Passing Through Denver Airport at Dusk

Passing through Denver on a layover, and with time to burn I found one of the outdoor decks DEN keeps open — there are three of them, which seems generous for an airport until you remember this place sits on 53 square miles of prairie, more land than most cities. From the rail you can watch the pickup lanes churn below, shuttle buses and traffic backed up along Peña, and past all of it the plains run flat to the Front Range with nothing in between. A plane hung in the approach path, small against the clouds.

The deck also puts you almost level with the roof of Jeppesen Terminal, the Fentress-designed tent peaks the airport has been known for since it opened in 1995 and put Stapleton out of business. From inside they're just ceiling; from up here you can see the whole row of them, thirty-some white points with the control tower sticking up behind. Better than sitting at the gate. Went back in when the boarding time got close and the wind got to me.