We left Havasu after a very busy day on Friday (and after I backed into a pole and screwed up the trunk of my car....ugh...) and took our time getting to Phoenix. We stopped in a little town called Salome and had some AWESOME mexican food.
Got to our destination pretty late, so we enjoyed some quiet time on the back porch of Martin's house then went to bed. When we woked up the next morning we got down to Waffle House as quick as we could (no Waffle House in our neighborhood back home) and scarfed down breakfast. Then realized that we had absolutely no plans for the day. That pretty much never happens. So we drove until something came up. Steve knows a man who has some of the Batman movie props, so we went to his shop to check those out. They're from the second movie, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Danny Deveto:
This one is the boat that Batman drove towards the end of the movie:
After that, we went to some wrecking yards until we found one that had a replacement truck lid for my car. That only took an hour. We thought we'd be working on that all day!
Then we visited the area's smaller airports, so Steve could check out some planes that he's interested in.
We had a quick visit with Steve's aunt and uncle. Then ate a late lunch. Then drove thru a new mall. New malls these days aren't enclosed like the ones that we're all used to. They're set up like litte neighborhoods with storefronts. We saw a store that had a bunch of salt lamps inside, so we went in to check that out. We have allergy problems, and Steve snores because of his, and when the salt lamp store's sign said that these lamps will help with both allergies and snoring--we had to look into it. Ended up with a twenty pound hunk of salt with a lamp in it. We'll see if it's the miracle we've been looking for.
We ate several pounds of cheese for dinner, because we found that the one true cool thing at a Trader Joe's is the wide variety of wine and cheese. Then we went to a restaurant called Red, White, and Brew for some take-out cheesecake. Aweseome.
After watching the beautiful moonrise we went to bed.
Not bad for a day that had no initial plan.
On Sunday, we cleaned up the house (didn't want them to come home to our mess) then hit the road looking for coffee. That took longer than expected. Then had lunch at Pappadeux, which is a cajun place.
Here's our alligator and frog leg appetizers.....
Those were yummy!!!
Then we headed north to a little airstrip that features Glider rides. I had no idea what a glider was but I agreed to go for a ride.
While waiting, there was a very large bird who seemed to be calling to us. She kept saying "Hello" real quietly, as if she was a sweet little baby. I put my hand out to her and she promptly climbed up my arm to my hair where she started biting my hair and ears. Her owner had to pull her off of me. He said something like "She usually bites girls..." okay. thanks.
The glider was actually best described as a plane with no engine and no radios. It has one wheel on the belly, and a skid on the front where a front wheel would go.
Here's one sitting near the runway:
A plane hooks up with a cable and pulls the glider up into the sky.
Here we are getting pulled, at about 3,000 feet altitude:
Once the right altitude has been reached, the glider pulls a lever which releases the cable. The plane turns off and lands, while the glider flies around. We went around for about a half hour before landing. I asked about how the heat affects the gliders and the pilot who took me up said he's done 8 hour flights before, with the heat of the desert pushing up on the glider. Winds affect how long you can stay up, as well. If you turn into a wind just the right way, it pushes you back up. It feels just like flying in an airplane, except it's way quieter. No engine noise and no wind noise. Kind of like riding on a feather.
Here I am in the cockpit of the glider:
Steve did his ride the same time I did, but he got to fly his a little. After we were done we were issued little booklets documenting our ride, which we keep in case we continue to do rides. After a certain number of rides the glider pilot can start showing you how to operate it, and it all counts towards getting your license.
I think Steve intends on the both of us doing just that.
We started the drive home, making stops here and there to explore a little. We ended up in Salome, again, where we visited with a gentleman who just bought a plane from Steve on Ebay. On the road to his house we saw what is likely a falcon of some type:
It's a little blurry because I zoomed in quite a lot.
We were looking forward to sleeping in our own bed once we got home but sadly that just wasn't meant to be. Steve's daughter locked the cat in our room (don't understand that one) so the cat peed on the bed.
We slept as best we could in the spare bedroom, listening to the sounds of the cars on the street. Not used to that, you can't hear them in our room.
Now that we're home we're both overwhelmed with work, which is making both of us miss the weekend all the more!
