In September 2015, I was lucky enough to see a large part of Canada and the United States from the airplane’s window when I flew from Toronto to San Francisco with a connection in Vancouver. Throughout almost the entire flight the weather was clear and sunny, so I was able to see all those places over which we were flying from the altitude of 10,000 meters. On this picture - sunrise over Toronto.

The shortest route from Toronto to Vancouver not only lies over Canada but also over the big part of the northern United States. After making a big circle over Toronto, my plane headed northwest. In this picture – mostly farms north of Toronto and the southern shore of Georgian Bay.

We shortly crossed the border with the United States after we flew over Owen Sound at Lake Huron. The first state we passed through was Michigan, the second one was Wisconsin. In this picture - Lake Superior near Duluth, Minnesota.

North Dakota came after Minnesota. To the right is Lake Darling which stretched for a couple of dozen kilometers like a snake and was likely formed when the last glacier retreated. Almost parallel to Lake Darling flows a narrow river called Des Lacs (from French "lakes"). Its valley is greatly eroded due to wind, water and ice. From high above it’s clear that the state is mostly flat and agricultural. However, since 2006, when the huge reserves of shale oil and gas were discovered, it’s been experiencing an unprecedented oil boom. Even now, when the oil prices plummeted due to the recession, the unemployment rate in North Dakota is the lowest in the United States.

Do those funny squares look like pixels or a nuclear plant’s floor to you?

Small lakes dotted a land farther west.

Montana is truly a 'Wild Wild West' of the United States. However, it's a tough one to see right now due to overcast clouds.

My plane returned to Canada. We crossed the border between Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta. The plane flew a bit south of Calgary, and, unfortunately, I could not see this city from the window.

Flying over Waterton Lakes National Park which together with Glacier National Park in The United States forms the world's first International Peace Park. A high mountain range divides Alberta and beautiful British Columbia.

Flathead River valley.

Kootenay Lake (left) is surrounded by tall mountains.

Despite the fact that it's September, you can clearly see glaciers on the north slopes of the mountains which apparently don't melt in the summer.

The City of Kelowna is the third most populous city in British Columbia after Vancouver and Victoria.

Harrison Lake with its turquoise blue water.

Mountain peaks rise above the clouds.

My plane is very close to Vancouver now. The altitude is a bit higher than 3,000 meters.

A flat Vancouver valley begins abruptly, right after the tall mountain peaks.

Fraser River flows through the City of Vancouver where it finally reaches the Pacific Ocean.

Douglas Island and Port Mann Bridge.

New Westminster.

Thousands of new cars arrived from Asia and are waiting for their new owners. 

Downtown Vancouver rises over the skyline but is very tiny compared to its neighbouring mountains to the north.

A new bridge for subway trains was opened a few months before the 2010 Olympic Games. Do you see those brown things in the water? These are logs of coniferous trees that were cut up in the mountains and flown down the river, so they can get collected and processed. How come logs don't get rotten in the water until they finally get fished out?

To the left is a trolley bus garage. Yes, trolley buses exist in Canada!