18 May 2024

Merging with Nature from my Plane Ride

by | posted in: Deven's Journey | 8

I boarded a 7 am flight from Orange County, California to Philadelphia. I had several work-related tasks using my focused time in the air.

Little did I know or even think about it, I had incredible angles and perspectives every time I glanced outside from my window seat. I felt connected to Mother Nature while sharing pictures with family and friends later. Who would have thought a busy plane ride consumed by work would still create an opportunity for breathtaking views?

I am capturing them below on my blog.

The first time that I glanced outside, I saw ice-covered Rockies. Mother Nature sent me a relaxing nudge – it felt good.
I zoomed in my phone camera a bit more and saw valleys and mountainsides in different shades of dark grey on the giant canvas of Mother Nature.
As the plane moved forward for one more minute or so, the chiseled lines of roads carved on the plateaus juxtaposed breathtakingly with the contours of mountains. A couple of snow-covered peaks on the farther side struck harmony with the clouds.

The vantage point from my window seat thousands of feet up in the air gave me quite a treat. It felt drawn into the present moments. I took a deep breath and felt the air in my nostrils and tummy. It rejuvenated and relaxed me.

I was back on my laptop until headwinds gave our ride some turbulence. I confirmed my seatbelt is still on as per the captain’s announcement. I looked outside, and there was one more surprise waiting for me.

I saw a dark color impression on the mountains. For a second, I thought it was a lake. As soon as I connected it with the cloud hovering over it, it dawned on me that the shadow of the cloud painted dark hues on the mountain on a sunny day.

Seeing from above, the cloud and its shadow on earth yanked me into the present moment yet again.
I nudged closer to the window and tilted my phone down to capture with a different angle. There was one more cloud and its shadow.
The dark grey color bands on the earth showed shadow effects, letting me know those were valleys in the mountain range. I was inside the plane, yet I felt like I was in the middle of nature, in awe of its enormous scale.

When I looked outside again, the perspective shifted with imprints of human resourcefulness.

Human ingenuity is terrific in finding ways to survive and thrive. The small township nestled among mountains, and a lake appeared in harmony with nature.
When I looked outside next time, the patterns of color blocks on the ground were like pieces in the giant puzzle of Mother Nature fitting together seamlessly.

By this time, I was intrigued to check the outside views. I lucked out with the window seat, where I could get good coverage of the outside area without too much obstruction from the aircraft’s wing.

The scattered while color clouds with deep blue sky on the horizon yanked me in the moment.
The white color clouds and blue or grey colors sneaking through them reminded me of frozen lakes I have seen in the Canadian Rockies. The tip of the plane's wing reminded me that we were up thousands of feet above the ground and the clouds.
The layers of cloud looked like a white sponge that'd bounce me if I were to jump on it.

The cloud layer started to lighten up.

The deep blue permeating through clouds reminded me of the ocean waters. I knew it was the sky imparting the blue, of course.
We were inching closer to Chicago, and developments on the land started to emerge.
There was a small township, probably. From the high elevation, it looked so embedded in nature.
We got out of the cloud layer. I zoomed in and could see imprints of the towns or villages on the landscape. From up in the air, they looked blissful and abundant.

The captain announced the approach to Chicago, preparing for landing in about 20 minutes. It was fascinating to see the progression leading up to the ORD airport.

It was probably a Chicago suburb on the west side: it looked crowded compared to the mountains and open lands. However, the green all around tiny dots of houses probably indicated those were massive estates.
Chicago
Chicago downtown and Lake Michigan looked crisp on a sunny day.
The landing plan appeared to go over Lake Michigan and then approach the landing from the east side. I could imagine the city humming along the shores of the lake.
The downtown high-rise buildings concentrated towards the bottom right in the picture looked stunning.
Perspective of Chicago after the aircraft turned around over Lake Michigan

After a few hours of layover, I was in the air again aboard the connecting flight to Philadelphia. It was a quick trip of an hour. I was on the window on the other side, and it was fascinating to see how the perspective shifts when the aircraft wing is on the left in pictures.

Are these clouds or the clusters of floating ice on the ocean?
The variations in brightness and white hues with the angle of direct sun rays - I saw it with my eyes, and yet somehow, it soaked in through all my senses.
Cloud bubbles...!!??!!?? 🙂
Soothing white and deep blue

The cityscapes crystalized in the window view as we got closer to Philadelphia. It was my first time flying into Philly.

While capturing the narrative on the blog, I felt a sense of gratitude for the moments that drew me in and soaked me with excitement and wonder.

8 Responses

  1. Manjri Dhami
    | Reply

    Fantastic! Bravo!
    You are so gifted with imagination and beautiful ✍️. I admire your creativity and love of nature. Congratulations! Very impressive 👏 Thanks for sharing!

  2. Hiren Vakil
    | Reply

    Brilliantly narrated, accompanied with breathtaking photos. I thoroughly enjoyed the narration. In fact, for a moment, I thought I was sitting next to Deven in the flight.

    Great job!! 👌🏾👌🏾

  3. Nilesh Bhoot
    | Reply

    Hi Deven,
    What a beautiful pictures. Amazing wording with full of gratitude are giving awesome framing to the pictures. It reminded me my back and forth flights from NY to San Diego during 2002-2008. I have always enjoyed bird views of mother Earth 🌎. વાચા આપવા બદલ ધન્યવાદ 💐

  4. Lisa
    | Reply

    Beautiful pictures Deven. Such a unique perspective (from the sky)

  5. Pankaj Choudhary
    | Reply

    Beautifully captured and narrated.. Deven, Thank you for sharing your blog. It was fun to read it.

  6. Bhaskar Patel
    | Reply

    Beautiful!

  7. Hasuben Shah
    | Reply

    દેવેન,

    બધાં પીક્ચર્સ ફરી ફરી જોયા. પીક્ચર્સ સરસ છે. તારો કુદરતનો પ્રેમ અને અવલોકન ગજબના છે.
    કામમાં પ્રવૃત્ત હોવા છતાં આટલા આબેહૂબ સીન capture કર્યા તે તારી આર્ટ છે.
    શુભેચ્છાઓ અને ધન્યવાદ સાથે આશીર્વાદ.

    મમ્મી

  8. I. L. Kothari
    | Reply

    Nice pics as well as narration

What are your thoughts?