Arizona Trip Summer and Winter 2002

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(Note: I tired to make this page a little look Arizona style...)

Summer Trip in Arizona: August 8th - 12th, 2002

    After spending 10 hours everyday for the project I was working on, I have decided to take a break from research. I did not have much plan besides going to Chicago to buy some Japanese seasonings. Since I have not been to Arizona for more than a year, I just thought it may be a good time to see my best friend Brian. I asked him about the schedule, and these days matched with both of our plan, so I bought a round trip ticket for $358 from the American Airlines. Although, Wichita has some direct flight out from the airport, but they are expensive. For example, Southwest Airlines has a direct flight every day in a comfortable B-737, but the price is $500 to $900, that's no way for a college student! Anyways, there I go!

August 8, 2002  Going to Phoenix, meeting Brian

I woke up in the morning at 5:00am to catch the plane. Brian told me not to have any check in baggage since it will take whole a lot of time than Wichita Airport at baggage claim, and I took his advice.

AA1062 Fokker 100 departed Wichita at 7:10am, arrived Dallas Fort Worth at 8:17am

AA1593 DC-80 departed Dallas Fort Worth around 11:00am, arrived Phoenix at 11:15am

This time, Brian is supposed to be sick so he could not pick me up. I proceed to the ground transportation section of the airport asraight.

The guy at the Hertz Rental Car tried to gave me a Pontiac Grand AM, which I just used in the Chicago trip  I just made a few weeks back, so they gave me this Chevrolet Monte Carlo instead. The bad thing about using Weekend Rate is that you cannot get the car until Thursday 12:00pm. Hmmm, so I had to waist some time at the airport. Hertz has it rental car station just outside of the airport, and you have to return the car there. From the airport, there is a free shuttle bus, so it is not problem to to there but Arizona is summer is scorching HOT! I started to sweat badly right after I got out from the door. I called Howard and Brian while I was waiting for the pick up. This is the car I got. It has quite torque, that's for sure, but too roomy and I don't feel like this is a cousin of the NASCAR racing cars....

 

 

The first thing I did was going to Arizona State University to meet Howard. He is a former building director of Heskett Center, which is an on campus sports complex where I work as a lifeguard.

Around 12:15pm, finally meeting with Howard at ASU and had lunch with him and his son. His son was also taking break from studying at the University of Kansas. I had a tour of the building after we come back. There was a huge "Blue Crush" poster lying on the floor of the outside pool. Wow...

After saying goodbye to Howard, meeting with Brian finally. I got to his neighborhood before 3:00pm, but had very hard time finding his place. The direction to his house is a little complicated, so he had to drive out from his house to find me. He gave me a tour of his house. It is a quite nice, and there was a guest room I can use, too. It is a quiet place.

In the evening, we checked out a bunch of videos from Blockbuster Video, then had our dinner at Chile's restaurant, because Brian's fiancée, Courtney works for a hospital and she won't be back until late night. We ate and drank some beer, and chat.

After came back to Brian's house, we watched video, the Collateral Damage, I have not seen that one yet. It was okay. Before Courtney comes back, I was very sleepy and tired, so I said good night to Brian. It was nice to see my friend doing well and enjoying his life in Arizona (Brian hated Kansas's weather).

August 9, 2002

Thanks to our good friendship, Brian let me borrow his house key when I told him that I want to go out in the morning and run. Arizona in summer gets really hot so I thought morning is the only time I can get out and run without sweating too much. I ran for about 30 minutes. There is a park nearby. (Also nearby a police station and I am pretty sure I looked very suspicious, because there aren't many Asians around...) Although it was 8 in the morning, the place was already hot!

After I ran, I took shower and went to out again, to get some groceries. I should have asked him what place to go, but I eventually found an Albertson's. I bought some Poptarts, bananas and fruits juices. They are necessary items for me in the morning. (I always eat two pieces of non-frosted, strawberry poptarts, one banana, and cup of V-8 drink.

After Brian woke up, we decided to go visit all of three pools in Scottsdale. I also get to meet with Brian's friend, Will. He is also an assistant manager of a pool. We have had a lunch at Sakana restaurant (Sakana means "fish" in Japanese). It was like a Japanese Sushi place. Brian does not like fishes, so I think he had a hard time. Sorry dude... However, I am pretty sure both Brian and Will liked the Sake bomber thing...

Serious discussion about the meals for next two days

In the afternoon we watched the time machine.

    Dinner at Rockbottom restaurant in an outside mall tried seven different kind of beer, outside mall tour. There was a climbing wall

You will see this kind of equipment everywhere in Arizona. They spray water mist to cool the air since this place in summer is VERY hot! (However I heard that Phoenix has hard water, so they have to treat the water before spray, otherwise the mineral contained in the water will clog the line

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 10, 2002

    Ran 30 minutes in the morning. Phoenix, especially in Scottsdale area is one of the richest place in Arizona. Noticeably some of their houses are pretty big and drive a bunch of expensive cars.

    Cactus and Trees at the same place

    Typical Residential Area

     West

Movie The signs. Brian, Courtney, Megan and me. Megan is sister of Courtney. We went to watch movie

August 11, 2002

Acrosnati Trip

   

Prescott Trip

    Prescott Old Courthouse. There are history written on the floor

    Whiskey 

August 12, 2002

I woke up, cooked Curry to Brian and Courtney as I promised.

 

Go back to top of this page, Go back to August 2002, or continue to the another Arizona Trip I made in November.

Winter Arizona Trip : November 23 - 24, 2002

    My best friend, Brian in Arizona is finally marring with his long time love, so I was invited among their families and friends. I bought a round trip tickets from America West for $238.50 on Yahoo travel. I checked the American Airlines but they were more expensive, and I had to change the plane in DFW or STL. I do not have much time on this trip, so I picked America West this time.  I also went to AAA office to get my motel and rental car reserved. People in Scottsdale are rich, I guess... I can find the cheapest motel for $58/night.

November 23, 2002

I arrived at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport around 5:00am, went through a checkpoint. At 6:15am, the CRJ (Canadia Regional Jet) I am in left the terminal. The flight attendant was very funny guy, but the coffee machine was broken so the flight attendant, and all passengers were all sleepy.

 

Hazy Mountains about 30 minutes east of Phoenix

The pilots of the airplane did not fall sleep without having coffee and we all safely arrived at Phoenix Skyhabor Airport. I checked out a rental car. I was getting a Monte Carlo again, but this one came in just in time. I have never driven any of Celica yet so I was happy about that. On the way to Scottsdale, I heard an AMBER alert on the radio. Wichita has not got one yet.

2002 Toyota Celica GT, the car I drove

 

The Fairfield Inn I stayed is located right by the approach line for Scottsdale Airport. I can see small airplanes very clearly. The motel was very good. They had iron board and coffee machine. I will probably stay there next time too.  It had three floors, pool, big TV and bed. The water was not to tastily so I had to get a drinking water from nearby gas station.

Scottsdale Airport (runway is right behind of the bushes)

 

November 24, 2002

I have nothing to do today besides going back to Wichita. The only problem is that I have almost full tank of gasoline and free time until 4:00pm. The plane won't leave until 6:00pm.Since I like airplanes, I  Also Brian and his friends recommended me some places to go. Arizona Science Center, and museum. The downtown area of Phoenix is told to be a dangerous place, so I avoided locations where my friends told me not to go. I wish I could go around a bit more.

This place is a bit away from Phoenix and Scottsdale, but worth going. There are bunch of World War I planes and these shiny WWII war birds. I like them more than WWI planes. They are saying that those planes can actually still fly. Wow... In the same airport, the Confederate Air Force had a their office, but I did not go there to save time.

                    Homepage : http://www.champlinfighter.com/

        Inside of the WW2 hanger

         Yakovlev Yak-9U

        North American P-51 Mustang

        Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IX

        Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

        Lockheed P-38L Lightning

        Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden (or George)

        Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

        Vought F4U Corsair

        Messerschmitt Bf-109

    Vietnam War Era

        Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-21

          Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-15

        North American F-86 Sabre

        McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

 

After visiting the Museum, I went back to Phoenix area. I have never been to the downtown area although I have been to Arizona for three times already. Unfortunately this place is too warm to have snow, but there was a big Christmas tree. There are some buildings you can visit but there are also some areas you don't feel safe. So be sure to know where you are going.

            Christmas Tree in Downtown Phoenix

Arizona Science Museum is a very cool place to go. You get to try almost every stuffs in there. There are computers, videos, and $9 to enter.

           

            Homepage: http://www.pmoh.org/

    A building right next to the Science Center was this museum. They had a student discount. Inside of this building shows history of Phoenix. I did not know that the Prescott, a city I went last time was the old capital of Arizona. There were some artifacts of native American Indians, and also old stuffs (like when people were moving on a wagon).

            Phoenix Museum of History (Admission student discount)

 

There are some funny looking places in Arizona. I do not know why there are some familiar named restaurant and department store have pink colored exterior look.

            Wendy's Arizona Style I ate my lunch here. The outside looks very different, but the same taste.

            Wal-Mart Arizona Style.

 

I have arrived at the airport around 4:00pm. and returned the Celica I was driving. It was a pretty good car, but a lot heaver than my Civic, and I felt I was riding on a brick (but was very fast on highway). I decided to eat dinner since I will be arriving Wichita around 10:00pm. There was a Burger King inside of the airport. The airplane left Phoenix on time. It was at night, and outside was very dark, so I get to see the whole night view of Phoenix. It was like a huge chunk of lights, they never ends and I could see them as far as they go... Wichita has only small one, so 5 minutes after takeoff, they are gone, but this one was so large!

Back in Wichita, 10:00pm, a little earlier than expected, well I guess no one wants to come home in Sunday late night. The outside temperature was already below 30, so I hurried to my car and drove back to my home.

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Last Updated on 2003/01/07