Our 2007 Vacation to the Grand Canyon - Flagstaff
Pheonix Arizona
(15 June 2007)
When we get off the plane in Phoenix, it's a sizzling 114° outside! We make
our way to the terminal and start looking for someone we know... Mom, Chris,
Kristal, Danny, Katelyn... Nick spots Mom and Kristal and the kids and they
point out Chris standing in the rental car line. He's getting a minivan and
we're getting a Dodge Charger. They even wanted to "give" us the suped up Dodge
Daytona version. When they tell us the only color they have is that putrid,
excuse me, 'high impact'
chartreuse racing green color, and for only $12.95 more per day, we say
NO thank you! We did manage to find a R/T in a
nice subdued red/maroon color though.
Once we get the vehicle situation squared away, we decide to get on the road to Flagstaff, looking for a place to stop and grab some lunch near the outskirts of Phoenix. We are seeing more and more cacti and fewer and fewer places to stop when we come to a huge interchange and see what looks like a mall, and other shops, so we jump off the highway looking for something different. We end up at the Deer Valley Towne Center and a Claim Jumper Restaraunt on the way out of Phoenix to Flagstaff.
It turns out to be a pretty cool place, and the kids are having fun exploring, when they find the apples and decide to take a few. Thankfully the appetizers arrive by then and the kids sit down at the table. Not long after that our food arrives and we chow down. A few margaritas and a dessert later, we settle the tab and we're on the road again, back on I-17 north to Flagstaff.
Chris and I have some fun hauling @$$ and pacing each other up the mountains, at least as much @$$ hauling as you can do up 6% grades with a V6. That is, until we keep getting stuck behind semi trucks doing 15MPH in BOTH LANES! Unfortunately, this isn't like the West Virginia turnpike with truck lanes for the lumbering beasts. We quickly learn to hold our lanes and plan ahead. Eventually we finish the climb from about eleven hundred feet above sea level to over seven thousand. Once it levels out it's pretty much smooth sailing on into Flagstaff.
Our adventure really begins...
In a little over two hours we're in Flagstaff, looking for the resort. After a stop at the office, we have our keys and head to the unit. Nice place, two story loft setup, and just enough room for all of us. Ann, Nick and I take the master bedroom for the first couple of days until we leave for Williams and our Grand Canyon Railway adventure. Chris and his family take the loft and Mom sleeps on the couch.
The clubhouse is right across the street from our place, convenient. We wander over to see what's there. Out front, there is a playground and parking lot. Out back, the pool looks inviting, even though the temperatures are much more reasonable here than Phoenix. Inside they have computers, a coffee bar with snacks and a dining area, as well as towels for the pool and other sundries. We check our email and bank balances on the provided computers and head back to the loft. Chris and the kids brought their own laptop computers, and even though the WiFi reception was fringe at best, the kids were pretty much glued to them. That is, until they found they could turn on the fireplace at the touch of a button! Kids will be kids I guess... and I'm one to talk.
We're tired from the long trip here, but eventually we all get settled in. We're still getting used to the altitude and taking it easy for now. The kids discover the hot tub and we decide to join them. I think we used up all the beach towels in the place by the time we were done! Then we discover how big the patio deck is and how wonderful it is to just sit back and relax and take in the view. It doesn't take us long to realize it would be even better with a cold beer in our hands. So we head into town searching for a nice place to eat, not that we're hungry after that huge lunch in Phoenix, but we want to know what's close and aren't having much luck. While we're out, we spy an Albertsons grocery store, and stop to pick up some food and snacks for the next few days (along with some beer and margarita fixin's).
We spend pretty much the rest of the evening on the patio deck, drinking and discussing and star gazing, thanks to Chris' PDANet connection to the laptop and Sky & Telescope Interactive Sky Chart. We watch satellites fly by, falling stars streak past, even a pair of satellites that "chase" one another. One by one we succumb to the day's events and retire for the night.
(16 June 2007)
The next morning, Ann, Nick and I decide to go explore a bit around the area
while we wait on everyone to get motivated. We finally get moving before
lunchtime and head for downtown Flagstaff. We park at the
Flagstaff Visitors Center, cleverly disguised as the
train depot, and walk the downtown circuit. It's maybe a couple blocks down,
a block or two across, and a couple blocks back. Ann finds a really nice trinket
at Mountain Sports in downtown Flagstaff, so I buy it for her. I think it was a
beautiful opal ring, can't remember for sure, but I still have the receipt...
We can tell Mom is getting tired, so we sit down for an iced coffee and regain
some strength. We hit a few more shops on the way back to the depot, then
watch the trains go by for awhile, and head back to the resort.
We stop at the Albertsons on the way back to the resort to pick up some goodies... Ann and Nick cook a grand meal for supper. Can't remember what it was, but it was good. We all are able to sit down at the giant dining room table, once we manage to get the kids pried away from the computers that is.
(17 June 2007)
The next day we visit the
Riordan Mansion, built in 1904 by Timothy and Michael Riordan, lumber baron
brothers who helped to build what was then the Arizona Territory - not yet a
state. They married two sisters, Caroline and Elizabeth Metz, and decided they
wanted to build a house together. They met Charles Whittlesey, the architect for
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, then designing the
El Tovar Hotel on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where we will be
staying in two days. They asked him to design their home, or rather homes, as it
is a pseudo duplex design - Two houses joined by a common family room. Really a
neat place and I'm drooling at all the wordwork. We're supposed to go to the
Lowell Observatory and Meteor Crater when we get back, but no one's motivated.
We wait the rest of the day, but no one wants to do anything. Later, towards
evening, Chris and Katelyn disappear without telling me they're going to the
crater. I'm really bummed, and by now Ann's ready to be in for the night, so she
doesn't want to go anywhere either. I'm so glad we leave for Williams tomorrow.
(18 June 2007)
This morning we're up early and out to the vegetable market and radio shack for
a new memory card for Nick's camera since the one he has is already full. Now
where those pictures ended up, I'm not sure, and I think I'm missing some of my
own as well. I'm also thinking they were accidently deleted along the way
somewhere... someday I may just find them, but for now, posting the ones I have
takes precedence.
