Going To Flagstaff, or Who Says It Never Rains In Arizona???

We started out from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon this morning around 8:00 a.m. The sun was shining, so bright I had to wear shades:



Going across Marble Canyon, the sun was still out, but we could see the clouds building up as we went along:



When we turned towards Flagstaff on Highway 89, the coulds started looking dark, heavy, and omnious:




The farther we went, the darker the clouds got. We could tell it was going to rain soon:



When we got to Gap, Arizona, we could see the rain falling from the sky across the desert:



And when we stopped for a potty break, the bottom fell out while we were in the store:


It rained on us almost all the rest of the way to Flagstaff, and has continued to rain all afternoon and most of the evening. Who said it never rains in Arizona???

Flagstaff, Arizona

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a drive, and that is just what we did. It was 143 miles from Cactus Ranch to J & H RV Park in Flagstaff. The trip was pretty much uneventful. The sky was so blue, with puffy white clouds. This is the first view of the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff from I-17.




We pulled into J & H RV Park around 1:30 p.m. and set up the trailer. We had forgotten about the higher elevation of the area--it's around 7,000 feet. By the time we got done, we were worn out, huffing and puffing. This is the same park we stayed in last year when we were on our way up to the canyon. We like it because the sites are very level pull-throughs, and it is pretty. However, is is $40 a night. That's us, in the trailer between two motor homes.



The sunset yesterday was beautiful, again. This is looking out toward the San Franciso Peaks:




Today was a busy day. It started out with breakfast at our favorite Flagstaff restaurant, Miz Zips. They serve breakfast all day for a pretty good price, and their coffee is good. I like places that will serve me eggs any time I want them. It's just not right not to. It always seems like a penalty to me for sleeping late when a restaurant closed up the egg carton at 10 a.m. Anyway, Miz Zips is on Route 66, that famous highway. I just like the idea of eating my eggs on Route 66.

After breakfast, I got a haircut, a manicure, and a pedicure. The girl did a good job on my hair. she only took off about a half inch, and cut some bangs. I had wanted to just let it grow all one length, but the front was growing funny, with just a little bit that was too long to be bangs, but too short to stay back with a hair band. So, I went ahead and cut the bangs, "fringe" to my English daughter-in-law. It looks ok. Keep in mind it was a windy day and I let it air dry instead of using a blow dryer on it, and I didn't have a brush in the truck:



After all that was done, we went to the game store for Fabgrandpa, and to Joann Fabrics for me. You know I had to get my fabric fix. I got five coordinating prints in chocolate browns, teal blues and creams, for a project I want to work on. Can't wait to get started on it.

Next, we went to Wal-Mart for a stock up of toiletris, paper goods, and part of the grocery list. It took quite a while, but we did get about half of the planned shopping done today. Then we went home and unloaded the truck and put everything away, ate some lunch, and took a nap. A looonnng nap.


When I woke up, I offered to take FabGrandpa out to dinner, so he suggested the Swadhe Thai Restaurant in the old town part of Flagstaff. Yum! I am ready for thai food anytime. I ordered Woon Sen Soup and Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice. The soup had those clear bean thread noodles, chicken, and bok choy, and was delish. And what can I say about the fried rice except, if you have never had it, you do need to try it.



He ordered Won Ton Soup and Spicy Seafood Fried Rice. The waiter asked him "How spicy do you want your rice?" They have from 1 to 5 on the spicy side, so he ordered "3". It was so hot it made his whole head turn red, and it had squid-y, octopi looking things in it, along with the shrimp and scallops. I told him to never order "seafood" in a Asian or Italian place, you just never know what you are going to get. He ate it though, and said it was good.


Here is the sunset we saw when we walked outside to go home:


Tomorrow, there's more shopping to do. The last time we did a big shopping trip for groceries was on February 27, so it is about time.

Ah, Flagstaff!

And so it came to pass that we left the North Rim and went down to Flagstaff. I had a loose plan of what I wanted to accomplish on our first day there, which included getting my hair cut and getting a pedicure and a manicure. Not such big and impressive plans that they could not be accomplished, right? Wrong.

It could have just been that I was having an incredibly bad day (Or I was just cranky). The trip from the North Rim to Flagstaff is only 200 miles. It only took about five hours, including stopping for breakfast one last time at Jacob Lake, which was quite delicious. But as soon as entered the Flagstaff city limits, everything changed. At least for ME it did, but maybe Flagstaff is just a more laid back kind of town so that it was business as usual for the people there.

We arrived at Greer’s Pine Shadows RV Park, and I went to the office to register, but though the door was open, no one was in the office. I waited. And waited. And waited some more. After about a half an hour the office dude sauntered up with his dog, and said, “Can I help you?”

We finally got checked in and and went to our site to set up the trailer. But right next to where we were to park, they were working on the road with one of those hole digging machines. It was so loud that we could not hear each other talk, which is a detriment to setting up a travel trailer. After about two hours, we finally got things in order and went to town in search of hairdo and nail places.

While FabGrandpa went to Gamestop, I went into the nail shop down the sidewalk. When I walked in, no one said hello, no one said “we’ll be with you in a minute.” I sat down and waited for ten minutes. Then I walked to the back of the shop where the nail people were doing pedicures for other people and said “Excuse me, can you tell me how long it will be?” And they said, about thirty minutes. I said I would come back.

I left and went next door to the hairdo place. When I walked in at least they said hello. The girl behind the counter asked me what I needed, and I said I would like to get a haircut. She said it would be about fifteen minutes. So, I sat down and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, after about thirty minutes, the girl said she was ready to take me back. And THEN, her co-worker said, “Oh, can you rinse my color for me before you take her?”

So, the girl who was supposed to cut my hair tried to rinse that guy’s hair right off his head. I know this because after about ten minutes, she was still rinsing him. And I walked out of the shop. But by that time, I was fuming mad that I had to wait, and I kept seeing THIS in my head, and I decided it would be better to wait until the next day to get a haircut than to risk having that, or worse, happen again.

Yeah, it could have been worse, but I have not had a haircut since July. My days off were Sunday and Monday, and everyone knows that the hairdo shops are closed on Sunday and Monday. I am not a very frou frou kind of girl, but I am a little picky about my hair. I was READY for a haircut. Now, I am thinking I may just let it grow out long. Maybe.

So what DID I accomplish on my first day in Flagstaff? This:

And there was no waiting in line for it.

Getting Ready To Go To Flagstaff

We will be leaving the North Rim at the end of next week, headed first to Flagstaff. I made a reservation for us at Greer's Pine Shadows RV Park. We had wanted to stay at J and H again, but they close for the winter on October 14th. So, I called Greer's last night and made a reservation.

We'll be in Flagstaff for five days. We want to do some touristy things while we're there. One thing I know for sure is on the list is the Lowell Observatory. We may drive down to Sedona one day to look around down there. I want to, no, I HAVE to get a pedicure and a hair cut. FabGrandpa wants to go to the Game Stop store. We'll probably go out to eat a couple of times. But mostly, we're just going to take a break.

At the end of the five days, we'll be going to Phoenix. Our friends, Charlie and Lynn, are managing a Christmas tree sales lot, and we'll be working for them starting around November 15, getting the lot ready for the opening day the day after Thanksgiving. We'll be there on the sales lot until December 24th. It's going to be a lot of hard work, I know, but we are looking forward to it. We've never done that kind of job before so it will be interesting.

So, that's the plan. If you were in Flagstaff for five days, what would you want to see?