A Good Case of the Munchies

After the tour ended Stacy, Kris and I were extremely hungry. So we drove back into Tucson, the city that houses the "Great" college of Jew of A, I mean U of A, we at a little burger joint on 4th Avenue called Lindy's. Literally a whole in the wall! We drove past it twice because we completely missed it the first two times. And once we had located it we were not totally sure we wanted to risk eating there for fear of leaving with a staff infection! The place was surrounded by tattoo & piercing parlors and the people drunk homeless guy selling used t-shirts at the door step wasn't exactly the invitation to our appetite either. But we figured you only live once right? And hoping this wasn't the end of our only lives we stepped inside and order ourselves a burger, You know what, Burger is an understatement, we had ordered an experience! Because those burgers were sure worth the trip! Which is exactly what the person that created that burger restaurant was having, a trip! Stacy and Kris ordered the Mac&Cheese Burger, and I ordered the Potato Salad Burger, sounds like cute names for burgers, but they were not just name for the burgers, they were the burgers! 1/4 Pound beef patties serve with mac&cheese and potato salad between two perfectly toasted buns. THE MAC&CHEESE WAS IN THE BURGER! and there we have it, that kinda Genius is only attainable during the use of particular illicit drug usage!

And You Know What? After eating that burger, their illicit drug use was A OK with me!

& Even More Sci-Fi

More Sci-Fi Pictures

Sci-Fi Pictures

Nuclear Fallout

So it has been a little while since our last post, but not for lack of interesting stories. (HA THAT'S FOR SURE!)

Well Last week Stacy and I went with our brother Kris out to Tucson to visit a Titan missile silo. Yep, you read that correctly...a Missile Silo...and not just any Missile Silo but a Nuclear Missile Silo!!

So Stacy and I get a call from Kris,

"Hey, come over and bring the CR-V."

"Sounds good, Why?"

"Don't worry about it, we're going on an adventure."

"...Okay."

And so we were off. For Stacy and I adventure is the only word you have to use and we are fully on board. We itch to experience new things, and on this trip, boy did we! So we went and picked up Kris from my parents house and 30 minutes later we were headed east on Highway 10 for a 2 hour trip to Tucson.

Not much needed:

Beautiful wife - Check

A.C. on Full Blast - Check

IPod loaded with Pearl Jam, MGMT, Temper Trap and Gorillaz - Check IN deed.

After a seemingly 5 minute drive we had arrived at our destination. You know when you watch Sci-Fi Movies and there is this strange tone to it's visuals, always slightly eerie, and kinda puts you on the edge of your seat in anticipation, this trip was slightly like that. The scenes that we were traveling through were identical to almost any 1950's Sci-Fi movie you would choose; the thinly painted clouds (although in Most 1950's movies they were still painted in B&W) were brushing the peaks of the towering mountains off in the distance. Even though we were experiencing the scenery in person it was still as though we were still watching it through a warped wide angle lens. It was strange. The mountains were so far off in the distance, but so tall that they seemed almost touchable, and yet because they were so far away we could see the desert stretch for miles until it was intercepted by a super green, oasis like, plain leading up to the base of the mountain. I say leading up to the base because the plain (and yes I understand this is a contradiction to the word in meaning (but hey isn't that what Sci-Fis are all about?)) warped, curved up towards the sky as it met the mountain where it seemed to turn to stone instantly. It was hard to walk while looking off at the horizon; it would almost make you lose your balance, feeling as though you were walking around with a tilt. The silo was surrounded by desert and copper mines. The heat that massaged our shoulders until raw was rather hospitable and made sure to welcome us to the desert with fervent joy. I guess something about the word Desert on the map should have given us some idea of what to expect, but again when you are a character in a 1950's Sci-Fi movie, you never know WHAT to expect.

We made it to the silo just in time to catch the last tour. As we were standing in the lobby reading information plaques talking about the cold war and how at any given moment either country could have destroyed the world with the twist of a key, hmmm comforting, we were met by two gentlemen easily in their 80's. One was a slim fellow about 6 feet 2 inches tall and the other was a little more round and walked with a cane. The man with the cane lead the tour and was a rather humorous fellow, which I guess is an important quality to have out in that unbelievable heat! The man led us around explaining some of the security features for the missile that were visible top side. As we followed him through a narrow door and down some flights of stairs he explained a few things about the Titan Missile Program,

And this is where it gets interesting!!

The Titan Missile Program was the replacement for the Atlas Missile Program, The first family of successful ballistic missiles. The Titan missile had three launch cities from which it launched from: Tucson AZ, Little Rock AK, and the last in which I currently cannot recall. Each city had something like 16 launch sites surrounding the city. THAT's 48 Missiles! Oh yeah...did i mention they were each armed with a Nuclear Warhead!!!! Yeah, N-U-CLEAR! HA! Here is what we learned about ballistic missile armed with nuclear warheads...That one warhead is packed with 13 Megatons of explosive power. What ever does that mean, a Megaton? Well let me put it into prospective, kinda. This is what the tour guide it telling us mind you. If you can imagine a stick of dynamite and its blast power, something like one stick could blow up your car with extreme bias, and apply that to the idea of having a freight train pulling 150 cars of dynamite and then you have a closer idea of what a megaton is and ONE nuclear warhead contains 13 of them!! The tour guide explained that a Titan missile, after launched, would rocket 50 miles into the air, calculate it coordinates and free fall down to its final resting place. A Titan missile is accurate enough to free fall toward its given point and crash into the ground within a ONE mile radius of its target. 13 megatons of destruction is enough to immediately incinerate e-v-e-r-ything within a 500 mile radius!! If it fails to burn you alive with in that radius it has another trick up its sleeve; the warhead also inhales all the oxygen in that 500 mile radius leaving any oxygen breathing being incapable of receiving that gas that further sustains their life.

As we are hearing all this, Stacy and I look at each other and we started to do the math. The first Titan missile was created in 1951 and we wrestled with the cold war from the late 40's to the early 90's and this missile silo was decommissioned to meet the demands of the Soviet Union in hopes of ending the cold war in 1982. And these guys (our tour guides) are still hanging out in a missile silo......could it be? And our assumptions were correct. Our tour guides were the same two guys who had the power to put their hands on the two keys in that tiny room, turn them and ignite a warhead bearing ballistic missile towards another country!! A missile I might add that would justify, after its launch, the launch of every other nuclear missile in the U.S. and Soviet Union's arsenal! And between the two countries, it only took one country to fire all that they had to kill the entire earth and all its inhabitants from the Nuclear Fallout.

AND WHO THE CRAP THOUGHT TO STICK THESE GUYS IN TUCSON!?!?

More Ghost Town Pictures

The Wild West

An Old Wild West Ghost Town that

Stacy and I visited on our

way out to Superstition Mountain.

Taking a "Prospective Day"

Miles in every direction, nothing but beauty. There were no building, streetlights or even streets for that matter, no cars whizzing by, or sirens crying out in the distance and the only light pollution visible was that of the natural sun. It was just Stacy and I, for miles, just us. After a trek up a shingly section of the Apache Trail we made it to the top of an elevated peak. We stood in silence for a moment listening to the complete calm. The only sound we heard was the holler of a screeching hawk flying over head (not that there was much more air above us for him to fly) and the faint sizzling sound of the sweltering heat beaming over our glistening skin. We then proceeded to holler along with our winged friend, making conversations with the engrossed mountains.

There's something to be said about being all alone with miles separating you and the nearest medical and social assistance. For a brief moment your prospective aligns itself no longer with current events, the latest facebook status, or even a single possession you own, but rather it is focused on survival, adventure, and peace. Survival only because you know that for any given reason at any given moment something might not go as planned and in the event that, that happens you have absolutely nothing to depend on but a set skills that are innate, or perhaps learned from Man vs. Wild. There is something about the thought of being stranded miles deep into a desolate mountain range that sets you nerves onto full throttle excitement mode. You know there's a danger of getting lost that far out, yet there is a small piece of you that wouldn't mind it. To get lost. To depend on Nature and God to guide you out. The freedom of being lost is unimaginable. It's only a misconception to think that we are bound by our sense of direction. Sometimes getting lost is the only true way to be found.

Adventure is easy to find, it comes whenever you simply leave the four walls of your home and meet with the fresh air, dirt and big sky. Adventure is the heart of Stacy and my relationship. She thrives off adventure. The thing I love the most about her is her ability to have an adventure with me on any given whim, and it does not have to be anything to outdoor or elaborate it could be somewhere as commonplace as wal-mart and we will find a way to make it interesting and different. It's not just about getting groceries but more so about escaping to a world where shopping carts are race cars and the aisles are our strip of road stretched out a quarter mile for a race waiting to happen. Imagination is the spirit of our love and God made it extra special for the two of us to enjoy in any and every situation.

Peace comes when you mate survival and adventure together. To survive is to have a desire for adventure, to be lost without any sense of adventure means you will fear the idea of venturing forward until you find what you are looking for and adventure remains only as long as you can survive because if you venture out without the will to live, unfortunately that is always met by a dead end. But if you are able to lose yourself with the desire of adventure and the will to survive, well, that is when you achieve peace and peace is where you are found. When you have peace there is no goal that will be left unmatched and there will be no obstacles in your path that can't be overtaken.

Stacy and I decided to take a prospective day. And the Superstition Mountain Range is where we went to do so.

It was wonderful.

If you can, take a day to get lost, and hopefully you get the same sensation we did from the excursion.

: D

God is Great.

Fun Pictures from Fashion Square

More C&B Picture s

Our Home.

Crate& Barrel Adventure Pictures

Stacy's New Discovery

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Chip Brownies, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, What ever will she think of next?

After an entertaining trip to a wonderful store known as Crate&Barrel Stacy discovered something...that she enjoys baking. And Believe Me, this is a new discovery that I enjoy greatly as well!! Funniest part about her baking undertakings is that she loves to add chocolate chips to EV-ER-Y-THING! I come home to a new sweet smell almost every day, and no matter what the treat was that the smell resembled i knew it contained a delicious dose of chocolate chips. We had visited Crate&Barrel one evening at Fashion Square mall in Scottsdale (also well known around the valley as "Snotsdale" because of their uncanny ability to reaffirm their innate awesomeness that is impossible to protest even by God Himself, at least that is what they believe about their unmatched pedigree.) So Stacy and I sucked it up and trekked our way through the dangerous territory hoping not to get ravaged by the flock of "Me Monsters."

Fortunately Stacy and I were able to make our way through Crate&Barrel long enough to gander at the wonderful appliances and cool outdoor ware. We bought a tea pot which is great for boiling water for some tasty Vanilla Rooibos Tea mmmMMMMmmmmm!! We also purchased a table cloth, an out door Weber Grill (for me(which I will begin to use to cook hotdogs and hamburgers once Fall hits and our staggering 118 degree weather cools down to maybe a mild 105 degree breeze)) (sadly I am not embellishing.) The last purchase we made was some baking utensils and that is when Stacy was bit by the baking bug!

She now uses baking as her outlet to escape from stress and if ever we have an argument she can beat it out, literally, she'll beat some eggs for cookies and instantly all is well in the Ankarlo home.

Thank you God for this wonderful hobby that serves two B-E-A-UTIFUL purposes!

: D

Tuna and T.V.

Well, this is our first entry of our first blog in our first home sitting on our first couch while starting the first leg to our wonderfully made family.

Stacy and I are finally settling into our first home together as a we begin this journey many call marriage. We are setting the foundation of this marriage directly on God's promises to always guide us through thick and thin and bring us prosperity through our faithfulness.

This post is entitled Tuna and T.V. because well that is what the first month of our marriage has been based around. It is quite humorous actually, Stacy has developed 101 ways to make tuna into a highly nutritious and alway interesting meal; whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner she will find a way to fit tuna onto the menu. Tuna fish sandwiches, Tuna Melt, Tuna and Noodles. It never fails, but truth be told we are thankful for every meal we receive; for those of you who are reading this blog and are married you know exactly what I am talking about right now. I believe all married couples in their first few month have been through this very same situation in which I am address right this moment. We keep reminding ourselves that these are the moments in our marriage that are referred to as the Character Building Stage, and boy are we building character! HA! But really we have been truly blessed! After returning home from our honeymoon we entered Stacy's house to find her dinning room packed with presents everything from a coffee/espresso machine to fine crystal and our full dish set and SO MUCH more!!! once we finally got through all the gifts and took a breath from all the excitement Mrs. Purdum walked over and handed us a stack of cards and said, "Well, you're not finished yet." After going through all the cards we realized truly how blessed we were!

YOU GUYS ARE SOOOO INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With the money and giftcards we receive we were able to get a new couch, entertainment center and a new T.V.

So Stacy and I, with this wonderful set up, come home from work make some tuna and watch some T.V. Funny thing is we do not have cable, but rather bunny ears on the top of our T.V. which gives us a grand total of two channels. But man are they the greatest two channels ever! We get ABC 15 KNXV and this other movie channel called "This". On ABC we find ourselves sucked into the pleasures of Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz. These two men are Grade A Geniuses! Or perhaps we think that only because we are like the other 3.5 million americans who have no intellectual aspirations to further advance their understanding of the term "Real Life." But regardless, IT SURE IS ENTERTAINING!

The other countless hours are spent playing Wii Tennis and getting my butt kicked by Stacy's killer backhand, which again I guess does not help our understanding of the term "Real Life." and yet again I must reveal that IT SURE IS ENTERTAINING!