BeigeJournal

I went to General Mitchell International Airport to pick up my girlfriend upon her return from a trip to Louisiana. Her flight was delayed about a half hour by weather, so for the first time in a few years I actually parked and went into the terminal.

As part of my continuing series of used book store visits, I did stop in the Renaissance used book shop in the airport. As far as I know, it is relatively unusual to have a used book store in an airport, but we have one here. I only had a few minutes to spend there, but it does tend to fit the usual profile of lots of books, all over the place, though it’s a bit more organized-looking than some.

In the realm of political statements, there is a hot air hand dryer in one of the men’s rooms in the terminal with a sticker on the button that says, “Press here for a message from George W. Bush.”

Airports are big and complicated and full of people who are distracted and who have never been there before. They try really hard to put up informative signs, and I think they did reasonably well here. The biggest mystery was figuring out which direction to walk in to get to the terminal from the middle of the parking garage. The garage is an especially difficult case because due to the low ceiling with lots of structural beams plus the columns you just can’t see anything, including the signs, from any great distance.