So I took a nice week-long vacation with my S.O., flying to Phoenix and heading directly to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. Here are 30 pics from the first leg of the trip:

 

Departing CLE:

 

 

 

Lakewood's Gold Coast:

 

The Gold Coast and downtown Lakewood:

 

 

Pelee Point:

 

Pelee Island:

 

Kelleys Island in the foreground, the Bass Islands in the background:

 

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant:

 

Toledo:

 

Toledo un-zoomed:

 

Grand Rapids (I think):

 

Somewhere along Lake Michigan:

 

Thanks to a lot of cloud cover, an obscured pic of Chicago:

 

Flyover country:

 

"Little Fluffy Clouds", anyone?

 

Somewhere in Arizona (I think)

 

Those are some big mountains!

 

That's some unsustainable planning!

 

Interesting:

 

I know Cleveland sprawls but yeesh!!!

 

Downtown Phoenix:

 

 

Gah!!!

 

 

 

Now that's actually kinda cool:

 

Taxiing to the terminal at Sky Harbor (PHX), with part of downtown Phoenix in the background:

 

Organ Pipe Cactus National Park (a bazillion cacti/saguaros):

 

Next up, Mexico!

 

And I thought San Jose had a lame skyline.  Phoenix doesn't do much for me architechually either (having never been there, this is based off MayDay's photos)

 

Yay! Aerials!

Downtown Phoenix is such a joke, well the whole place actually makes me kind of quesy.

^if you can believe it --- from those shots i think they actually filled in a few of those gigantic dirt blocks in downtown phoenix since i was last there a few years ago. looks like there are still many more to go tho. it's like some kind of bad joke.

 

don't dare let them ever take any great lakes water to support a place like that!

Truly impressive!! :wink:

 

^ It does look like it... although you have to keep in mind that "just dirt" is the natural state in Phoenix, like grass in the Midwest.  (But still empty lots, of course!)

I'd rather have neither.

 

Fantastic aerials, Shawn.  The Lakewood shots really came out nicely.

Thanks for the pics. I could see my 7-story condo building in one of the views of Lakewood, though it pales compared to the high-rises along the Gulf Coast.

 

The last time I was in Phoenix (1985) was, in fact, my last time in Phoenix. Tucson was nice, but Phoenix sucked.

 

BTW, the pic of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant is actually of Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant. 

Good show, Shawn! Although I don't enjoy the total experience of air travel, the view on a reasonably clear day is something I've always looked forward to.

 

When I first experienced commercial flight (1960s), sometimes the view was even more revealing than it is now; the DC-6 flights on United between Philadelphia and Toledo or Cleveland were at about 6,000 feet -- quite a lot lower and slower than today's jets.

 

I haven't been to Phoenix since 1979, and really haven't missed it all that much. I remember flying in on a pretty clear autumn Sunday and having a good view of the city. The next day I took my rental car up to South Mountain park for some overlook photos, and all I could see was the very tops of the tallest buildings poking through a thick layer of pinkish-brown smog. Traffic was horrendous, and brutally aggressive until congestion brought it to a grinding halt.

Ah Arizona!  My prof said that Arizona debunks the entire creative class argument. 

Very cool pictures!

 

What (if any) restrictions are there for using a camera in flight?

Thanks everyone - and thanks for the correction on Perry/Besse.

 

dfly, I didn't get hassled at all - in fact one of the attendants asked "getting some great pictures?". They do make some sort of announcement about "please turn off all portable electronic devices" but I figured that my camera was harmless. So my guess is that it's a-ok.

Is the Bank One Ballpark now the Chase Ballpark?  bye bye BOB

 

I think the city might look better if it did not have the stadium, it puts the rest of the buildings into perspective, and makes them look puny.

You're an amazing photographer Mayday!

I still can't even begin to understand how that is the 5th largest city in the nation. Why on earth are people flocking there?

Honestly, I don't get it either - but I've never subscribed to the lemming/herd mentality that permeates a disturbing majority of American society.

 

When we were in Phoenix, there were days where we could see mountains about a mile from my friend's apartment balcony - the next day, we couldn't. Why? Pollution. It seemed as though all those awesome mountains have a way of retaining whatever gunk is floating about. I'm still nursing a sinus infection that I developed while I was there, and while pollen isn't fun, pollution is just god-awful! The sad part is that they're building new highways to support the sprawl that's 40 miles from downtown - and that's only inner-ring exurbia! 

 

There are a few areas that are worth mentioning but otherwise it definitely was not my cup of tea.

I can't believe Phoenix is getting this bad a wrap based on overhead views of the skyline.  It is actually a very vibrant area with tremendous job growth. 

If by vibrant you mean a lot of overall development (regardless of context), you're correct.

 

However, I define vibrant (remember this forum is urbanOhio) as a place that is walkable, pedestrian-friendly with healthy pedestrian foot traffic and  an aesthetically pleasing streetscape.

 

I saw very few of those in Phoenix (Old Town in Scottsdale was an exception)- what I saw a lot of was low-density housing behind brick/block walls and gated drives, strip-plazas with plenty of asphalt setback, nominal transit, and 5-lane streets - everywhere. And that was just in the city itself - the suburbs for the most part were even more spread-out and auto-centric (and they're getting worse). I'm sure Phoenix has tremendous job growth - as someone who prefers a more urban environment, that's just not enough for me.

^ I see your point MayDay.  My definition of vibrant is just different than yours, however both are correct.  I always looked at Phoenix as a non-urban or non-walkable area due to the era in which it began developing rapidly (60's and 70"s).  Most of the walkable areas in midwest cities are in neighborhoods that developed in the 19th and early 20th century before the automobile made a large presence and walkable was a necessity not a luxury.