We try to get noticed

Hello everyone! On Saturday we went to Firebird International Raceway, the drag strip here in Phoenix. The occasion was the taping of the season final episode of the SPEED TV show "Pinks All Out". We were there as spectators, and to try and get noticed by the TV crew, and so maybe get a booking out of it in the future. To be visible we wore our newly embroidered team shirts.

Well, we don't know if we were seen by the cameras, but we met a couple of jet teams, and saw some interesting action. We were surprised to see a 2 car Alcohol Nostalgia Funny Car team from Edmonton. Sekura brothers racing made the 1800 mile trip down to be one of the halftime shows. They came with a convoy of vehicles, and a team of 16 family members, who were dancing to the beat music playing from huge speakers on their truck. They looked really professional, and were certainly up beat. Too bad BOTH their cars broke and could not run!

There was a competitor from Edmonton too. This guy brought his son's 91 Camaro to fulfill a bucket list wish to compete on Pinks. He got his wish and made it to the final 8 before being eliminated.

Also in attendance was another exhibition car, the Jelly Belly wheelstanding fire truck. This truck is run by a husband and wife team who are older than us! They've been running the exhibition circuit since 1986, and they are lucky to have Jelly Belly/ Jolly Rancher candy company for a sponsor.

Two jet cars were on hand, both from Phoenix. These are the big dragsters, powered by J-60 engines from 60's fighter aircraft. We talked to the owner of one, and he knew who we were, which was a surprise. Both jets ran well, but the show just isn't as spectacular as ours with our little jet!

The racing was close all day, and got closer and closer at the end. By the last round of eliminations there were only .07 seconds separating the cars. Unfortunately, the delays for TV related stuff slowed down the show, and it got boring waiting for the interviewing to end so they could race again. Can't wait to watch the episode on TV.

Sunday we had rain and wind all day, so we stayed in and watched a couple of old X-Files episodes on TV, then we prepared dinner.

We cooked a nice 3 pound pork shoulder roast, that we got at Safeway. As you can see in the picture above, the original price was only $3.04, then we got another 30% off. We roasted the pork slowly, with a nice sage seasoning and basted in pineapple juice. We added yams, onion, celery and garlic to the roaster and cooked it some more. What a delicious meal! Too bad we forgot to take pictures of the finished product, but we were too busy stuffing ourselves. We have enough leftovers for another meal. Total cost: around $6 including a bottle of wine.

Pictures above are the pork roast, wheelstander truck, jet car, Firebird control tower, the 2 Edmonton based funny car teams, and one of the great start line action.

Stay tuned for more...

Phoenix is a big place

Since last we blogged, we've been all over the Phoenix Metro Area. First, we went to an art and craft fair in Fountain Hills, a bedroom community in the northeast corner of Phoenix. It's a nice place, with a large town square park with a lake and fountains. Lots of very expensive bric a brac at the show, but it was fun to see. Not much purchasing seemed to be going on.

The next place we went to was a giant Swap Meet (flea market) in Mesa. It took us an hour to get there at freeway speeds! The swap meet was very big, all under one roof, but the products in each of the several hundred stalls were virtually the same. Up and down the rows you find the same products at the same prices. Looks like there are about 8 or 10 real merchants there, with multiple stalls. Some purchasing going on here, but from what we could tell, not a lot.

Good news to report: We found a nice little dim sum restaurant here. Great food, all prepared fresh after you order from a card. A little limited in the selection, but very reasonable at $1.80 a plate for the usual dim sum fare. We were craving dim sum after last having some in Edmonton in July.

We also found a really good donair place (of course here they are called gyros). Excellent meat, not greasy at all. Good sized serving for a reasonable price. Only problem is the restaurant is in Mesa, an hour from here!

We've found a couple of parks where we can take Ben for nice walks. They're only a few minutes drive from the RV park. At one park we watched a teenage soccer game between a black team and a hispanic team. They played well, and brought back memories of sitting on the sidelines at numerous school yards watching our daughter play soccer.

Around the corner from our RV park we found a big store called World Market. Kind of an upscale Jysk store, with the addition of some great imported foods and wines. Their prices aren't low, but we bought a couple of sale items: a huge jar of greek olives and peppers, marinated in olive oil for $7.99 and a 2 litre jug of extra virgin olive oil from Italy for $6.99. Beat that, Walmart!

We've also immersed ourselves in Phoenix culture, first with a trip to the State Capitol Building. It is located at the end of a mall- style park, long narrow grassy area with numerous memorial statues and walls. Plenty of nice seating for contemplation. We saw a lot of monuments, to fallen soldiers, sailors, pilots, civilians, policemen, even one for fallen police dogs. All very nicely done, and well looked after.

After that successful entree to the history and culture of Phoenix, we decided to visit Heritage Square, where we were told to expect buildings from the early 20th century, with neat stores and restaurants. We found 6 buildings, all used as offices or restaurants. One store that was closed. Only one restaurant was open, the Rose and Crown Pub, and we went in for a look. Nice looking old pub, with a great bar. Marlene and I met at the Rose and Crown pub in Edmonton, 27 years ago, so we had to take a pic of Marlene in front of the place!

Tomorrow we have plans to go to the drag strip here. They are filming an episode of Pinks All Out (SPEEDTV), and we are going in uniform hoping to snag some attention from the TV people for future marketing purposes!

Tonight we are going to grill a london broil steak, which we bought at Safeway on sale for $4.50. It was over 2 pounds, so we cut it in half to make two meals. To go with the meat, we are also grilling 3 giant Portabello mushrooms that we got at the 99 cent store. Also purchased at the 99 cent store: two red peppers, half a dozen tomatoes, and two bottles of a really great barbecue sauce. Total cost at the 99 cent store: $5.08. Of course, dinner will be accompanied with a bottle of our favourite California red wine ($2.45). Food and drink are definitely cheaper here than in Canada.

Above pics are the monuments, Marlene at the pub, the 99 cent store stuff, our olives, and the soccer game. Stay tuned...

Phoenix disappoints

Hello everyone, time to report on Phoenix. We've been here for 11 days now, and we've become disenchanted with Phoenix. Our property search has been terminated, after we spent a lot of frustrating time looking at places. The real estate business here is involved in the same games with the lenders as we encountered in Las Vegas. And then there are the vandals. We saw a nice little house, not right for us, but almost ready to move into. Since we saw it, vandals got in and punched out the walls to scavenge the copper pipes and wires. The place is totally trashed now. It made us sick to see the pictures of the damage.

Our other source of disappointment is the people. They just are not friendly like the folks we met in Tucson. Clerks in stores grump at us, the neighbors can't be bothered to say "good morning", just generally unfriendly. We don't know if its because Phoenix is such a huge city, or because of the devastated economy, but the difference with Tucson is marked.

On Saturday we went to a swap meet (flea market). Place was huge, but there were almost no people around. Then we went to a big mall. Half the shop space is empty, and again there were no people shopping, even at Sears and Macy's. Not a good sign for the Christmas season.

On Sunday we went to see Lake Pleasant, just north of Phoenix. We took a long circuitous route first, and loved the desert scenery. The lake itself is quite nice. It was formed when the Colorado river was dammed here. There are three lakes on the Colorado: Lake Mead, Lake Havasu and Lake Pleasant, all formed by dams. Lake Pleasant was indeed pleasant, with plenty of boats to watch, fishermen, campers, picnickers, and tourists.

Pictures attached are before and after of the poor little house, and from our day out on Sunday. Stay tuned...