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.
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)
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.
- Champlin Fighter Aircraft Museum (Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona)
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.
- Phoenix Museum of History
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.
Copyright 2002 - Kosuke Ishikawa / Unauthorized copying of contents, partcial or whole, is not permitted.