re: TulaneLSU’s Top 10 views from 30,000 feet from NOLA to Seattle

Here are TulaneLSU’s Top 10 views from 30,000 feet from NOLA to Seattle:

10. Rocky Mountains in Colorado



Around noon, I had a moment of sleep. It was likely less than a minute of absence from the splendor of this world. In my hand at that time was a copy of Kant's Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone. Plainly, it was not a riveting read, unlike one of TulaneLSU's Top 10 Nicholas Sparks novels. The pilot announced that we would be entering a small patch of turbulence due to the Rockies, so I looked out and saw snow for the first time in a year. The clouds were particularly resplendent as well.

9. Idaho river valley



The green area of the PNW is not nearly as large as one thinks. It does not take long in an airplane to realize that the Cascade Range of mountains is the border between the PNW of clouds, trees, and rain and the arid lands of eastern Washington and Idaho. Here one sees a river valley surrounded by desert. The narrow lush shores of the River Nile squeezed by the desert may come to mind.

8. The Huey P Long Bridge and the Westbank



I very rarely get to see the bridge that haunts me, or the land to which it connects. Daunting though it is, from above, the bridge and land seem innocuous enough. Reality sets in, though, any time I travel on Clearview or Jefferson.

7. Cancer Alley, Sugar Cane, and Arpents



Not a whole lot happens in the land between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. After the Civil War, sharecropping for sugar was not nearly as profitable as before. Paying pennies to labor was not the main reason for the drop -- it was America importing sugar from areas that essentially still had sugar and slave plantations.

Industrialists and profiteers saw this land as a gold mine, and soon, old plantations because petro-chemical plants, which have helped to drive the south Louisiana economy while also driving many others to early rest in graves. The French arpent system with long lots, ensuring land owners got a piece of riverfront, permeates the topography, especially on the west.

6. Eastern Texas



Between eastern Texas and the Rockies there was so much beige. This area of eastern Texas or Oklahoma was the last patch of green for some time.The finger lakes are delightful, reminding me of tree roots, the back of sand dollars, and the shape of snowflakes. God has given us such beauty from the macroscopic to the microscopic.

5. Metairie



What a view! I believe that is T.H. Harris Middle School and Kehoe France in the foreground with Clearview Mall and the Causeway in the background. Wait a moment, is that a former Time Saver in the immediate foreground by TH Harris? Yes it is. Au revoir!

4. Point Claire, near Carville Louisiana



In 1892 the state of Louisiana passed a law forcing those with Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, to quarantine away from others. Two years later, the first people with the disease were transported from New Orleans to Carville, where the Louisiana Leper Home was soon to open under the guidance of the Daughters of Charity. These nuns, wearing their distinctive cornettes, ran the facility until 2005. Today, those buildings host at-risk youth, in a program run by the National Guard.

Geographically, I could hardly believe how narrow the river becomes here, partly due to the low water levels. The river makes a severe curve, creating an enormous peninsula there, named Point Claire. It is essentially an island, and without the USACE's intervention, probably would already be an island, with the water cutting a path through that point. The isolation of such a land, as land travelers would skip the river's path and make the shorter traverse from river point to river point, made this the perfect spot to host the Leper Home.

3. Grand T***n near Jackson Hole



This is the only National Park whose name I refuse to type or say, as it is libidinous and improper. From above, these mountains are beautiful.

2. Mount Rainier



Rising over 14,000 feet in elevation, it is the tallest volcano in the continental U.S. In 2003, I climbed it on an expedition with Uncle and his college roommate, who was quite the mountaineer. It is not a very safe mountain to hike, with deaths occurring every year. Acute Altitude Sickness is a real threat here, so it should only be attempted after acclimating and with thorough preparations. Though this trip there are no plans to summit, I will be working on TulaneLSU’s Top 10 trails of Rainier National Park, soon forthcoming. Rainier is a splendid mountain from below or above.


1. The Crescent City



The world’s greatest city. It looks as great from above as from the surface of this beautiful planet, so created for our good use by the benevolent God known in Christ our Lord.

Faith, Hope, and Love,
TulaneLSU


P.S. Here are a few other pictures I took:







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