The Day I Pulled A 50-Ton Jet

On Friday, October 11 we had the US Airways Jet Pull. This is a fundraiser for the United Way, and teams of 20 come together to pull a plane a specified distance. My group, Accounting and Controls, combined with the Corporate Accounting A/R group and we were The A-Team.

Group picture at the office before heading to the hangar

Showing our muscles

This was the plane we pulled - it is an Airbus A319.

For the month of October, some of the tugs are pink for breast cancer awareness.

Sharonne and I with the Cardinals mascot.

Scott and Riemel

Ready, set, pull!!!

Paula giving it her all.

Chris and Nathan.

The big guys in the back.

Our time was 5.9 seconds. Not close to the top, but not last either. The team that ended up winning was Rampage - they consisted of a bunch of the ramp guys that were probably all at least 200 pounds. So, when you have a team with people my size we really don't have a chance against them :)

Team pic after our pull.

Now I can cross off "pulling a plane" from my bucket list (not that it was on there in the first place).

Arizona State vs. Notre Dame - Shamrock Series

On Friday afternoon I flew to Dallas, TX for the ASU-ND game on Saturday night. Dad picked me up at the airport because he was on an earlier flight, and we headed into downtown Dallas for dinner. I had done some pre-research for local, organic restaurants in the Dallas area. I found a place called Bolsa, and it definitely lived up to its name. I had a beet salad which was excellent, and the "catch" for dinner, which was grouper that had been caught off the coast of Corpus Christi the day prior.

Saturday morning we didn't do a whole lot and as soon as Kevin and Tyler arrived we headed to Arlington for the game. ASU was playing as part of the Shamrock Series. 

The ASU flag was flying high.

 It was a "Gold" game, hence the reason we are all in gold.

AT&T Stadium/Cowboy Stadium/Jerry's World definitely lived up to its name. The stadium was amazing inside.

We went in right after the gates opened. It was fun to get in there before there were too many people inside.

Had to get a Cowboys pic in Texas!

We were in the nosebleeds but the atmosphere was excellent.

My cousin Tyler, Me, Dad and Uncle Kevin

The team praying before the game.

The Notre Dame band did a really good job with the halftime show. This is a pair of cowboy boots and a cowboy hat.

They were playing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" here.

Tied at 27 with 8:18 to go in the 4th quarter!

The roof was closed but I think they had the AC on because it was kind of chilly in the stadium - warmer than outside though.

End of the game - ASU lost by 3 :(. Still had fun, but would have been even more fun if they came away with the W.

After the game we saw this guy in the hall. He is an ASU student, but he is always on the big screen at the home ASU games. I think he was first found by the Hair Cam, but he can dance pretty well too. I call him the Gangnam Style guy. Watch the YouTube video with his Sun Devil Story.

All in all a fun trip. GO DEVILS!!!

Our Attempt to Hike Mt. Elbert

Last Saturday Kellyn and I flew to Denver for the weekend to visit Kyle and with a goal to get to the peak of the highest mountain in the Rockies and also the high point of Colorado. This mountain is about a 2 hour drive west of Denver, so we drove up Saturday night to get an early start on Sunday morning. We stayed in Twin Lakes, CO which is a small mountain town.

Our hotel was the Twin Lakes Inn, and it was originally constructed in 1879 as a stage shop/hotel on the dirt path to Independence Pass and Aspen.

Ironically, we were staying in the Mt. Elbert Room.

Once we arrived on Saturday, we decided to take a walk down by the lake.

 Kyle was nuts to actually get in the water.

 Some of the leaves were starting to change...it was nice to see a little "fall."

This was the entire town.

They had a sheriff car parked by the side of the road...but it was just to get people to slow down. It worked for us as when we arrived I was making a u-turn and Kyle said to look out for the police car.

Having a little fun at the playground.

On Sunday morning we got up at 4am to get an early start on the mountain. We had been watching the weather all week, and it said partly cloudy for the morning, but then snow showers for the afternoon (at the peak). We figured it would take 6-8 hours round trip, so we wanted to be off the mountain by about noon or 1pm.

We made overnight oats for breakfast. They were so good and a perfect pre-hike breakfast.

Bundled up and ready to go. This was about 5:45am. It was 35 degrees when we started hiking, but a lot of these clothes came off within 10 minutes of getting going.

About a mile into the hike. You can slightly see the sunrise in the background.

Made it to the tree line. Notice the small amount of snow in the background. Also, that peak is the first false peak - it is not Elbert.

So far it was a pretty nice morning. It was probably around 8:30am here.

From the trailhead, it was about a 4,700 foot elevation gain and about 4.5 miles each way. This picture of Kellyn is at about 13,700 feet, so we had gone about 4,000 feet in elevation. This is as far as we got though. We talked to some guys who were on their way down, and they said it was really snowy at the top and slippery on the way down. There were a couple of groups ahead of us, but we watched the groups behind us turn around. Also, as you can see in this picture you can barely tell the path down as the snow was covering it fast. As much as we wanted to make it to the top, we (I) made the decision here to turn around as I didn't want to get stuck on the mountain. The weather reports were incorrect about timing of the storm, as we turned around sometime around 9:30am.

Almost back to the car after about 5 hours of hiking.

We didn't get to cross this 14er summit off the list, but it was still a nice trip and good to get away to a small town for 24 hours. Once we were finished hiking we drove back to Denver, took showers, went to dinner and then Kellyn and I slept on the plane ride back to Phoenix.