A Day Trip To Tucson

Last Monday was the beginning of a very busy week at work. We had three trips scheduled in five days. I was so excited! Today’s trip didn’t start until the late afternoon. I arrived at the airport around 4:00 PM for our evening departure to Tucson.

Yes, Tucson is very close. But when you have plans to attend something until midnight, the last thing that you want to do it drive home three hours. And taking a private airplane is way cooler, anyway.

I was also excited because I don’t always get to take pictures at night. You will see later how I need the night-photography practice!

Like he often does, this little biplane was busy doing pattern practice. It was fun to watch him takeoff and land several times while preparing Gladys for our flight today.

Another great thing about flying during this time of day is the lighting…late afternoon is the best time to take pictures! Well, and early morning, too, but who wants to get up for that when we have a perfectly-wonderful late afternoon just around the corner?!

Gladys is vacuumed and ready for two passengers this evening. She always smells good after I wipe her down with some yummy cleaner.

What a pretty girl! We’re both excited for our trip tonight!

Wow. And then a Challenger takes off unto the sunset. Talk about a beautiful machine!

See how he is bringing up his landing gear? That’s part of the checklist that we do at four-hundred feet, when it’s considered a safe height above the runway.

I always wonder where these airplanes are going! Where are you off to tonight, pretty guy?

Man, I’ve really got to stop talking to airplanes that can’t hear me.

Here is Gladys’ left wing, which has a red LED navigation light on the tip (the other side is green). I love these LED lights, even though we actually had one burn out a few months ago! Gladys isn’t even three years old yet! Luckily, everything is still covered under warranty…including lights that should never die.

The desert colors just come to life in the evening light. I love how pretty this view is. I really love living in the desert. I know that I complained all summer about wanting to leave. But I think that’s normal when it’s 120 degrees outside!

October is my favorite month for weather, so now I’m back to being very happy that we live here.

There are lots of corporate airplanes based here on the field, since this is the number-one corporate airport in the Valley. In fact, lots of companies even have their own hangars to park their fleet of pretty airplanes.

I’m really glad that we have all of the privacy without having to worry about maintaining the facility on our own. We have the perfect situation being based at our hangar with many others!

Goodbye, Phoenix! Next time I see you, it will be early morning. And I have another flight out early tomorrow! Eek!

Love the sunburst circles…

When I was a kid, I saw painted pictures of the desert with very distinct layers of color representing a sunset. I thought it was fake, until I moved here and saw the layers for myself. Look how you can see every little color in this gorgeous sunset!

This is probably my favorite picture from the entire trip.

There isn’t much to see on the short flight from home to Tucson. It only took about half an hour to fly here tonight. But I’ve never landed here before, so it was another fun adventure to anticipate!

Before long, the lights of the city came into view. I know that I just said that I’m happy at home again, but I would move to Tucson in a heartbeat.

There. I said it.

I’ve been here just a few times before, but each time has been lovely. The last time that I visited was exactly two years ago when Hubby and I came down for a weekend in Tucson to celebrate our anniversary. It was two years then. Yesterday meant four years! Wowsers!

We were cleared to land and were soon aligned with the runway. I was grateful for a little remaining daylight to help us navigate on the ground once we were landed and trying to find the FBO.

Man oh man, Tucson is beautiful. Did you know that they have stars?! Phoenix is so lit up that I rarely get to enjoy a crystal-clear, star-studded night sky. But down here? Holy smokes. It was breathtaking!

It was rather difficult to find the FBO tonight, even though the Ground Controller was a champ and gave us progressive taxi instructions. We found it, but it would have been a lot easier had their sign been lit up!

After getting my passengers loaded up into their awaiting car, I enjoyed the wonderful facilities of the Million Air FBO at Tucson. We love visiting Million Airs… they are always so nice!

They even have a hot chocolate machine. What more could a girl possibly want while waiting five hours for passengers to return?

You’re right. I could want dinner. And I got some after borrowing their fancy-schmancy Mercedes crew car. They usually have BMW, but I was fine to try a different luxury vehicle tonight.

None of them are as awesome as Pearl, though. Just sayin’.

When in Tucson, I’m pretty sure that it’s required to eat Mexican food. And I was so happy to follow that unwritten rule! We drove a few miles from the airport to enjoy an authentico dinner at El Merendero.

Having the menu in Spanish is always a good sign. Luckily, they did subtitles for me to understand. Sometimes, I simply don’t know what “Chuletas de Puerco a la Parrilla/Ranchera” means in my language, you know?

Man, I need to learn Spanish. It would really come in handy, considering where I live.

I got a combination platter with all sorts of goodness, knowing that I could take my leftovers home to Hubby. This was a cheese enchilada, shredded beef tacos, and a chicken tostada. I ate the tostada, which was heavenly, and saved the rest for my man at home.

Maybe it’s all of the cheese that made this so good? I love freshly-shredded cheese all over the place when considering Mexican food.

Oh sure…now their sign is lit! Thanks, guys, but you’re a few hours too late! I’m glad that they turned it on after we asked them about it. Supposedly, it’s normally on a timer to turn on, but the timer was broken. I’ll buy that story!

I watched an old movie on how-did-I-ever-live-without-it Amazon Prime, and soon it was time to head home.

We got back in Gladys and flew home around midnight, landing at home around 12:30. I crawled into bed around 1:15 AM and got up just a few short hours later for another trip…this time to Atlanta!

Our short-but-lovely flight to Tucson was a dream. What a beautiful city!