In those parts, Scottsdale Road turns into Tom Darlington (not the only cute name in the town check out some of the other street signs, but only if you're a passenger we're not trying to get anyone killed here) and you'll turn left (west) on Cave Creek Road from Darlington. That takes you through the picturesque home of some pretty good junk shops, as well as the Satisfied Frog brew pub and a number of biker bars (again, we're not telling you to get a beer just sharing the info) and then, outside that town, you'll hit a nice expanse of desert. Keep driving and, eventually, you'll hit the outskirts of Sunnyslope, then central Phoenix, when Cave Creek runs right into Seventh Street. It's a half-loop you don't hear much about in these days of new freeways, and it might not be the quickest way to get to your destination (and maybe not the best bet if you actually have a destination in mind) but it'll show you a part of the city we bet you haven't seen. And consarn it, Tombstone has gotten tortuously tired. Frankly, if you're looking for a peaceful and scenic destination for a one-day vacation outside of the Valley, we recommend taking a road trip to Fossil Springs Canyon. Go north on Interstate 17 for 85 miles until you hit Camp Verde, and go 10 miles east on state highway 260 (a.k.a. Sandra Ann Lauer was born in the German town of Saarbrücken, close to the French border.The General Crook Trail) until you reach Forest Road 708. Her father, Robert Lauer, who owned a wine store in Saarbrücken, is French and her mother, Karin ( née Eltern), who worked in a shoe store, is German. She also had an older brother, Gaston, a paraplegic who died in 1995. Sandra showed an early interest in music and dancing, starting to learn classical ballet at the age of 5, which she would continue for ten years, and receiving guitar lessons when she was 10 years old. In 1975, at the age of thirteen, Sandra went with her mother to see Young Star Festival, a Saarbrücken talent competition. She was only a member of the audience, but when all participants had finished performing and the jury was discussing the results, Sandra walked onto the stage, persuaded the DJ to put on the German version of a song made famous by Olivia Newton-John and started singing. The impromptu performance gained considerable recognition and led to the release of her first single, which was a children's song about a pet dog, 'Andy mein Freund'. The single, however, performed poorly on charts at that time dominated by disco mania. Sandra won international success in 1985 with a song '(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena', which topped the charts in 21 countries worldwide and reached top 10 in further five. Her first album, The Long Play (1985), reached number 12 in her home country of Germany and was a top 10 success in Scandinavia. The follow-up single, 'In the Heat of the Night', continued her international success, reaching number two in Germany and top 10 positions in many European countries.
The song also earned Sandra second place at the Tokyo Music Festival in 1986. 'Little Girl' became the third single from the album in 1986, with the music video filmed in Venice, but met with moderate success. Shortly after the release of The Long Play, Sandra moved to London for six months, where she worked with singing instructor Helena Shelen and took drumming lessons to practice her timing. She also joined a language school, where she worked on her English skills, while she spent weekends in Munich recording new songs.
Sandra and Michael married in January 1988 and relocated from Munich to the Spanish island Ibiza to work on what would be Sandra's third studio album. Into a Secret Land moved from electro-pop to more sophisticated areas of pop, what was showcased by the first single, 'Heaven Can Wait', a top 20 European hit.