BRich

Seconding the two suggestions I saw for Sedona.

Back in 2024, for my 25 years of service my company had a little party and gave me a nice check (including a big fake one for fun) to be used EXPRESSLY for a getaway weekend with my wife. We decided to go back to Sedona (had been there once years before in 2007 with the kids on a family vacation).

Glad we did. She and I a very fun three-night stay at a Hilton resort; walked a lot of trails and saw some beautiful country, top-notch dining opportunities. Great place for couples.

Flew in and out of Phoenix, rented a car, it's about a 2 hr drive to Sedona.

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whoa you saw badlands on its original release?? at a drive in yet??

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Yep, at the old Westgate Drive-in on the Kenner/Metairie line. It would have been right before I turned 9 years old.

I remember watching Badlands all the way through from the back seat and understanding it, even thinking it odd how Sissy Spacek's character at the end said she married her lawyer's son.

When Two Lane Blacktop came on, I remember during the opening credits my mom and then-stepfather were amused/perplexed at how no character had an actual name, as in "Laurie Bird as The Girl".

Around then my sister and I tried to lay down in the back seat and go to sleep, but I remember we left right after I heard James Taylor use the term "m-fer" early in the film. That bad language stood out to me.

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Two-Lane Blacktop

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There was a thread about movie posters a few months ago, and I mentioned that Two Lane Blacktop was part of a drive-in double feature my family attended back around 1973 (with Terence Malick's Badlands). I did not see it because it was the 2nd movie, it was late, and my sister and I were little kids so my family went home.

After reading more about it, I was intrigued and needed to see it. After looking for awhile for a place to buy or rent it, I finally found a way to stream it for free (had to hook up my laptop to the HDTV, but it worked fine).

Glad I did. It's a rather strange movie, kind of a nihilist existential story about two guys who just drive around and make money on drag racing bets. They encounter and pick up a girl and meet a competitor who becomes more like a friend (Warren Oates, who interestingly was also in Badlands; I guess it was sort of a Warren Oates double feature that night).

It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I think it is worth a try.

The link to watch the movie for free:
Two Lane Blacktop full movie

It is apparently a Russian website, but I watched it and had no issues. Video quality is great when projected on a big screen TV.

Also, Rob Zombie wrote a song based on the movie, some of the lyrics are actual lines from the movie, the rest of the lyrics describe scenes from the movie. Someone made an unofficial video using nothing but scenes from the movie (which is done very well). Here is the the video on Youtube:

Saw it a few years ago after I heard a little about it and found out it wasn't a documentary style movie like Pumping Iron, but a real movie.

Enjoyed the heck out of it. VERY 70s, very southern, and very entertaining. And as mentioned, it kind of goes crazy at the end, but that's what makes it so much fun.

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Don't know when this photo was taken, guessing around 1970, but these women look like friends moms I grew up with (same hairdos). Some of the same hairdos survived through mid 80's with a lot of these moms. My wife's mom was sporting this look when I first met her parents back in 1982.

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According to a Google Lens search and several sources, this was 1966, which seems about right.

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One day the Saints will do the same.
That's what Democrat leadership gets you.

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Thankfully, the Saints lease is with the Louisiana Superdome, a state-owned (not city-owned) facility. And their training facility and office/headquarters have pretty much always been out in suburban Metairie, in a different jursdiction.

About the only thing the City of New Orleans has to do with the Saints is NOPD traffic control on game days.

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2. A good friend marks his ball using his putter. Just moves his ball out of the way the entire length of his putter.

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I do that, too! Lay the club down 90 degrees from an imaginary line from the ball to the hole. put the ball at the end. When it is clear for me to putt, put it back in reverse.

Leaves the ball mark are completely free of coin, ball mark, tee, whatever is used to mark the spot.

My only two quirks/superstitions:

1. I always use a tee on par 3s, but never my own and never a full one. I have to find and use a broken tee on the tee box (I only tee it up a centimeter or two anyway).

2. If someone else sinks a putt before mine, I don't want them to pull their ball out of the hole before I putt. I once heard it's good luck to leave it in; your ball will want to follow the previous one "home" into the hole. Silly, I know.

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Are you going up to Jasper?

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Apparently not; I think our itinerary is pretty filled with just Banff area stuff.

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Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd always creeped me out when I was younger.

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It's good that they creeped you out; they were quite gay (movie and book).