A Look Back at 2009

As 2009 winds to a close we take a moment to look back in reflection on what this year has been. In his first year of existence Army the Armadillo traveled an estimated 27,653 miles that took him all over the United States, including Hawaii, Philadelphia, Arizona, San Francisco, a MoTab Choir Tour, a Pacific Cruise and so many more beautiful and serine locations. The Blog was pretty successful as well as it was visited nearly 700 times by friends wanting to read one of the 11 blogs posted throughout the year. The whole adventure has brought a new dynamic to vacationing at Missionary Medical and Army is excited for the upcoming year and the places it will take him.

To begin 2010 Army will be going international as he visits the Panama Canal with Jennifer. Army also has a trip planned back home to San Antonio, TX with Nicco in February. One thing that Army has asked for is the opportunity to meet some famous people in his travels. He is excited and looks forward to many Road Trips, Flights, and Cruises with the great people of Missionary Medical. Here is to 35,000 Miles in 2010.

Queek Creek, Arizona

Courtney recently drove for 24 hours in an 84 hour vacation (can you say CRAZY!) to Queen Creek, Arizona to support some friends of hers at a baby blessing. Along the way Courtney decided to take a few dam pictures (Caution: if you were just offended by that pun, you may not want to read on as there will be a few dam puns throughout this posting, as Hoover Dam also plays off the "dam" pun humor). As Courtney was about to take this picture traffic was at a stand still. She got out to take the picture, and when she turned around to get back in the car the dam traffic had picked up and Courtney had to run across Hoover Dam to catch up with Curtis.

The trip actually started from Syracuse, UT and moved speedily down to Las Vegas, NV where Courtney didn't even spend a penny on gambling. Good Job Courtney! She did manage however, to take a picture of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. The Stratosphere boasts the title of being the Tallest Freestanding Observation tower in the United States. It also has claim to the three highest roller coaster thrill rides in the world. Big Shot (1081 ft.) Insanity (900 ft.) & X-Scream (866 ft.).

The next eventful stop was just outside of Lake Mead at the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam weighs 6.6 million tons, which is the equivelent of 13.2 billion lbs. It produces over 2000 megawatts of energy with it's 17 dam generators, and provides water to over 25 million people by storing up to 9.2 trillion gallons of dam water. It is now the 18th largest dam in the world, though at one time it was the largest dam. It was also the first structure to contain more masonry than the Great Pyramid at Giza. The first death of the Hoover Dam Project was JG Tierney in 1922, exactly 13 years later to the day, his son was the last person to die by falling from an intake tower.

The Hoover Dam is currently constructing a bridge that will end up taking the traffic off of the dam, and moving it over to a bridge opposite the Lake Mead side. Courtney and Curtis may have been the last people from our office that were able to brave the dam traffic of Hoover Dam. Though it would have been fun to stop and take a dam tour, or a dam helicopter ride, they kept on driving straight through to Queens Creek, AZ.

This is an 8 foot mural in the home of Courtney's friend. It was painted by Courtney's friends brother-in-law (did you follow that?) and given to Courtney's friend as a gift. Notice that Army is posing in the bottom right corner of the picture. After Courtis and Curtney arrived in Arizona they helped their move from a city outside of Mesa, to Queens Creek. Then they attended the baby blessing and then drove back home. Not exactly your typical relaxing vacation, but one valuable lesson is learned. If any of us happen to move 12 hours away, and then need to move again, you can always ask The Larsen's to help out.

San Francisco, 2009

Golden Gate Bridge Facts - The Golden Gate Bridge's paint color is orange vermillion, also called international orange. Architect Irving Morrow selected the color because it blends with the bridge's setting
The bridge was fully painted when it was first built and then touched up for the next 27 years. In 1965, the original paint was removed because of corrosion and replaced with a inorganic zinc silicate primer and an acrylic emulsion top coat, a project that took 30 years. Today, painters touch up the paint continuously.
38 painters work on the bridge, along with 17 ironworkers who replace corroding steel and rivets.

One of the most interesting Golden Gate Bridge facts is that only eleven workers died during construction, a new safety record for the time. In the 1930s, bridge builders expected 1 fatality per $1 million in construction costs, and builders expected 35 people to die while building the Golden Gate Bridge. One of the bridge's safety innovations was a net suspended under the floor. This net saved the lives of 19 men during construction, and they are often called the members of the "Half Way to Hell Club."

Total length: Including approaches, 1.7 miles (8,981 feet or 2,737 m).
Middle span: 4,200 feet (1,966 m).
Width: 90 feet (27 m).
Clearance above the high water (average): 220 feet (67 m).
Total weight when built: 894,500 tons (811,500,000 kg).
Total weight today: 887,000 tons (804,700,000 kg). Weight reduced because of new decking material.
Towers: 746 feet (227 m) above the water. 500 feet (152 m) above the roadway. Each leg is 33 x 54 feet (10 x 16 m). Towers weigh 44,000 tons each (40,200,000 kg). There are about 600,000 rivets in EACH tower.

Lombard Street

Lombard Street is one of San Francisco’s most enjoyable attractions. Lovingly referred to as "The Crookedest Street in the World," it's actually crooked for a very good reason. It’s unbelievably steep! If not for the serpentine curves taming this treacherous slope, people would likely be killed rolling down. This stretch between Hyde St. and Leavenworth St. was built in the mid-1920s to accommodate the steepness of the slope.
Lombard Street is "The Crookedest Street", because of its eight sharp turns on a 40-degree slope. But it continues in both directions, going all the way east, up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, and continuing west down through the Marina, where it becomes the major conduit to the Golden Gate Bridge. A walk in either direction makes for a pleasant hike.

Some of the classiest and most expensive Real Estate in the city exists on Lombard Street. This Russian Hill neighborhood, somehow possesses stately mansions, condos and townhouses, even with the endless array of tourists pouring down the street every day. In the spring and through the entire summer, Lombard Street is alive with color, as the chrysanthemums, and other well tended flowers are in full bloom.

San Francisco Skyline

San Francisco has 215 historic landmark buildings, ten historical districts and 14,000 Victorian homes. From Alamo Square, the city skyline is a modern contrast to Victorian "postcard row."

Just found a little story about Army's cousin, this proves that we are in elite company with carrying around an Armadillo purse on our vacations. I don't know if this is true, but take it for what it is worth. http://tinyurl.com/y9tgvse

Washington DC

I got to go to Washington DC with Stephanie and Amy Lincoln. It was short, but fun trip. We pack a lot of stuff into 2 1/2 days.




My new friend Aidan Larson.
Aidan is a cute little guy, who is a lot of fun to hang out with. Here we are waiting for our flight to take off.

Thursday after we got to DC - Amy and Stephanie took me on a twilight tour of the monuments. It was great. This is our tour guide Mel. He sure knew alot about Washington DC. His dad is even burried in Arlington National Cemetary.









This is Stephanie and I hanging out with FDR - he was the 32nd President of the US and in a wheelchair due to polio.

On Friday we went to the Washington DC temple. I stayed in the car while the girls went to a sealing for their cousin. Afterwards - we totally met the President and Sister Belliston from the Baltimore Maryland mission. They were so excited to meet people from Missionary Medical. Sister Belliston even apologized for calling so much. We assured her, it was not a problem. We are always happy to help!

There was also a group of elders from the Baltimore Maryland mission. See those big healthy smiles.

On Saturday we went to Mount Vernon. This is the plantation home where George and Martha Washington lived. In case you did not know - George Washington was the 1st president of the United States. When he lived at Mount Vernon, there where 8,000 acres. He gave most of it away in his will. The George Washington Ladies club has been able to purschase 500 acres back. It is still a working farm with orchards. If you can not tell from this picture - Stephanie does not like to smile for pictures....silly girl.

This is Stephanie and I with the Washington's. George and Martha and their grandchild Washy and Nelly. (Washy is a nick name)

On Sunday before we left to fly home, I got to with Stephanie to visit with a friend of hers frm her mission. This is Matt Anderson - he is lives in DC. He was not very excited about having his picture taken with me, but when Stephanie explained the importance of it - he humored her.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Tour

From the crossroads of the West, we welcome you to a blog about inspirational music and Army’s spoken word. The 2009 MoTab Choir Tour began with a visit to Cincinnati, Ohio. Army was most excited to visit Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals. While there the Cincinnati Enquirer announced in a publication that “Nothing prepares you for the expressive power of the choir heard live”, and Army would have to agree.
The next stop on the trip was to Missouri. For the first time in 51 years, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir preformed in St. Louis, and according to stltoday.com, “left everyone smiling”. Army celebrated this successful l concert with a picture of himself in front of the famed Gateway Arch.
From St Louis we headed North to visit the Nauvoo Temple, and other church sites. Here is a picture of Army by a statue of Joseph Smith. Then we made our way over to Des Moines, Iowa for a concert at the Wells Fargo Arena.
The MoTab’s next stop was on to Norman, Oklahoma to sing for the first time in over 40 years. Then down to Kansas City, Missouri. One of the fun sites Army visited was the Missouri River. Army was kind enough to get out his camera and take this picture of a line of the 11 busses that were used to haul the MTC all over the country.
One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to RED ROCK’s in Denver. Red Rocks is a fabulous amphitheater in Denver with a beautiful backdrop of big red rocks, similar to Tuacan in St. George, but much bigger. President Monson paid a visit to let us know that he was supporting the choir in all of our endeavors. Unfortunately, Security stopped Leslee from getting Army in a picture with President Monson.

Fish Lake, Utah with Ragena

Hi, it is me, Army again, with my latest adventure. I just returned from a trip to Fish Lake, Utah over Memorial Day. I went for the fishing and the atmosphere. I wish I had a nice boat, but this is what I was stuck with. Oh well, I decided to try and make the best of it.

Look at this fish. Ragena’s husband caught it. It is a Lake Trout, 37 inches long and 21 pounds. ( For all you "Fact lovers" out there, you will be interested to know that 37 inches is just one inch smaller than the stack of papers on Phil's Desk, and 21 lbs is the exact amount of birthday cake served to the March birthdays).

The Fish is as big as the 3 year old holding me. But he wasn't the only one with success. Though it rained a lot while we were there (which is a little foreign to me as I am more used to the desert conditions where I was raised). We only had a few hours to get in some good fishing, but hey this is not too bad for a couple of hours of fishing. The kids caught these fish , one of them on his Tigger pole. They were so excited.

Leslee Bingham and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir are going to be departing tomorrow for the Tour of a lifetime. They will be visiting several major cities through the midwest. Go MO TAB!