mega musings

Timmy, one of my fellow Boston New Years celebrants, called me yesterday to ask if I could possibly drive him to Philadelphia airport today, since his family is all sorts of under the weather and his winter semester at St. Olaf starts tomorrow. Possibly? Of course! For one, this child is like a little brother. Secondly, when am I not game to drive places that I've never been before, really? I'm never too excited about interstates, particularly I-95, because you don't get to see as many interesting things as you might driving on more local roads. However, it's really the most logical/only way to get to Philadelphia airport. And so we went.

We took Route 70 straight through the Pine Barrens. I love the Pine Barrens. Pitch pines, the predominant tree in the region, are really kind of ugly, but there's something lovely about the vastness of it (similar to my impression of the Canadian prairies). There really is quite a bit of biodiversity. It's one of those situations where you can't judge a book by its cover. And speaking of books, I'm currently reading John McPhee's Pine Barrens for the gajillionth time. It's so good. If you have any level of respect for New Jersey, you should read it sometime. And if you don't... go away. Now.

It doesn't take long to cross New Jersey from the Atlantic to the Delaware. We crossed the Walt Whitman Bridge and got to Phila Airport in good time. We figured we could find some cafe or restaurant and grab an early dinner before he peaced out from the east coast for five months, but lo and behold, there is not a single eatery before security (at least in the D and E terminals, which we wandered through). What the--?!

I understand why security is so intense at airports nowadays (like that time I had to forfeit my shoes for analysis at Newark Airport...), but I was really disappointed in being unable to share a last meal with my friend before his trip. We ended up taking over a bench next to security and people watching until Timmy needed to get going. It was interesting seeing people separating and reuniting, it was like an emotional funhouse in there. We were at terminal E, which is Northwestern and Southwestern airlines. People were going all over the US from where we were. There were lots of pictures being taken, and I thought it awkward to be in the background of people's pictures, kind of like being immortalized in photo albums on their coffee tables and bookshelves forever in a weird sort of way. It's kind of amazing how interconnected everything and everyone really are.

Of course, I realized that with this little trip out to Philly, I have toured pretty much all of the US's Megalopolis in the last week. I've been from south of Richmond, Virginia to Boston, almost all via I-95. Overdevelopment makes me a little nauseas, but I find an interesting juxtaposition between the way the northeast corridor lights up in NASA's nighttime pictures and the very dark drive through the Pine Barrens on my way home from the airport.