It ain't all pizzas and cream

...if a few of you folks could just climb out onto the wings...

A strange thing happened just before our takeoff from Phoenix's Sky Harbor.  The crew asked for four volunteers from the front half of the plane to move to the back half of the plane.  It was explained (by the disembodied voice of the Captain via speaker) that this move was NOT for safety reasons but was necessary (and only during takeoff) for "paperwork".  That was the word he used.  Now I've heard of regulations concerning weight distribution on smaller aircraft, but this was a 200-seater and was nearly sold out.   So how much difference could a few hundred pounds make?

I couldn't help but wonder whether, upon approach to Philly, the crew would ask a few of us to please climb out onto the wings...not for safety reasons...but just for paperwork.  Thankfully, no such request was forthcoming. I didn't bring my goggles.

I'm assuming this all had to do with some liability issue, and had the plane been nose-heavy, with the crew's knowledge, and then had it crashed, the airline would have been liable.

Any pilots out there care to elaborate?

Warning: Flying Monkeys May Attempt to Steal Your Shoes

There really is no place like home. 

Just rolled in...jetlagged, stressed, short on sleep, baby-crazed by Tori's nonstop crying throughout the airport security check in Phoenix.  Phoenix, by the way, is quite possibly the worst city ever, at least when it comes to urban sprawl, 50-mph traffic jams, confusing traffic patterns, and drivers who don't know how to use a turn signal.  Makes Philly look like paradise.  Well, at least to me.

Phoenix aside, parts of our journey did take us to stunningly beautiful places, including the Grand Canyon and the Jemez Mountains outside Albuquerque.

Nonetheless, it's good to be back to the scarred brick industrial landscape of Pennsylvania.

Off the grid

Haven't reported in awhile...have been on the road alot...6 or 7 hours a day...which doesn't leave much energy at the end of the day.  A few notes from the last 3 days...

In the Jemez

Took a day tgrip into the Jemez Mountains, north of ABQ.  Weather was hinky from the start and only worsened. But managed a few photos.  These mountains are known for their red clay deposits...

As we got higher into the mountains, the terrain changed.  The hot springs here are famous for rich mineral deposits. 

At higher elevations, we were reminded that yes, it is winter...

By afternoon the rains moved in, and we spent the remainder of the day driving home along the crowded interstate.  New Mexicans, it should be noted, view rain with the same trepidation and confusion with which Philadelphians view snow.  So as we entered Albuquerque we were greeted with accident scenes and lane closures that would make any East Coaster proud.  And no, we didn't photo those.

* * *

The Mother Road...

With dangerously high winds on I-40, we decided to head west on Old Route 66, America's Highway, The Mother Road, and the subject of many tall tales, songs, and ghost stories.

A few images...

...Today was our day at the Grand Canyon... but there are simply too many images to process, so they will have to wait for another time.

Leaving his mark

About 1300 years ago, those who called the land around Albuquerque home left their symbols emblazened on the black basalt boulders produced eons earlier by volcanic activity... 

By the early 21st century, another kind of human mark, housing developments, encroach upon the ancient tribal lands...

Top o' the world, Ma!

Took the tram up to Sandia Crest today, nearly two miles above sea level, and with a great view of Albuquerque and the valley below.

Along the dusty trail

Yesterday drove north of Albuquerque to Santo Domingo Pueblo, Cochiti Lake dam, Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, Waldo Canyon (a winding dirt road paralleling the BNSF main line), Los Cerillos (where they filmed "Vampires" in 1997),  and Madrid (a mining town turned artists community).

More images on Flickr...

You never know what you'll see...

On the streets of Santa Fe.  (FYI, the lizard is called a Red Tegu, native to Argentina)

Saddletramps vs. Texacutioners

A few shots from the women's flat-track roller derby match between Tucson's Saddletramps and Austin's Texacutioners.

Sorry for the quality, these were all taken with a point-n-shoot and were very underexposed.

Saddletramps

Texacutioners

It's on...

Rain & snow

Even the desert gets its share of weather.  The attached photo, taken along the Union Pacific tracks in downtown Tucson, tells the story.  Urban debris (including a storage shed made from an abandoned boxcar), fences and wires, palm trees from Calif (at left in the distance), and heavy snow up on Mt. Lemmon.

Wish I brought my gloves.

Mt. Lemmon

Took a drive up Mt. Lemmon, a 9000-foot monster that towers above the valley north of Tucson. The road snakes upward thru saguaro desert, thru windblown grasslands and precariously perched rock formations, to snowy pine forests whose ancestry can be traced to seeds carried here by glacial flows from what is now California.  At the the summit is a ski community that is still in the process of rebuilding from a devastating 2003 fire.  The Iron Door cafe, with its giant fireplace and hand-carved bear sculptures, is a cozy place to grab a meal or coffee.