Memorial Day Weekend

Betsy and Krystle drove on out Friday night and gave me a visit in Los Angeles. I did my best to play host and tour guide and showed the both of them a good time. We must have done at least 10 miles walking over the three days we were together. I showed them the fashion, flower, jewelry, and financial districts of downtown LA. Betsy said it was a little bit of a culture shock for her and that she has never experienced anything like shopping Santee Alley before.

We spent a lot of time resting and relaxing at the apartment, but even so we still had our adventures at the complex. On Saturday night we had a barbecue and Gary Michelson drove on up from San Diego to join us. I marinated plenty of Carne-Asada, and cooked them over charcoal. Krystle brought out a belated birthday cake with Yoda on it! It was yummy. Later on I snuck the gang up between security shifts to the roof of the apartment complex, where they were surprised to find a helicopter pad and a wonderful view of Downtown.

We also drove out to Santa-Monica and hung out on the beach for a few hours, Betsy's cell phone decided it liked it there so much that jumped out of her pocket and hid in the sand so deeply that we couldn't find it anywhere. The beaches in LA are longer than the ones in San Diego. It's been a long time since I've been to the beach, I enjoyed seeing it again.

Sunday we slept in and was visited by Betsy's friend Robert. He works for Applebees, so naturally we had to go and get served by him once his shift started. We ate like royalty there with appetizers, meals & dessert, and paid only half price for everything! He was quite the gentleman. Afterward we headed out to Hollywood where we walked the stars and explored the Ripley's "Believe it or Not" Museum. Believe it or not, the LCD screen for my camera spontaneously shattered while in the museum. It was quite the bummer, evidently it is a common problem with this model camera. I've got to send it in to get fixed. :(

In between all this running around we spent hours lounging around the pool and in the hot tub. I guess all the walking made their legs and feet sore!

On a sad note Krystle's adopted Grandpa John, suffered from a stroke last Monday, he's got all of his wits about him, but he's paralyzed on his left side. We were able to briefly visit him in the hospital. He starts physical therapy this week and hopefully he can re-learn how to use his left side. Our prayers go out to him.

• View 10 photos of this past weekend
  

Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

I saw the 11:45 PM Showing of Episode III with Rex @ Edwards Cinema in Alhambra and really enjoyed it! I now have to see the original trilogy. George Lucas is amazing and he has left a legacy. Two thumbs up. Bravo!

Chino Airshow

Another great airshow at Chino! Only at this airshow can you see 24 warbirds with 30 Radial Engines running all at one time. Mom and Dad came up for the show and I met up with Andy Hendrickson and his friends. We all had a good time and tried our best to stay cool because it was over 90 degrees F.

Some of the highlights of the show was a 1955 Chevy Bel Air with a Rolls Royce Merlin Twin Supercharged V12 3000HP P-51 Engine stuffed into it, the JAG TV Show Stearman, the only two flying Japanese Zeros left in the world, and a German FL155 Storch.

• View my photo album of the airshow with 23 Photos
  

I'm now 24! Happy Birthday to Me.

Another weekend full of rest and relaxation. For my birthday, I got a New Roommate! Betsy moved into our living room for the Summer so that she can avoid going to Cottonwood, AZ. She's an avid writer and a fun gal to hang out with.

• Betsy's Blog

Krystle had a busy weekend running around Arizona to do everything she wanted to do including picking up AirForce Tim from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, going to Nicole's Graduation Party in Payson, and then dropping Tim off back in Phoenix. So after driving 1000 Miles round trip, I only got to see Krystle about a total of 1/2 day! I could have seen more of her, but that would have involved sitting in a car for an additional 5 hours and traveling to Phoenix.

While she drove down to Phoenix, I spent my time off with an ole friend, Mark, fishing Lake Mary. It has been a long time since I've thrown a line into the water and this was my first time fishing from a lake. Mark had never fished before so I taught him the little that I know about catching fish. Although I caught no fish, I enjoyed my time outside.

On the Morning of my B-Day I woke up very early (10:00 AM) and got busy cooking eggs benedict with Diana for 6 People. I've only poached eggs two times before, so this time I had a little pressure to cook quickly so that everyone got fed at about the same time. Diana had made a family recipe for Hollandaise sauce, and ended up being very yummy. In all everyone was fed, and breakfast was good.

Exploring N. AZ

This was quite the weekend. I flew over from San Diego to Flagstaff, AZ with Andy Hendrickson in his 206 and really traveled around Northern AZ again. We started off Saturday at 10AM out of Gillespie Field and landed in Flagstaff by 12:30PM . Krystle picked us up at the airport with her brother and we drove out through Flagstaff without a destination and ended up at Sunset Crater National Park (http://www.nps.gov/sucr/).


Sunset Crater is the youngest volcano on the Colorado plateau, only 900 years old. The landscape has amazing contrasts of dark lava rock, green trees, and snow. They even trained the guys who made it to the moon here to practice walking around in their space suits and driving their lunar car around on lava rocks. We hiked a couple of short trails and then continued down the road to the Wupatki Indian Ruins.


These Ruins, are a time capsule of a culture that inhabited Northern AZ in 1100 AD. This building housed around 80-100 people. Some of the highlights of the area is their game area where people would gather to play a sport similar to soccer, and Markus's favorite: a blow hole where underground chambers vent out during days of low atmospheric pressure.

• View 9 more photos of Wupatki and Sunset Crater
  

Andy, Jeff Nelson, and I spent the evening in downtown Flagstaff and explored Flagstaff's night life.

Sunday morning we woke up early and found the Grand Canyon. We looked over the cliff and ate like presidents of the USA at the ol' Grand Canyon hotel for lunch. We even saw 3 large elk alongside the road on the way to the canyon. I've re-kindled my drive to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, I just don't know if I want to hike back up! We'll see. This was Andy's first trip out the Canyon, and he was really impressed by it.

We made it back in time for Krystle's handbell concert, and listened to the music of all sorts of choirs. Of all the things we did this weekend, listening to Krystle's music was the highlight! Shortly after the concert, we took off for San Diego. I had a brief visit with the Cartwrights and Bill Jackson, and ended up in LA for the night to rest and get ready for work the next day.