I’m a little bit country. So is she.

27 Sep 201519 Aug 2021 / Dav / Leave a comment

At a very young age, my friend LaDawn and I would stand in front of the fireplace gripping a curling iron or a hairbrush, and we would pretend to sing A Little Bit Country – A Little Bit Rock ‘n Roll by Donny and Marie Osmond. The plan was to learn it well enough to perform it in the lip sync competition at the Graham County Fair. For whatever reason, we never made it to the fair, nor were they ever discovered that we were the next great duet. Go figure.

Marie Osmond came through my tiny, insignificant town on one of her concert tours when I was still in high school. I remember attending the concert with my buddy Josh Jones. I thought Josh and I were the coolest people in the audience because we both wore our boots, wranglers, button-up shirts, and our 50-gallon cowboy hats. I was right- we were cool!

After Marie sang a few songs, she asked the audience, “Anybody want to hear some country music?” We all threw our hands together and shouted- what can I say, Thatcher, Arizona has many country music lovers! Then she turned toward Josh and me and winked. Be still, my heart! I knew she was winking at us because we were the only two guys in that section of the Eastern Arizona College Fine Arts Center who happened to be wearing cowboy hats.

Jump forward to 2010 when I was in the process of coming up with my very cool bucket list. I knew what I needed to do: Number 63 on that list is to meet Marie Osmond. Jump forward again to today when she happened to board the flight I was working from Philadelphia to Denver. I didn’t recognize her during boarding but did once we were in the air. I needed to say hello and actually meet her, but she went right to sleep! For most of the flight, and hoped that she was awake, but nope. I wanted to “accidentally” bump into her, apologize, and then casually explain that I’ve needed to meet her for years and years. This stalker wasn’t getting his break.

FINALLY-at the end of the flight, when she was about to grab her bags and leave, I approached her, smiled, and told her I needed to tell her a quick story. She smiled and said sure. I basically told her everything that you just read above- I even pulled up this very blog to show her that meeting her was literally one of the items on my bucket list. I asked her for a picture, and she was so sweet and polite and posed with the crew. Then… I kid you not… she said, “If I’m on your bucket list, then we need to make this worth it!” She grabbed my left hand and pulled it around her waist. She threw her own right hand up to my shoulder and gave me a hug. We took another picture.

15 Sep 201512 Mar 2017 / Dav / Leave a comment

Last night I had a great time getting together with some of my dear friends from my Utah State University days. This was the group who I went with to the United Kingdom for the very first time, back in 2002. These are the people who I blame for this stupid obsession that I have with Scotland. We needed to get together, have some ice cream, and reminisce about the old days. We called this our London Reunion.

We met at the Leatherby’s on 5400 South. When I arrived, Colee was there with her husband Jonathan, and James had brought his son Luke (James’ wife Heather was feeling under-the-weather so she was at home with their youngest). We chatted for about 10 minutes until Dave and Dominoe arrived as well. Missing from the original London group was Makaylee and Julie. It’s sad when real life happens. We wished that everyone could have attended.

We didn’t really talk a whole lot about London. We did share a few memories, including James’ attempt to navigate causing us to end up on the wrong coast of Scotland. At first, he denied that it was his fault, but we pretty much ganged up on him. My memory of this experience is falling asleep in the van and waking up to David telling us that we had been headed in the wrong direction.

We talked for about 45 minutes to an hour and it dawned on me that I hadn’t actually seen Dave and Dominoe for over 7 years (apart from Facebook)! This is horrible! I need to be a better friend! To remedy this, it was suggested by myself that we try to get together once a month, but they all argued that once ever three months would work better- since many of them have kids and lives and schedules and stuff to do. So hopefully we can get something set up in December, and if we’re lucky, maybe we can get Makaylee and Julie in attendance!

25 Aug 201515 Oct 2017 / Dav / Leave a comment

I just finished a great meal with coworkers, Tony and Brooke. We had a late lunch/ early dinner at Chef Ron’s Gumbo Stop in Metairie, Louisiana. For the past two days, I have been talking up this restaurant up to them, since both of them are fairly new to this flight attendant gig. Neither of them had had an MSY overnight yet. They loved it! It totally lived up to the hype I’d created! I had the stuffed

I had the stuffed mumbo gumbo, which is a seafood gumbo with chicken, and a fried catfish! As always, it was stinking amazing! I also was forced (by myself) to get some jambalaya to go. That will serve as my pre-sleep snack. Tony told me that when he was being interviewed to become a flight attendant, he was asked what his main reason for wanting to be a flight attendant was. He responded, “The Food!” I think I’d have to agree with that!

16 Aug 20157 Feb 2020 / Dav / Leave a comment

It’s time for some family history! I don’t remember if I told you in the past, but one of the reasons that I’m obsessed with Scotland is that this is one of the places where my ancestors are from. I grew up in a family that is very much into genealogy and knowing where we came from. My dream of seeing Scotland with my own eyes finally came true in December of 2002 when my friends David Hammond, Dominoe Reed, James Jenkins, Nicole Hayes, Makaylee Jensen, Julie Linton and myself went on a little vacation to the United Kingdom.

Years later, these are the memories that I still hold from this trip:

Staying at the Amsterdam Hotel in London, not too far from Hyde Park
Eating my first “proper” fish & chips
Visiting the mission home (Dave had recently returned home from serving in London as a full-time missionary.
Eating a battered Mars Bar at the Maid Miriam Cafe’ in Nottingham (close to the statue of Robin Hood)
Seeing Westminster Abbey and Big Ben for the first time
Learning that Tower Bridge is not London Bridge and that the original London Bridge had been sold so some guy in Arizona
Strutting down the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk
Seeing the Tower of London and the Queen Jewels

Since there were seven of us, and we were in the U.K. for seven days, each of us chose what we wanted to do for the day. I remember Julie’s day was going to see Wimbledon since she is very much into playing tennis. On James’ day, we took the rental car down to Wales, since that’s one of the places where his ancestors came from. I remember going to Stonehenge on somebody’s day and trying to figure out how those people lifted those heavy stones, so many years ago.

On my day, we drove the rental car up to Scotland and stood on the bank of Loch Lomond, and this was where Dave and I even sang the song, Loch Lomond.

tumblr_inline_nt6ge6ypdj1qzup43_540 — Freeeeeeeeeedooooooommmmmm!

On my dad’s side of the family, I have a lot of the surname Wallace. I thought it would be cool if I could find some link to William Wallace (of Braveheart fame). Sadly, there’s no record of William Wallace ever having children. Odds are he had illegitimate offspring, though. Back then, a favorite past time for the young men was to shag any girl who would let you (or didn’t necessarily let you).

On my mother’s side of the family, I have always been told that the surname Lee comes from Ireland. Sure enough, I followed their chart into Ireland as far as I could. I soon discovered that before Ireland, many of them also came over from Scotland (just like my dad’s side of the family). If the records I’ve seen are correct, I have links to royalty (James II of Scotland and Robert the Bruce), it is quite possible that my dad’s ancestors actually paid taxes to my mom’s ancestors!

I have found a line that links me to kings’ of England, Scotland, France, Prussia, and Wessex!

Tonight I am, once again, in Puerto Rico.

29 Jul 201520 Aug 2021 / Dav / Leave a comment

Dinner was Chuleton de Cerdo, servido con salsa de guayaba-coco y ron… which translates into “Grilled large pork chop loin with guava-coconut-rum sauce and sweet plantain risotto”. Delicious!

I had planned on swimming in the ocean, behind the hotel, but I’m afraid that after getting very little sleep last night at the crashpad, I’m just going to relax in my room instead. Hopefully, I’ll find the energy to do something fun tomorrow.

I’m standing outside of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, at about 16:50.

22 Jun 201519 Aug 2021 / Dav / 1 Comment

I read the sign that says proper attire is required. I start to worry because I’m wearing my Chacos sandals. I hope this isn’t an anti-open-toe shoe type of thing. I’ve wanted to eat at Ruth’s Chris for years… literally. This is number 82 on my bucket list.

I am in Tampa, Florida, tonight. When I got to the hotel, I managed to get a quick workout in, a brief nap, and then decided to look for food with my phone. I first opened the Waffle House app (every smartphone user should have this app) to see if any locations are nearby. I see one but realize quickly that it’s one that I’ve already been to. I then open the “Around Me” app to see what restaurants are nearby (another handy app if you travel at all). I spy a nearby Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse!

They are finally open for dinner at 17:00. I decide to play it cool, pretending that I’ve eaten here at least 40 times. I walk in and smile at the greeter. I request a table for one. She grabs a menu and leads me to a small booth in the dining area. I have concluded that my Chacos have passed the dress code test… either that or she paid no attention.

I peruse the menu when my waiter, Chris, comes to bring me some water with lemon and some bread. I ask him what he suggests, and he points out “Ruth’s Classics,” which would let me pick out a soup or salad to start out, a main course and side, and then it comes with a bit of dessert. I tell him that sounds great. I choose the chicken and tortellini soup as my first course, then a 6 oz filet and lobster tail as the main course, and a side of green beans with roasted garlic. All for the not-so-modest price of just under $60. I agree that this is a considerable amount to pay for food, but I am chasing dreams on a bucket list, after all (plus I just got paid on Friday).

I have to talk about this 6oz filet. When I first saw it on the menu, I was worried that I wouldn’t be getting enough to get full. Six ounces is like an oversized McNugget, after all. Turns out- this was, by far, the best piece of red meat I have ever eaten… and I love red meat! Not sure what it was seasoned with, but it was cooked perfectly (medium) and went well with the lobster tail.

Now that I have undone everything I tried to do on the elliptical machine earlier today, I’m fat and happy, to say the least. I feel incredibly blessed to be checking #82 off of my bucket list!

Today was two easy legs and now I’m on a beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

18 Jun 201520 Aug 2021 / Dav / Leave a comment

Well, technically, I’m not on a beach right now. I’m in my hotel room on the 8th floor, but this hotel sits on the beach. When I stepped out of the air-conditioned comfort of the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, I was almost knocked down by the absolute heaviest and hottest humidity I have ever felt in my entire existence! This is saying a lot since I spent most of my growing-up summers in South Carolina.

Once at the hotel, I peeled my work uniform off and set out to eat at the exact same restaurant that I had eaten at the first time I was on the island. I could have ventured out, but I really enjoyed my meal so much, and since it is supposedly authentic Puerto Rican food, I wanted to try some more. Tonight’s dish was Pechuga de pollo rellena de maduros envuelta con tocineta con arroz guisado (Bacon wrapped chicken breast, stuffed with sweet plantain with seasoned rice). Amazing!

I walked back to the hotel and through the lobby, past the jacuzzi, swimming pool, and bar, and found most of my crew sunning themselves on the beach. It was such a picture-perfect scene! The water here was the right temperature! I didn’t wade in much past my knees, but it still felt great!

Finding Flint

16 Jun 201521 Aug 2021 / Dav / Leave a comment

Today I am one step closer to crossing an item off of my overly ambitious bucket list. Number 74 on the list is to stay at every single overnight that my work offers. Flint, Michigan, can now be checked off of that list! This is one of the many locations that Southwest Airlines decided to keep after inheriting it from the AirTran Airways acquisition.

After checking into the hotel and changing clothes, I thought it would be a great idea to venture out and find something suitable for dinner, this being my first Flint experience. I asked one of the girls at the front desk if they knew of a good, non-chain restaurant better than fast food but not too expensive. She said she knew just the place and suggested that I go eat at Sandals Grill & Chill. I wrote down her walking directions, and it wasn’t too long of a walk. I found an empty parking log and a ‘For Sale’ sign out front when I arrived. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

As I walked back toward the hotel, I saw a sign for Redwood Steakhouse. I went inside and immediately noticed a sign that read: Proper Attire Required. I worried that my running shorts, t-shirt, and Chaco sandals weren’t going to cut it. Thank goodness they didn’t mind. I guess they just wanted to make sure all my private parts were covered.

Chicken Valpolicella: Breast of chicken, dredged in seasoned flour, sautéed with olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, pesto, butter, parmesan cheese, and finished with Valpolicella wine. Served on a bed of pesto-flavored linguine. I agree that the picture sort of makes it look like vomit-on-chicken with green stuff, but it was actually very delicious!

17 May 20158 Feb 2019 / Dav / Leave a comment

A few years back, I had a dream that I was sitting on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry with a bunch of other people. I remember we all sat in a large circle on the stage, waiting for our turn to sing. Suddenly it was my turn to sing. I stood up and walked up to the microphone… I heard a band start playing the accompaniment to the song Bring on the Rain by Jo Dee Messina. As I inhale to start singing the song, I wake up.

I have loved Jo Dee Messina’s voice since I first heard her recording of Heads Carolina, Tales California. Bucket list item number 56 is to hear her sing live. I think this would be a fun night! Here’s the video- Bring on the Rain. Enjoy!

14 May 20159 Feb 2019 / Dav / Leave a comment

Coming in at number 26 on the bucket list is to go to Disneyland for more than one day consecutively. I often work flights in and out of southern California and I see the little kids with their Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse ears, or their princess shirts and I ask them how long they are going on their vacation for. It’s quite common to find that are going for at least a week. That may be a little excessive, but I’ve never been for more than one day.

When I was young, it was quite a big deal for my family to go to Disneyland. I remember we’d drive to California one day, spend most of the second day at Disneyland and then day three was driving back to Arizona. This was huge! A few years ago, I got to spend the day with my friend Arron there, but that was still just one day. This needs to happen!

Here are some pictures from my day at Disneyland with Arron (this happened back in February of 2009):