That is one humongous Lone Star near the Capitol in Austin.

Evening firepit, boats, lakes, mountains. Totally makes up for the crazy French name…

Since I was already in a place that I had great difficulty in pronouncing the name (Coeur d’Alene), I figured might as well visit a place that I will have absolute no chance ever of pronouncing. So, I walked to this place – it is actually a quiet beach by the lake – called Hnya'(pqi’nn. I am not kidding you. The name has two apostrophes and one parentheses! Evidently, in the language of the Couer d’Alene tribe (also called the Schitsu’umish tribe), it means “Gathering Place” and is pronounced “hin-yap-keehn-un”.

See the picture on the top. This beach is steeped in history. Many centuries ago, various tribes – at least three more – used to gather exactly at this spot during spring and fall to celebrate with their families and give Thanks. They used to sing, dance, have competitive sports and fish a lot from the river and lake.

Many years later – in the 18th century French fur traders discovered the tribes here. That explains the French name of this place. Evidently the tribes were very tough negotiators. I understand in French that is what the name refers to.

Towards the second half of the 19th century, General Sherman (remember the quote of his and his picture that I had talked about last week that I found walking between Terminal B and C at the Atlanta airport?) had a fort built right behind the beach and called it Fort Coeur d’Alene. That was later renamed after him.

And today, that fort has been reconstructed and built out to be the North Idaho College. See the pictures on the bottom half.

That was an amazing history lesson. I went down to the quiet beach for a few minutes and tried to imagine what that beach must have witnessed over the centuries. Then I slowly strolled back to my hotel.

Remember Sheboygan Falls on Sheboygan river in Sheboygan city in Sheboygan county? Well, today I arrived, after multiple flights and car rides to a really really beautiful resort called Couer d’Alene in a really cute city called Couer d’Alene by an exquisite lake among the mountains called, of course, Lake Couer d’Alene among a forest park called – no points for guessing – Couer d’Alene.
One big difference. Unlike “Sheboygan”, I have not figured out how to pronounce this name 🙂 For the curious, this is in Idaho on the border of Washington.

Minneapolis airport can be easily renamed as iPads-R-Us. There must be a thousand of them for free use by passengers. I won’t be surprised if more passengers are missing their flights after clearing security than before at this airport 🙂

Had it not been for the young lady sitting next to me on my Delta flight back home a few weeks back, I would have never realized that back in 1837, Stephen H. Long, the Chief Engineer of Western and Atlantic Railroad had described Atlanta (my home for the last seven years) as “A good location for one tavern, a blacksmith shop, a grocery store and nothing else”. Or the beauty of the Atlanta airport itself (and I must have visited it – on a conservative basis five hundred times at least).

I forget where I was flying from but I remember as I sat down in my aisle seat, the lady in the window seat next to me asked “I wanted to apologize upfront for inconveniencing you. I did not get an aisle seat today and I will have to bother you to go the restroom later”.

No big deal to me. So I said “Not a problem at all. I can always do with getting up and stretching”. It appeared she always chose aisle seat, just like me. So I asked “Looks like you travel a lot”. “Every week!”, she said.

I did not reveal that that is what I have to do too. Instead, I said “I noticed the Asics shoes you are wearing. Are you a runner?”. “Yes! I try running every day”, she said. “Really?”, I asked, “Does it not interfere with your travel schedule?”. Personally, I knew how difficult that could be.

She agreed but then went on to explain the tricks she had learnt on the road to keep up with her metabolism level and diet control. Of all the tips she gave me, one stuck in my mind. She said she avoided taking trains at airports, cabs if she could help it, moving sidewalks, automated escalators and simply focused on walking or climbing stairs whenever she could in her day to day life. And that night, at the terminal train station, we wished each other well as I stepped into the airport train and she walked away. And I told myself “She had a point. I should try that next time”.

And ever since, I have stopped taking the train at Atlanta station. It actually felt good initially. Then it became a habit. I would just keep walking thru the tunnel dragging my suitcase, most likely on the phone talking to somebody, my eyes to the ground not noticing anything else. Eventually, I would reach my destination and think “That was good. I got some exercise”.

Till today.

Today, my flight was out of Terminal C. Starting from Terminal T, then A, then B and then C, that was a long walk. But I am glad I did it. Atlanta airport is always known for its art. But the walls in the tunnel between Terminal B and C is a fascinating depiction of the history of Atlanta over the last 800 years. Before today, if you had asked me of Atlanta’s past, I probably would have said “Martin Luther King”, “slaves”, “cotton farms” and pretty much stop there. I might even have incorrectly thrown in Jimmy Carter to show that I was up and up with modern history 🙂

If you ever are in Atlanta airport, especially with kids, do get off at Terminal B station and walk till Terminal C. It will give you and the kids a great understanding of the history of the place called Atlanta today. There are numerous pictures, anecdotes and quotes adorning the walls in a chronological fashion.

That quote from the Chief Engineer was awesome just to look back at it and realize how terrible we often are in predictions. Speaking of hubris, you will find a picture of a young girl – Martha Lumpkin – whose dad, once the Governor of Georgia (and infamous for brutally removing the Cherokees from Georgia) renamed the town “Marthasville” in honor of his youngest daughter! (The city was called Terminus before that because that is where Western and Atlantic Railroad terminated – one more testimony to their imaginative powers 🙂 ). Ironically, the name was changed to Atlanta primarily at the suggestion of another Chief Engineer – from a competitive railroad company!!

Another picture that caught my eye was the famed General of the Union Army – W.T. Sherman. It was not his picture so much as his quote – which is acutely relevant even in today’s world: “War is cruelty and you cannot refine it”.

That walk which should have taken me 5-6 minutes lasted a full half an hour.

And here is the real irony at the end. After walking all that distance, I was so hungry and with such little time to get to the plane that I grabbed some junk food on the way and merrily munched it away, completely oblivious of all the diet tips my fellow passenger had given me that evening. I regained all my calories and more.

I cannot wait for my next flight that might leave from Terminal D or E or F, though! I wonder what those walks will bring to me…

Sat down in my seat on the Delta flight to Milwaukee and this is the first thing that caught my eye!! What does a van for “Cabin Appearance” really do? First time in my traveling life….

This is at Milwaukee airport..

Woke up at 4 am to catch a flight at a God-forsaken hour. As the flight door was closed, the pilot announced maintenance issue and gave an estimate of a 15 minute delay to get the paperwork done. One and a half hour later, we are still drinking terrible coffee sitting right where we were.

I think all Delta pilots have a background in running IT projects 🙂