Piloting Life Cribs: The Crashpad Tour

I wanted to give you all the tour of where I have been residing for the past few days and nights.

This crashpad has been "home" to my husband for the past six weeks.

My husband's crashpad currently has a rotation of about eight guys "living" here. You'll find pilots, a TSA worker, and an airplane mechanic all under one roof. I find it sort of discomforting that anything relating to aviation/pilots has the word "crash" associated with it, so I tried coming up with a different name for the crashpad. All I came up with was "overnight pad", but obviously that sounds rather "feminine" if you will. So crashpad it is. After all, it is a place for crashing each night.

My husband and I have been sharing his twin size air mattress, so that's fun. Really heated, or not heated depending on who wins the blanket, tug of wars ensue shortly after we both fall asleep. Not to mention the battle for space. Fun times. No magic happens here. Just sleep.

It's almost like we're sleeping in the cockpit of an airplane...

Flying high in the living room

In the "living room" you'll find posters of the cockpit where my husband and two other new hires studied throughout their training. Next to the cockpit you'll find a random palm frond. I have no idea what that's all about, but it adds a little color to an otherwise "vanilla" room. Who can argue with that?

 It's all about the coffee

The kitchen centers around the coffee pot. It's a staple at the crashpad. Coffee pots outnumber cartons of milk around here. You'll also find plenty of foods for grilling and the microwave, because we all know that when the women are away the men will eat foods not allowed at home. Let's be honest, there aren't a whole lot of fruits and vegetables in this crashpad kitchen.

The backyard has a few resident black widows, so watch where you step. You might also find some great smells floating from the grill. The crashpad is usually pretty quiet with people in and out at all hours of the day, so try to keep it down out here. That's the crashpad, folks!

I hope you enjoyed the tour...

Now get out of here!  ;)

Our Situation aka Constant Uncertainty

I'm currently so stressed out that we still have no idea when we are moving to Florida. After my husband finishes his flight simulator training for his new job, he has to complete IOE (Initial Operating Experience) in an aircraft. We still have no clue where or when that will take place. I am sort of freaking out here. The previous sentence is probably the understatement of the year.

We cannot make plans for moving, reserve a U-Haul truck, look for housing, or basically do anything to prepare us for this move to Florida yet. Please tell us something already! Waiting and patience are definitely not my strengths at the moment. You would think I'd be used to the uncertainty of the airline industry by now. I love me some stability in life, and that is one thing we have almost zero of right now.

My husband still "lives" in a crashpad in Nevada. I still "live" with my family in Colorado. We both still sleep on air mattresses like we have been for the past month. I really wish I could pretend that sleeping on an air mattress for that long is fun. Apparently my make believe skills are lacking with "old age".

At least my husband lives in a nice crashpad. If there is such a thing as a nice crashpad. When we drove out to Nevada and moved his things into the house, I had some serious deja vu. For good reason. The house my husband rents a room in is the same exact floor plan that my friends from college lived in years ago. I had stayed with my friends while visiting Las Vegas, so I showed my husband around his own crash pad when we arrived in Nevada. Funny how things work sometimes.

I am so proud of my husband for working incredibly hard! He is doing a whole lot of studying, memorizing, and practicing. The flight simulator training has been going well for him, and his simulator check ride is next week! I know he'll do great, because he is the best pilot ever! Even though he's been gone for a while now, the time has gone fairly quickly.

Now if we just had some idea of when we can move to Florida! (:

Oh Dam It: Our Tour of the Hoover Dam

My husband and I are becoming "that couple". We like touring historic sites, and we kind of sort of enjoy learning together. Touring the Hoover Dam last week was most definitely our cup of tea, and I have pictures to prove it. Warning: this post has a lot of dam(n) photos.

Come along with me on a tour!

After the Desperado roller coaster fiasco, we headed for the Hoover Dam with our minds set on taking one of the two tours they offer. We opted for the shorter of the two, because the hour long tour was 3 times as much money. We're sort of cheap frugal like that. We also thought we would probably be back some day, when we have more money to spare, and take the longer tour.

Before taking the dam tour, we spent some time walking around the sculptures that grace the side of the dam road. (Feel free to giggle when I say the word "dam" in front of another word. Almost everyone on the tour giggled at one point or another). Yeah, we're mature around these parts.

While on the tour, one guide told us the temperature was about 104 degrees that afternoon. Not to mention, there was some pretty stifling humidity in the air due to all of that amazing water. That water can be very powerful! Pun intended. We were warned not to visit in July and August. I could only imagine we would melt into the concrete during those months, and there is a lot of concrete at the Hoover Dam!

After browsing the statues, we hurried into the air conditioned visitor's center for our tour. It began with a short video covering some history of the dam construction, and then about 20 of us were shuffled onto an oversized elevator. The ride down into the bowels of the Hoover Dam lasted for about 90 seconds. It was a claustrophobic's nightmare. Good thing we're not claustrophobic! (:

We learned a lot about the construction of the Hoover Dam, water rights between states, amounts of electricity the generators produce, and what happens to the water after it creates power. Don't worry, it's just returned to the river below the dam. Pretty painless for the water, I believe.

Part of the tour had us in a room over one of the two diversion tunnels created during construction of the dam. In the picture above, the tour guide is basically pointing at our location. Let me tell you, the vibration of the floor due to the gushing water under our feet was a little unnerving considering we were about 550 feet below Lake Mead. Even better news, the dam is almost as thick as it is tall. I might not be claustrophobic, but I do have a little thing about drowning. I think that growing up watching the Poseidon Adventure messed with my head a little. Good news though, we survived the diversion tunnel room!

After making it out alive leaving the diversion tunnel, we hopped on the elevator to visit the "power plant" part of the Hoover Dam. This is where the magic happens folks! The power of gravity and water is unleashed on these poor unsuspecting generators. It was incredible standing in one of the two generator rooms, because the power generated by the Hoover Dam gives millions of people the ability to lighten things up a bit.

What would we do without electricity?

It is seriously amazing what a powerful river, massive amounts of concrete and hard work, some crazy amazing turbines, and lots of tiny electrons can do. Okay, maybe I oversimplified that a bit, but I like it that way. Just go with it.

After learning far too many numbers and watts, we climbed the stairs to the observation deck overlooking the dam. It was still 1009 degrees outside, so we didn't stay long. Just long enough for me to snap a picture of the cluster of power lines that carry power away from the dam.

After leaving the Hoover Dam, we both decided that we needed to walk across the bypass bridge that was recently completed. The Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, next to the Hoover Dam, was another amazing feat of concrete and construction. You can drive across the bridge, but we opted for the good old fashioned foot method. I also wanted to take a few pictures.

The roadway is almost 1,000 feet above the river.
Walking across the bridge may not be a great idea for those afraid of heights.
Don't look down!

If you visit the dam, I suggest taking some time
to walk across this incredible structure.

The wind practically blew us away, but the views from the bridge were incredible! Look to the left and you see Nevada. Look to the right and you see Arizona. The Hoover Dam almost looked small from atop the bridge. It was fun watching the boats cruise around Lake Mead too, and I think maybe some day it would be fun to get out there on a boat!

The bridge is a bit of a walk from the parking lot but worth it. Touring the Hoover Dam and walking across the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge were a great way to spend the day!

After a long and tough day on a dam(n) tour, we stopped in a small town near the dam called Boulder City. We happened to stumble across a little local brewery called the Boulder Dam Brewing Company, and of course we could not pass up a tasty local brew. The beer was much better than the food, but they were tapped out of a few beers so we didn't get a big selection. It was a nice way to cool down a bit after a hot afternoon at the Hoover Dam.

The Hoover Dam was everything we expected and more. The whole thing was a little hard to comprehend, because the dam creates amazing amounts of electricity. We were bombarded with so many numbers, but just being there was unbelievable.

I hope there weren't too many dam(n) pictures for you to handle.

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me through the tour!

This week is crazy busy for me, so I can almost promise you the rest of my posts won't be nearly this lengthy. I love you for reading my sometimes tiring blog posts! Have a wonderful day blog friends.

Coasting Through Life

The thrill seeker in me has always enjoyed been obsessed with roller coasters. I grew up about a six hour drive from Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Not sure if you've ever heard of it, but it's kind of a big deal. Cedar Point calls itself "America's Roller Coast". It's actually really clever, or cheesy depending on how you look at it, because the park sits on the coast of Lake Erie. Roller coasters + the coast = America's Roller Coast! I actually experienced my first roller coaster ride at Michigan's Adventure,* but we won't go into detail about that place. Let's just say I was hooked from my very first ride, and it's been all downhill, and uphill, from there.

* When I was in 8th grade I broke my ankle on a water slide there, and I ended up needing surgery to fix it. The words Michigan's Adventure sort of leave a bad taste in my mouth now, but I'm not bitter. No.

This is really embarrassing, but growing up I had a VHS tape consisting of front seat rides on the best roller coasters in the country. So what. I'm an only child, and I had a really great imagination. I actually thought I might want to be a roller coaster engineer at one point. Then I realized that engineers need to know crazy complicated math, and then I didn't want to design coasters anymore. I would rather ride them. However, I digress. The 3-D video tape really made me feel like I was there in the front seat. Don't judge me. After watching my incredibly thrilling 3-D roller coaster tape, I had the itch to ride these roller coasters in real life! Only makes sense right? Let me tell you the rides are much better in person than from the couch, or chair parked in front of the television, in your living room.

Desperado Roller Coaster at Buffalo Bill's Casino in Primm, Nevada

Over the years though, in real life I've ridden roller coasters in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Colorado, California, and Nevada. Basically if I am anywhere near a roller coaster, I try need to ride it. Pretty simple.

While in Nevada last week, I asked my husband begged relentlessly to ride the Desperado roller coaster at Buffalo Bill's casino in Primm, Nevada. It was one of the coasters on my VHS tape, and I have always wanted to ride it. I mean I grew up "riding" this ride already. Let me tell you this was a serious life goal, and I was so thrilled to get the opportunity to get on that Desperado and coast! We hopped in the pickup and drove the almost 30 minutes to Primm. Upon arriving at the casino, we find that the roller coaster was shut down due to high winds in the area. We had driven past dust devils and massive dirt clouds on our way to the casino, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. Finding the Desperado, my dream, temporarily closed was one of the biggest disappointments in my life! Maybe I'm a little dramatic, but there was no way I was going to leave the state of Nevada, for possibly quite a long time, without riding that roller coaster! No way.

Instead of sitting around the casino waiting for the slight possibility of the Desperado reopening, we did what any defeated young and adventurous couple would do. We put on our game faces and took off for the Hoover Dam! I mean, the next best thing to a dream roller coaster ride is a tour of a massive dam made of concrete right? I think so! More on the Hoover Dam tour later though. That's a whole post of its own.

For good measure and bragging rights of saying we were in California, I asked my husband if we could drive across the Nevada/Cali state line before heading to the Hoover Dam. Score!

After touring the Hoover Dam, it felt like the wind had died down quite a bit. It crossed our minds my mind to call Buffalo Bill's casino and see if the Desperado had reopened for the evening. After some number punching to speak with a human on the 800 line, we found out that the roller coaster was indeed open for the night. Although, in the same breath the woman said that if the wind picked up again it would close. My husband decided it was probably in his best interest to get me on that ride, so off we drove again to Primm! Let me tell you this seemed like the longest ride ever. I kept hoping the wind would stay calm, because it would have been heartbreaking if they closed the Desperado due to wind again. A girl can only take so much heartache.

We arrived in Primm, parked the truck, walked/ran (guess who was the one running) to the front doors, rushed through the casino to the ticket booth, bought Desperado tickets, waited for a few endless minutes, and boarded the roller coaster for our ride. Let me tell you, I will never get enough of that "clink, clink, clink" as the train climbs the first hill. Then most everything was downhill from there! We laughed/screamed/cried (happy wind-blown tears), and we had an exhilarating ride to end our fun filled day. Hopefully I'll get more opportunities to coast my way across this country, because I, Ashley, am a roller coaster addict.