On the Road to Flagstaff 4/18/08

Today we headed south and took a scenic road towards Flagstaff. On the way we stopped and did a nature hike where we even found a bunch of snow. We headed right towards the San Francisco peaks where Mt. Humphreys (the tallest peak in Arizona) is and the scenery was beautiful. We also went up to see what the Arizona Snowbowl was and I guess it is a big ski resort. When we arrived in Flagstaff, we decided to go to the Lowell Observatory and took a tour. After a short movie, we were taken to see a telescope and the Lowell library. It was really neat to see where Pluto was first discovered and that this observatory still contends that Pluto is a planet. After the observatory, we went to Walnut Canyon National Monument to see the cliff dwellings but the main trail was closed due to a major rock slide from December. We did walk around the rim though and saw the dwellings with our binoculars. Finally we decided to spend the night in Flagstaff and got a motel room in historic downtown. We walked around and looked at the shops and had a few beers. I really liked this place right near our motel called Altitudes where we had Bud Light for only $2 during happy hour. After a couple of beers, we were rested enough to do some more sightseeing. Most of the town looked like a college hang out or a return to the hippie days so we felt right at home. We stopped at the Flagstaff Brewery and had some microbrew from Tucson that had a bite to it and it cost $5 so we only had one and moved on. We ended up back at Altitudes for a couple of more beers and an ultimate nacho plate which was so big we couldn’t even finish it. Plus we enjoyed some live music. I like Flagstaff and we will probably stay here on the way home next month.