoid about work related information that I don’t like to post the actual location I go to on business. So once again, I am posting a few pictures and letting you guess where I am.

Clue 1: The last leg of my flight required me to take a small regional jet from Phoenix to the final destination. On these planes you don’t walk through the typical ramp, but have to go out onto the tarmac to board the plane. When we arrived at the destination I was surprised to find that most of the terminal was open air. The terminal had two halves, one side for the commuter jets like I arrived on and a taller set of gates for bigger jets with the real rampways.

I’m a big fan of those silly fiberglass sculptures that have become a staple of civic boosterism. Right in front of the terminal was this ram or sheep or something painted in desert colors. I have no idea why they selected this particular critter.

Clue 2: As I mentioned, the terminal was all open-air. It was also seriously under construction. This particular location is famous for being the home of celebrities famous and infamous. The terminal is named after a famous resident that turned politician. There are lots and lots of airport terminals named after celebrities and this one sounded particularly silly until I had the “a-ha” moment that put the significance all together. Sure enough, there was a statue of this celebrity in a little nook just off to the side of the escalator.

Clue 3: I have always wanted to get to this town, but being at a conference resort hotel is the worst way to see an area. You take a taxi from the airport and spend three days in seminars and social events. There is no chance to see the local attractions or dine at the local restaurants outside the resort. I have had two travel goals in life that I expect will never be fulfilled. One is to go to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. And the other is to come back here during the first weekend in April, but I doubt I could book a room anywhere near the Shore that week. I'll just have to stay in the kitchen.

BlatantCommentWhoring™: So where am I now? Wild and improbable guesses welcome.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too easy this time! The open-air concourse and palms painted on the side of the ram gave it away. But that doesn't appear to be a great likeness of Sonny's head!

yellojkt said...

I had no idea the open air concourse was such a dead give-away. I have no idea how common or uncommon they are.

Anonymous said...

I didn't know about the open air concourse, since I've only ever driven there, but clue 3 and the last picture are dead giveaways. Eleven hours? Surely, it would have been faster (and cheaper) to fly direct to one of the 3 larger airports and drive the 3 or so hours to your destination. And that sculpture is a big horn sheep, which are well known for their mountain climbing abilities. There are some good-sized mountains nearby and one of the oldest things to do there is to take a sky car to the top.

Sue T. said...

When I saw the photo by Clue #2, I thought it was Albuquerque -- the airport there looks a lot like that, even the color scheme. But there are definitely no Sonny Bono heads around in Albuquerque.

A Free Man said...

I think it's Palm Springs but I can't sort out the Ram...

Jeff and Charli Lee said...

Ah... Sonny Bono. I thought it was you during your stash-sportin days.

yellojkt said...

Not me. I've never had facial hair. And I doubt I could grow a decent Sonny-stache if I tried. That guy was plenty hirsute.