AZ Monday

Here is the photo journal of another very cool day in Arizona. The day began driving north on rt 89A out of Sedona through the red rocks. Kate and I stopped off at a couple of overlooks to take some pictures. Fire danger: It is Arizona, isn't it always high? The next few pictures were taken just prior to the last leg of the approach to Flagstaff. They are in an area near Oak Creek Canyon. Just prior to this I stop off I think I may have killed a squirrel with the car, which was a sad point to an otherwise nice day. After driving through Flagstaff quickly we drove to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument which was very cool. In the first picture below you can see one of several volcanoes which erupted approximately 1000 years ago. We hiked up one of the peaks and this is the view from the top. The entire trail was like walking on black beach sand, and it was very steep. It was a short but tough hike, and the dust was easily inhaled which had me clearing my throat a few times. A nice couple visiting from New Hampshire was kind enough to snap our picture.Below you can see an old lava flow. Very cool.Following a couple of nice hikes in this park, and some impressive scenic overviews we exited this park. Our journey took us through some incredible expanses of mint green scrub brush juxtaposed on the reddish gray earth that comprised a rolling plateau. It was only several miles along the road and we entered yet another park called Wupatki National Monument. This was a series of pueblo dwellings set on yet more amazing landscape. Various guides were posted at each stop and were very informative. The most striking fact about these dwellings is that the Anasazi chose to live here in the absence of rivers or streams. The water that they had was collected run off, or transported from the distant valley. These dwellings are up to 1000 years old. This was probably one of our favorite attractions that we visited during the trip.

After leaving the park we headed back to Flagstaff, but our day was not yet over. We checked into our hotel and after some wrangling over our options decided to go to the Galaxy diner, a tacky Rt. 66 establishment where we had greasy food and an attentive teenage waitress. It was everything we were hoping for. I had meatloaf (the first meatloaf I've ever eaten.... weird eh?) and Kate had fried chicken with gravy. It hit the spot. We wandered around downtown Flagstaff which is a great college town with lots of character. We both really liked Flagstaff quite a bit, and as Kate suggested, maybe it was that something about the town just seems a little like home, it is familiar, comfortable. Kate has some pictures of the very old fashioned looking establishments which I'll post if she sends them my way.

To close out the evening Kate suggested the Lowell Observatory. This was a spectacular close to the evening. We drove minutes outside of downtown Flagstaff up a steep hill. Before we knew it we were snaking up a ledge in the car. We passed one stop off where you could see all of the grid of lights making up the city below. Several parked cars indicated that it was likely a favorite place to chill out, be it teenagers with raging hormones, or tourists coming back from the observatory. When we got to the observatory we watched a brief film in the visitors center and then headed out to look at several items through different telescopes. There was an air of excitement about the night. The air was crisp, chilly, and the sparsely lit grounds seemed to give everyone the impression that they were on an adventure. We looked at the moon, a couple of nebula, and Jupiter through the telescope. Prior to leaving we spent a little more time in the museum in the visitors center.

It was a little sad to face the end of such a great day, but it had been a very full day, and we were eager to get some rest.