Lone Concretin Tucson Tour
The trip out was sketchin' when our flight was delayed more than an hour and we were going to miss our connection in Houston, and that was the only flight to Tucson from Houston... They did well and got us on a flight through Atlanta, with us arriving only an hour or so later in Tucson than originally planned. AND our luggage arrived on time too, THAT was a surprise. Damn Tucson is cool. Sunny and warm. All day, every day. Our hotel kinda sucked, but it was just a 2 star joint. The room smelled NASTY of smoke, and of course there were no other rooms available. Customer service was awful, but the room was just a place to sh*%, shower, and shave. Don't stay at Exended Stay Hotels. Ever. We headed out to get some FeBreeze and some food with a friend.
We hung out with Roberto and he took us to dinner and mini-golf. Lil' Tony made a few appearances and we called it a night soon after. Tuesday included a visit to the St. Xavier Mission. I got some good footage of the gorgeous artwork throughout the church, but didn't get any full photos as half the building was covered in scaffolding for restoration. We then headed east to Collossal Caves for an underground tour. Pretty cool and I got some great photos of the desert foliage (catcti). Driving on the east side we were constantly going by the airplane "storage" yards and grave yards. I'd love to get inside and just take pictures and footage all day. It was amazing to see hundreds and hundreds of planes lined up, waiting for a reason to fly. Creepy and so cool at the same time. We headed back to base to change clothes and choose a fancy restaurant for dinner. BistroZin. EXCELLENT grub! Fairly fancy and great atmosphere. New Zealand wine even. Fairly appropriate for our anniversary don't you think? It was amusing when the waiter waited for me to sniff and swish the wine - only 2 years old and a twist off cap? I think not. Just pour. But potent was the vintage as Alice was giggly all evening after a glass and a half. (I'm ordering a case when we get home!)
Wednesday was Concretins Skate Tour day. We first hit the Rita skatepark. Easily found and fairly small. I thought for sure I was gonna rip here as Kyle's ramp was an excellent primer for this place. This place was low and looked like it would be easy to wire. BUT, as we all know, I SUCK! The transitions were also lumpy, but I should be able to adapt better than this. I even had to psych myself up for a bank rail that was maybe 8" high. BUT I did make it multiple times with only one slide out to ass on the flat. The 'crete was polished smooth and slippery. And someone forgot to tell everyone that Lil' Tony and a Concretin were coming because NO ONE showed. I had the entire park to myself the entire time. Which was ok really, because I was embarassingly sucking. My "date-for-life" camerawoman put up with my lameness and filmed in the hot unforgiving sun. The rail was really the only thing I landed worth mentioning. I also took note of their gate - VERY anti bike as you can barely wear your backpack and still fit through. We headed out to the exact opposite corner of Tucson for more 'crete on stop #2 buried in the Cortaro Farms area. Rolling up, I thought FOR SURE I was gonna rip here as the Louisville snake run is an excellent primer for this place. But, as we all know, I SUCK! This park was so SMOOOOTH. The problem was that it was about 4-5 feet high with 4-5 transitions. Not a mellow spot in the place. I feel spending a few hours there, Concretins could have it wired and start ripping it, but I was already really wasted, and getting worse as the day progressed. The sun was beatin' down, and up from the polished 'crete. I thought someone had actually heard about the tour, but when Isaiah rolled up, he didn't seem to realize it was the Concretin Skate Tour. He was rippin' and had obviously had skated there a time or two. I introduced Isaiah to Lil' Tony and perhaps he'll check out the blog-feel free to leave a comment or two Isaiah! I felt like a complete idiot, in full pads, bailing e v e r y t h i n g. I couldn't even draw a carve line. WhattaLoser. He also told me I should have hit the YMCA pay park as it has pools and real transition. Damn. Though I did finally hit a few nollie disasters which made me feel like I could stick 'em in the 8' bowl back home. Hmmm... Anyway... the tour was fun as I got to skate new 'crete, but it sucked, 'cause I suck and just couldn't adapt fast enough. Skating alone also makes it hard to pysch up for rippage.
The skate tour portion of the trip was over. I was crusty with salt in my hair and boy did I reek. I got cleaned up as Alice treated her sunburn where she apparently missed with the sunscreen. We went shopping with Robert, and had dinner at Oregeno's. Actually we had a few bites, as the food there was HUGE. And damn was it good! (It made a nice lunch before we headed to the airport on Thursday.) We also learned our waitress was headed to New Zealand in a few weeks. Very cool and we traded short versions of our trip there. More shopping and then off to two casinos to give them $60 in the nickel slots. No roulette tables? Whatta jip. That was it for Wednesday and Thursday was just a short stop at a few artsy fartsy shops and then to the airport for the trip home. A young nice-legged cutie traded seats with Alice so we could sit together to Houston. (For some stupid reason, Continental doesn't automatically put seats together, even if they're reserved at the same time, and checked in at the same time. Duh.) The flight from Houston was AWFUL. Alice had already started feeling bad that morning, and then I went down hill when they seemingly couldn't regulate the cabin pressure (it was a little bitty plane, just 3 seats across). My ears popped, pressurized and popped again, about 15 times as we approached Louisville. OW. Finally, we hit the ground and we were happy to be home again. Though now on Friday, we're both sick with head colds!? How does that happen? But anyway... we're back. And I'm ready to rip up my home 'crete.
We hung out with Roberto and he took us to dinner and mini-golf. Lil' Tony made a few appearances and we called it a night soon after. Tuesday included a visit to the St. Xavier Mission. I got some good footage of the gorgeous artwork throughout the church, but didn't get any full photos as half the building was covered in scaffolding for restoration. We then headed east to Collossal Caves for an underground tour. Pretty cool and I got some great photos of the desert foliage (catcti). Driving on the east side we were constantly going by the airplane "storage" yards and grave yards. I'd love to get inside and just take pictures and footage all day. It was amazing to see hundreds and hundreds of planes lined up, waiting for a reason to fly. Creepy and so cool at the same time. We headed back to base to change clothes and choose a fancy restaurant for dinner. BistroZin. EXCELLENT grub! Fairly fancy and great atmosphere. New Zealand wine even. Fairly appropriate for our anniversary don't you think? It was amusing when the waiter waited for me to sniff and swish the wine - only 2 years old and a twist off cap? I think not. Just pour. But potent was the vintage as Alice was giggly all evening after a glass and a half. (I'm ordering a case when we get home!)
Wednesday was Concretins Skate Tour day. We first hit the Rita skatepark. Easily found and fairly small. I thought for sure I was gonna rip here as Kyle's ramp was an excellent primer for this place. This place was low and looked like it would be easy to wire. BUT, as we all know, I SUCK! The transitions were also lumpy, but I should be able to adapt better than this. I even had to psych myself up for a bank rail that was maybe 8" high. BUT I did make it multiple times with only one slide out to ass on the flat. The 'crete was polished smooth and slippery. And someone forgot to tell everyone that Lil' Tony and a Concretin were coming because NO ONE showed. I had the entire park to myself the entire time. Which was ok really, because I was embarassingly sucking. My "date-for-life" camerawoman put up with my lameness and filmed in the hot unforgiving sun. The rail was really the only thing I landed worth mentioning. I also took note of their gate - VERY anti bike as you can barely wear your backpack and still fit through. We headed out to the exact opposite corner of Tucson for more 'crete on stop #2 buried in the Cortaro Farms area. Rolling up, I thought FOR SURE I was gonna rip here as the Louisville snake run is an excellent primer for this place. But, as we all know, I SUCK! This park was so SMOOOOTH. The problem was that it was about 4-5 feet high with 4-5 transitions. Not a mellow spot in the place. I feel spending a few hours there, Concretins could have it wired and start ripping it, but I was already really wasted, and getting worse as the day progressed. The sun was beatin' down, and up from the polished 'crete. I thought someone had actually heard about the tour, but when Isaiah rolled up, he didn't seem to realize it was the Concretin Skate Tour. He was rippin' and had obviously had skated there a time or two. I introduced Isaiah to Lil' Tony and perhaps he'll check out the blog-feel free to leave a comment or two Isaiah! I felt like a complete idiot, in full pads, bailing e v e r y t h i n g. I couldn't even draw a carve line. WhattaLoser. He also told me I should have hit the YMCA pay park as it has pools and real transition. Damn. Though I did finally hit a few nollie disasters which made me feel like I could stick 'em in the 8' bowl back home. Hmmm... Anyway... the tour was fun as I got to skate new 'crete, but it sucked, 'cause I suck and just couldn't adapt fast enough. Skating alone also makes it hard to pysch up for rippage.
The skate tour portion of the trip was over. I was crusty with salt in my hair and boy did I reek. I got cleaned up as Alice treated her sunburn where she apparently missed with the sunscreen. We went shopping with Robert, and had dinner at Oregeno's. Actually we had a few bites, as the food there was HUGE. And damn was it good! (It made a nice lunch before we headed to the airport on Thursday.) We also learned our waitress was headed to New Zealand in a few weeks. Very cool and we traded short versions of our trip there. More shopping and then off to two casinos to give them $60 in the nickel slots. No roulette tables? Whatta jip. That was it for Wednesday and Thursday was just a short stop at a few artsy fartsy shops and then to the airport for the trip home. A young nice-legged cutie traded seats with Alice so we could sit together to Houston. (For some stupid reason, Continental doesn't automatically put seats together, even if they're reserved at the same time, and checked in at the same time. Duh.) The flight from Houston was AWFUL. Alice had already started feeling bad that morning, and then I went down hill when they seemingly couldn't regulate the cabin pressure (it was a little bitty plane, just 3 seats across). My ears popped, pressurized and popped again, about 15 times as we approached Louisville. OW. Finally, we hit the ground and we were happy to be home again. Though now on Friday, we're both sick with head colds!? How does that happen? But anyway... we're back. And I'm ready to rip up my home 'crete.
posted by Nikoli @ 7:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home