Having a Little Fun in Reno!

It's September! That means a weekend in Reno, NV for the annual trip to see the National Championship Air Races! This was the event's 51st year and for the AvGeek in me, it was great to see some Balls-to-the-Walls action, as usual! This year we had the military back in participation albeit, still lacking compared to previous years; it's clear that the effects from last year's sequester is still lingering in some places. But I had a great time at the races anyways. This year, my dad and I drove (through Oregon, into northern California and into Nevada) while my uncle flew in with his two boys, making for a small group this year. We still had fun because half the fun is about spending quality time with each other and pigging out with some of the best food Reno has to offer (Here's hoping to a slightly bigger group next year)!

View of Mt. Shasta just south of Weed (don't laugh!) as drove through northern California.

The home pylon at the Reno Air Races.

We made the drive Thursday morning after I got off work (that's right, I got a job working nights at a food processor in the Quality Control department) and arrived into Reno in the late-afternoon. After checking into the Cal-Neva hotel, our usual place to stay, we hit the town with some food from the Nugget for some wings and Reuben sandwiches!

Gotta love their wings!

Reuben sandwich with fries as well!

While we stuffed our faces, we played nickle Keno at the bar; as long as we played, we got free drinks! Yep, we know how to do things right in Reno...

Better yet, I walked away with some winnings with my four numbers! The new family-courtesy rule is that the one who hits the most four-spots (and wins money) must buy a member of their immediate family (namely, my dad!) breakfast the next day.

Friday morning, we had breakfast at the Top Deck Restaurant in the Cal-Neva. And as part of my courtesy for walking away with the most in winnings the night before, I bought my dad breakfast. We had steak and eggs:

No caption necessary here!

After breakfast, we drove down to Carson City to pick up my uncle and his twin boys from the airport there. Because it's air race weekend, most airports around the Reno-area are busier than usual with people flying in from all over. Now I normally don't post my aviation photos on here because I like to  reserve them for aviation blog, but I'm willing to make an exception this time. Here's my uncle as he landed in Carson City:

Last year, he cracked his exhaust pipe (yes, airplanes have exhaust pipes.) landing in Carson City. This year, he had to replace a battery AT Carson City because it went dead en route and was without radio or other electronics (thank goodness for cell phones!). The year before that... I can't remember what it was the year before last year, but the point is it's ALWAYS something when he flies into Carson City! (Maybe the yellow paint job on his plane is bad luck?)

After a morning in Nevada's tiny state capital city, we drove back up to Reno for lunch. We ate at the Sushi Saga at the Siena hotel!

Typical California rolls

My personal favorite nigiri sushi: Maguro (blue fin tuna), Salmon, and Unagi (eel).

While we were eating, we were in for a treat! The restaurant brought in a whole blue fin tuna fresh from the market and we got to see the chefs cut it up!

That's a BIG tuna!

The sushi chefs at the Siena are just awesome guys!

It doesn't get any fresher than sushi straight from the tuna. They gave us the fattiest part of the tuna and it's just melted in my mouth! Also, I had some Inari (tofu skin/curds). The Sushi Saga still stands as the best sushi place in my opinion here in the states.

For the evening, it was back to the Top Deck for some dinner.

I always loved the French Dip plate at the Top Deck.

Saturday was a day at the races! But you can read about that on my aviation blog when I get around to posting it. For breakfast, it was BACK to the Top Deck and I chowed down on some high-calorie Chicken and Waffles:

I don't who came up with the idea of putting fried chicken and waffles together but I think the combination of the two smeared in syrup has grown on me.

Dinner time after a great day at the races, it was back to the little Nugget casino for the one and only Awful Awful burger along with some more wings:

Because it's Awful Big & Awful Good!

Sunday was another day spent at the air races with a twist: my uncle scored box seating, which we would normally avoid but a kind gentleman with  quite a few vacancies offered them to us and we were enjoying the view with a cooler full of drinks!

View of the box-seating area.

And with that, the races came to a close as quickly as it started and my aviation passion for the event was satisfied with nearly 1,000 new photos! Another good year in Reno in the books! We enjoyed the evening afterwards and went our separate ways Monday morning, dropping off my uncle and his boys at Carson City Airport and me and my dad making the drive back to Oregon, just in time to go back to working the night shift later that evening!

View of downtown.

Can't forget the awesome Reno sign!

And this year's funny t-shirt that I ended up buying this time around:

Just makin' my statement regarding certain cliches and taboos about dating known! What can I say? I'm what you call an "Aerosexual!"

Update: Check out my recap of the Air Races on my aviation blog!

4th of July Shenanigans

I can't believe I spent my 4th of July in Ashton for two years in a row now! If you recall, what I did for the fourth last year, there was a parade, there were some cool fly-overs by some P-51s. Yeah, all that happened again this year and I'm glad I'm getting to spend the weekend with my relatives. The Legacy Flight Museum brought their two P-51 Mustangs over for a couple fly-by passes again this year. And of course, there was the parade:

Gotta love the retro stuff! Later on we went boating out on the Snake River in my uncle's boat. Definitely a good way to spend a hot summer afternoon on the 4th of July!

Hmmm... Should he be texting and boating at the same time???

Just to be clear, it's not a jet boat; we can't make those giant rooster tails with the water.

I'd say we had some great 4th of July Shenanigans! Happy Independence Day! Go America!

Things Start Heating Up

The month of June means summer is officially here, and I'm STILL in school. Oh, well, that's what I get for being on the Spring track here at BYU-Idaho. Honestly, I don't even know why they call it Spring Semester if it eats into half of summer... But their reasoning is apparently beyond me so I'm not even gonna ask. I figure if I can get an update a month (if you still read these things!) I'm doing relatively well. School is busy, as expected. It's been a busy month as well; volunteering at the Legacy Flight Museum for this month was especially busy because of the air show. I had a blast at the biennial Legacy Air Show because for me, it two days worth of air show buzz; first we had the V.I.P. exhibition the night before the air show and then actual show itself.

They gave me a media pass and V.I.P. parking pass! Perks of being a volunteer!

What I didn't realize is that the day of the air show was Flag Day, which would've been my grandmother's 85th birthday. It's been such a busy month that it's hard to think about the little things sometimes... The weekend after the air show, I had to attend one of my numerous cousin's wedding, which happened to be in the area. The main venue: a riverside view of the Snake River near Ashton! I kid you not, it was a beautiful day and the scene around the venue really complimented. Oh, and of course I enjoyed the company of my many relatives as well as the new in-laws. Now, I'm not that into wedding or hanging around for long periods of time but I certainly did enjoy the company of my extended family members and I suppose that's what counts.

Funny story related to this: My dad was going to ask one my aunts or uncles to get my cousin a wedding gift on our behalf only to realize that he has a son (that's me!) going to school in the area. I was like, "Thanks a lot dad!" Seriously, I feel like he's forgotten about me! Long story short, I was relegated to getting a gift for my cousin, which I was happy to do, but at the same time hated and that's because of what happened last year, when another one of my cousins got married. It was the day I flew home from my first year at college; I remember my arrival into Portland was mid-morning (which was nice) and I got picked up at airport by my sisters. Only, we didn't go directly home. We instead spent the subsequent hours looking for and picking out a wedding gift for my cousin and his soon-to-be wife (which in turn, cancelled out the nice mid-morning arrival factor from my flight!). And when I mean "we", I mean my two sisters. I was dead-dog tired from the getting up earlier that morning, the flight, and the bus ride the day before my flight and was just anxious to get home after being away from school. I didn't set foot into my home until about 3 PM that afternoon. My thoughts about that were, "People go through ALL this trouble for a wedding gift?!" Fast forward to today, and I still don't get all the trouble people go through. And THAT'S why I'm not really that big into weddings.

Other than that, things are going rather smoothly here. Just one more month and I'll be heading home for the off-track, which will be a welcome sight.

Do you see the kitty camouflaged with the carpet in this photo?

For Your Enjoyment...

Nothing really new to talk about but I went into the Legacy Flight Museum to get in another shift and saw these awesome signs hanging in one of the front rooms. I figured this is funny, given some of the current issues circulating among the media and government so I'll post these pictures I took for you enjoyment:

Who would've thought that reading a sign can get you into so much trouble!?

That's it! I'm going to assume all "warning shots" are considered acts of aggression and force!

I know, sad right? Resorting to pictures of signs when there's nothing to talk about...

The Great Utah(rd) Getaway

This past weekend, I drove down to Utah for several reasons. I stayed with my aunt in West Jordan in the Salt Lake-area while there, which is always nice; having family around to spend time with and have them take me in has always been a benefit. Anyways, the main reason why I spent this weekend in particular in Utah is because of a mission reunion being held in Provo with my former mission president. It was a nice little road trip and even though I'm not fond of how congested Utah has become, I got to do quite a few things after making the drive on Thursday afternoon after I got out of class. Also, Utah's Interstate speed limit went up from 75 mph to 80 mph:

80 miles per hour baby! In aviation, they call that "Balls to the walls!" 

First and foremost on Friday, I went to Provo for the mission reunion. My youngest sister also goes to school at Brigham Young University (the school I initially wanted to go to but got rejected!) located in Provo so I took the opportunity to spend "quality sibling time" with her as well. She was even gracious enough to accompany me as my guest at the mission reunion; she was I guess you can call my photographer at the mission reunion because I forgot to bring my camera! Nevertheless, I'm glad I got to share the moments at the mission reunion with my sister as well! We just had a good time enjoying each others' company and just catching up with the goings-on in our lives...

Sibling rivalry love!

The mission reunion was great too, but you can read about it on my other blog via the link I posted above. After the mission reunion, I parted ways and drove back up to the Salt Lake-area and spent the remainder of the weekend with my aunt. She accepted an offer in selling her house and was in the process of moving out so to her benefit, and as my way of repaying her for giving me a place to stay, I helped her out, especially with a lot of the heavy lifting. At one point, we had to drive out to a landfill to discard a few things you can't just dispose of in the regular trash due to environmental reasons and I kid you not, we saw THIS there:

23 1/2 miles per hour?! Who decided on that?!?!

What else did I do? Well, I can't go to Utah without eating Crown Burgers, right?

Regular ol' Crown Burger with pastrami and fries... And LOTS AND LOTS of Fry Sauce!

I also did some off-airport planespotting from my aunt's backyard as well. But you can read about that on my aviation blog. Speaking of my aviation blog, its pageviews surpassed this blog, not that you read any of these things... I think it's because of more frequent content updates on there from my time spent volunteering at the Legacy Flight Museum and whatnot. But most of the actual weekend was spent helping my aunt and I was happy to help out in any way. Aside from Crown Burger, we got to eat out a couple times as well and I even got back into fried shrimp:

Sizzler's fried shrimp and sweet potato fries

Sunday afternoon was when I drove back up to Rexburg. It was nice to get away but as I mentioned earlier, Utah is congested, especially in the urban areas. It's no surprise because the abundant Latter-day Saints population is mostly responsible for the congestion. In fact, I read somewhere that Utah was the only state in the entire country that was growing in population while the rest of the other 49 states was on the decline. But don't quote me on that! And even though part of me would've liked to stay, I still have another week of school; it's the last one for the semester before the week break between semesters. Better to finish strong.

Fun Little Weekend Getaway

I had a pretty decent weekend this past weekend; as you might have guessed I went to Ashton for the weekend. Hold on, let's rewind: I first went down to Idaho Falls on Friday morning to do a special little grocery run because I was doing gyoza this weekend! THEN I drove up to Ashton. And we got to do quite a bit as well. I went flying with my uncle a couple hours after I arrived. As you might expect, I had fun with that, as always! Then we had some gyoza preparation to do. And as usual, my uncle made his "sweatshop" complaints and... Wait! He actually ducked out on prepping this time! That DOG... Oh well, I got it done anyways.

I also got to enjoy a delicious lunch at Chiz's in St. Anthony on Saturday while I was in the area. For such a tiny establishment, Chiz's (formerly Chiz's Cougar Cave) is a popular place. Every time I send picture messages of the food I eat there to my Dad, he responds by calling me a DOG (yes, it's all in caps). My Dad loves this place. My aunt and uncle loves this place. For such "Americanized" foods with a little Asian on the side, it is by far some of the best tasting you can get.

I had shrimp and finger steaks this go 'round.

While relaxing in Ashton, I grabbed a bite to eat at the good ol' Five-Eleven Main soda fountain for a pizza and shake:

Personal meat pizza

Chocolate shake, just how I like it. I'm glad they kept the soda fountain!

Sunday was gyoza day.

Cooking them up

And the cycle continues with the next batch. You can tell which ones were folded by me and which ones were folded by someone else. They don't call my "The Gyoza King" for nothing!

My aunt also made egg rolls and soy wings to complete the meal:

My aunt's egg rolls are always a popular dish to go with my gyoza!

Soy wings are good addition too!

It was nice to get away for the weekend, no doubt.

Super Bowl Weekend and Fish

Okay, that's the most bizarre combination of words in a title for a blog post... What does this year's Super Bowl have to do with fish? Well, nothing. It just has something to do with this past weekend. I drove up to Ashton to spend time with my relatives for Super Bowl weekend. It was good to get away from Rexburg (and the school!) for a couple days. And of course there was food involved and I wasn't about to pass that opportunity up! Leading up to Super Bowl, I definitely had some fun over the weekend.

I drove up on Friday morning/early afternoon. I would've gone Thursday afternoon right after classes got out but it was snowing and I wasn't about to push my luck by driving in the snow... There was break in the weather on Friday so I jumped at that opportunity; and thankfully, it didn't snow much during the weekend so I had a relatively easy drive back to Rexburg on Sunday night. I arrived and immediately went to "work" by watching over my uncle Sam's store while he went out to do a few jobs for his customers; a pretty easy task for me considering that this time of year is the slow season for business. My dad always reminds me to make myself useful and helpful whenever I visit my relatives; I'd say my old man taught me well because I certainly love doing these things for my extended family in order to return the favor. It's a win-win situation.

I had a somewhat light lunch at the Five 11 Main in Ashton on Saturday; I was craving something with pastrami (possibly a pastrami Reuben sandwich) but I ended up eating a really tasty pastrami dog instead:

Back in the day, I probably would've eaten two of these. But considering how my eating habits have changed in the last few years, this plus a bag of chips was plenty to satisfy my appetite!

Later in the day, I accompanied my uncle Sam ice fishing out on the reservoir near the Snake River. It was a beautiful day and we did catch some fish:

Looking out towards the hill with the reservoir up ahead and down below in a little ravine.

Fish out of... nevermind.

We got three of these common rainbow trout.

And the pièce de résistance: Super Bowl Sunday! But first, here's the irony behind this year's Super Bowl:

Need I say more?

I was more excited for the food than the actual football game. Of course we watched the Seattle Seahawks beat the tar out of the Denver Broncos, which made for kind of a boring and one-sided game... This is the honest truth and I believe this; sports are most exciting when both teams bring their A-game and give it their all. The game would've been exciting if both teams kept the score really close to the very end. But like I said, Seahawks whupped the Broncos badly, not that I was cheering for a particular team. But for me, the most important aspect of this was spending quality time with loved ones and enjoying some good food for the occasion:

Mini-dogs wrapped in bacon. Homer Simpson would be proud!

Hot wings! And I got to bring home the leftovers!!!

White rice, chicken glazed in some kind of homemade sauce, and elk meat. Yes, there's a lot of meat...
My cousin Chris shot an elk recently and that's what he brought. It tasted different but it was good!

As far as American traditions are concerned, I think there are two times in the year where you're allowed to have a "food coma":

1.) Thanksgiving
2.) Super Bowl Sunday

With the amount of food involved, I'd say this was a good weekend!