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Friday, September 24, 2010

Winging Walking


Another week at work. And a fun one, too. We left Monday morning out of Willy-Gateway to Addison, Texas with Boss #2. Though he said he might call to leave for a pop-up trip during the week, I didn't stay very close to my hotel! By my calculations, I walked about fifteen miles over the three days in Dallas. The hotel, which we will never use again, is close to a plethora of restaurants and shops. I got my Keens on and walked around to visit them all.

Monday evening, I went to Pei Wei for dinner. I tried a pork pot sticker, and the ones from Costco are still the best I've ever had. I also had my favorite meal there, the Vietnamese Chicken Rolls. Cold, refreshing, healthy...it was a wonderful meal!

Tuesday morning was lazy. I spent time preparing my talk for church this coming Sunday (in our new ward). Then I walked about a mile and a half to see what the neighborhood had in store. Along the way, I passed some ritzy steak houses and gourmet chocolatiers. I happily settled for Panera Bread, an incredible sandwich, salad, and soup shack. I did their half-sandwich, half-soup combination and just about died from my "soup" of macaroni and cheese. The chicken salad sandwich was good, too. And the chunk of fresh bread? Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside...what more could be asked from a bunch of wheat? I continued my walk to a Barnes and Noble and read inside for an hour. I found some decorating magazines and looked through them for more ideas of when I finally get some time at home again. Then I went next door to Best Buy to purchase some cheap earphones to watch movies on Netflix using my work laptop. Though the screen is only six inches wide, it is still bigger than watching on my iPod Touch! This week at work provided the opportunity to enjoy a few movies. I headed back to the hotel, finished writing my talk (so I wouldn't have to waste my precious time during my weekend with John), and then headed to bed. It was a fun day. I think I walked around five miles, which felt great. And dinner at Outback Steakhouse also felt great.

Wednesday, I made plans to be active and gone from my hotel all day. I knew the Dallas Galleria Mall wasn't too far away, and I decided to be crazy by walking to it. It ended up being about seven miles round-trip, plus a few laps inside the huge mall. I figure I walked about nine miles total today. And my feet were certainly feeling it by the time I got within view of my hotel. I guess Keens are not cracked up to be long-distance shoes. I almost took them off to throw them at my shin, hoping that would help the pain! Complaining aside, I had such a fun day. I don't mind being all alone to explore towns like this. I DID spend two days at Disney World by myself a few years ago, after all...and had an absolute blast. While in the Galleria, I wandered through a bunch of my favorite window-shopping stores. Banana Republic, which is where I would buy all my clothes if I didn't care about price, had a beautiful collection out with frilly shirts. I wish I could justify $80 for a frilly shirt. Then I found Pottery Barn and admired all their recent fall displays. I ate a grease-free lunch at Five Guys Burgers near the ice skating rink, which was delicious but way too much food. I even enjoyed a treat from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory while I people-watched. It was easy to justify since I had been walking everywhere the entire week. As I left the mall, I swung by Crate and Barrel across the street and stayed for an hour. If I was filthy rich, that store would be in a lot of trouble. I always love everything I see in there, and I got some fun ideas for what to do in our new home. This is the main reason I prefer to shop alone...I wander and gaze and daydream...and I would feel like I was inconveniencing somebody else if I wasn't alone. I bought a ten-pack of candles for the dining table at home that I forgot to get last week. I hesitantly left the store...I would stay forever if they wouldn't make their security guards usher me out! Luckily, a fun store I had never visited was next door. The Container Store was heaven for a Type-A organizer like me. I bought a mat to fit in the bottom of our new cast iron sink to prevent scratches. And then I was on my way back to the hotel. For some reason, every street I tried to walk on today had no sidewalks. It just made the walk more of an adventure! On my way home, I stopped at Jimmy Johns to get a sandwich for later so I wouldn't have to urge my feet to do another walk for dinner. I knew they would be pathetic and puny for the rest of the evening. It was an amazing day exploring the city. For having no wheels, I felt like I got to see a lot and was very active.

Thursday morning, we got up early and prepared the airplane for a departure back to The Valley of the Sun. As we were catching a ride back to the airport from the hotel, I jokingly said to the line guy driver and Terry that I think my bed had bed bugs in it. The driver started to laugh because he had just been listening about a bed bug epidemic in hotels across the country. In my mind, this solidified that I hadn't been imagining my little buddies. We won't be staying there again, and I don't care HOW cheap the rate was!

The flight home was nice and quick. My passenger told me it used to take him six hours in his little Cessna 172 to make the same flight. My oh my, how I love doing it in just over two hours in a Beechjet.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Be Still, My Racing Heart


I've had the privilege of doing some pretty neat things because of my job. I absolutely love traveling, and being a corporate pilot provides for a lot of such traveling opportunities. It's more than a treat when I have an entire day to explore New York City or Chicago or San Francisco. Especially when the only expense to me is public transportation, like a $7 all-day pass on the NYC subway system! I've even been able to spend lots of time at the Oshkosh Airventure because of where I work! It doesn't get much better than spending the week at the largest airshow in the world! Thanks to my job, I get to see some pretty wonderful things all over the continent.

Last week was especially nice, since I got to participate in something that I never dreamed I would. The Reno Air Races are known world-wide as the ultimate airplane racing venue. And I got to spend an entire day soaking it all in! It was Thursday, Day Two of the annual event, so the huge weekend crowds hadn't arrived yet. The races were incredible, with the various heats doing five laps around a giant course just a few hundred feet off the ground in front of thousands of people eagerly watching from the stands. A pace plane led the way until the race began, and then the excitement was underway! There were jet class heats, led by a Learjet 45 as a pace plane. There were classics heats, including several awesome airplanes racing against other World War II-era heavyweights. There were home-built class heats that amazed the crowd with their incredible speeds. One home-built almost lapped the airplane in last place! I had a huge grin the entire day, in awe that I was able to experience such an event.

We took the crew car to the show, but Terry returned it to town after just a few hours (those borrowed cars have a time limit so others can use them, too). I didn't want to bug him for a ride, so I asked around enough to figure out the local bus schedule. Because of post-show traffic, it took me almost two hours to make it back to downtown Reno (only seven miles away)! The bus was packed with race fans, and it was fun to relive the day's events by listening to their stories. I was already having Reno Air Race Withdrawal. Once downtown, I caught a connecting bus that dropped me off just a block away from my hotel. After walking all day at the races, I was grateful for such a close bus line.

I was certainly a kid in a candy store as I got to experience the Reno Air Races. If you haven't been and you have even the slightest inclination for things with wings, you should definitely check it out next September! I'm so blessed that my job affords me so many treats. I now have the t-shirt to prove what a great time I had at the Reno Air Races.

Monday, September 20, 2010

The Biggest Little City In The World


Reno is such a neat destination. Since I don't gamble, it is simply a place for me to enjoy watching some very interesting people. I had that chance last week when I was in town for three days for work.

After arriving from a 1.5-hour flight, we borrowed a ride from the line guy to the Atlantis Casino on the other side of the airport. Terry is a fan of their buffet lunch, so we visit at least once every time we are in town. I must have been feeling homesick because I decided comfort food would taste best! I had a baked potato, sliced ham, and a salad for lunch. After getting a ride back to the airport, we grabbed our bags and went to our hotel, the new Holiday Inn Express. I thought I would be spending the next few days here, but I was wrong! Big Boss called Thursday morning to let us know he had two tickets to the Reno Air Races waiting for us downtown. Needless to say, I was a little busy while staying in Reno this time. Stay tuned for pictures of the races. What an amazing trip!