To Minneapolis and DC

I'm guessing this was over British Columbia or Alberta.

It was flat down there.  I think this was North Dakota.  

Still flat.  Outside Minneapolis.  

The Mississippi River and Minneapolis (or is this St. Paul?)[Thanks Funk]

There were green leaves outside the terminal and this moose inside.

This ad was in the Reagan Airport in Washington DC.   The little box says "That's the impact of America's oil and gas industry."  Like most others,  I have no context for a number like that.  I didn't even know how big the whole US workforce is.  I know there are about 300 million people in the US, so maybe 50% are in the workforce and the rest are children, retired, or unemployed.  So I looked it up.   Here's what the Bureau of Labor Statistics says about the number of people employed in oil and gas.

On this chart, oil and gas extraction employs 162,900.  So where do the other 9.04 million people come from?  Are these all the people who work in gas stations?  Maybe it includes everyone in the car industry?  And people who make gas stoves and boilers.  But if we didn't use oil and gas, wouldn't there be support industries for whatever else we used?  And why is this sign in a Washington DC airport?  So Congress members are careful not to mess with oil and gas?

If the number of jobs is important, then Congress needs to be sure to support State and Local government because, according to the chart - below the part I excerpted - they directly employ 19 million (not with the mysterious multiplier that got oil and gas impacting 9 million).  More than half of that it for education.  

See, things turn political before you even leave the airport in DC.  We got picked up by J and his gf.  I was in the backseat eating still warm from the oven cake with delicious, messy chocolate inside that came with the ride, so this picture of the Lincoln Memorial is a little blurry, but I figured I needed something clearly DC here.

Then there was the find a parking place dance that left J and me inside the building while the women were supposed to pull up in back to unload.  But miraculously, a parking place appeared.  But I did see this sign inside.  (I messed with the phone number so my two readers don't call.)

This red box and these two shoes were sitting on a bench in across from the sign.  I guess there are lots of boxes and shoes moving through this lobby. 










It may be only 9:30pm in Anchorage, but it's 1:30am here, so I'm checking off.  But I did get some non-blog writing done on the plane.  :)

And I didn't even worry about what was happening in Juneau.  27 hours left for the 26th Legislature.