(Almost) All by myself at Tucson Airport

I rarely travel.  The last time I was on an airplane was July 2010 when I visited Northern California to see my friend Brandon and his family.  Now that I think about it, that is the last vacation day I took.  I try to be a good employee at work.  Plus, isn't it tougher to get fired when you're always there and no one knows if they can get along without you or not?

I get excited when I have the opportunity to visit an airport.  I suppose it is because I've visited them so rarely in my life.  The people watching is usually exciting.  The airplanes are a spectacle.  Many airports have a Cinnabon featuring their freshly baked warm cinnamon rolls with that amazing icing, one of my favorite foods of all time.  When I die, I hope they pump out all of the blood in my body and inject Cinnabon icing in there before burying me.

I had the opportunity on Monday to pick Anthony up from the Tucson International Airport in south Tucson.  He was returning from a week long cruise vacation in Alaska.  He's the traveler in our family.  I'm usually the one digging in the couch cushions for the gas money to drive him to the airport.

I arrived at the Tucson Airport at approximately 11:00 p.m.  I discovered that there is hardly anyone there at that hour on a Monday night.  It almost looked abandoned.  Airports (at least from the visits I've made to them) are usually somewhat of a hub of activity and it was kind of surreal to see the place so empty.

Anthony's flight arrived on it's connection on US Airways from Phoenix on time at 11:28 p.m.  While I waited, I took pictures of the (nearly) empty airport and spent one dollar to get a mechanical chair massage.

I felt like an (almost) jetsetter and artsy empty airport photographer at the same time.  It was amazing.

I saw this in the Tucson Airport Daily Parking lot
and thought "Hey, how did they know I was coming?"

View of Tucson Airport terminal
from Daily Parking lot

This sign should have said:
"Welcome To Tucson International Airport,
you may be the only one here"

Night time traffic jam

Anthony was arriving on US Airways
Flight 2839.
It said it was on time.
And it was.
Pretty amazing how that works.

The 'A' gate waiting area at Tucson Airport.
It was a buzz of activity.

One of the few people who were at the airport
had a cat on a leash.

Baggage claim.
Gee, it's so shiny... and empty.

I spent one dollar and got a massage
in one of these chairs while waiting
for Anthony to arrive.
It did not come with a happy ending.

My view of the concourse while getting
a one dollar mechanical chair massage.

Police officer walking by the Ike's Coffee stand
while the guy in the tank top tries
hitting on the girl working there.

The empty men's restroom

There are actually two people in this photo.
Far left, and to the right behind the second pillar.
It was getting crowded in there.

A piece of art titled:
"Closet under the stairs"

The biggest crowd in the airport was at
the waiting area for gate B arrivals.

Anthony fought through the crowd
on the escalator when he arrived
from his cruise in Alaska.
It was good to see him after eight days away.