I think that we stayed in one of the worst places we could in Flagstaff. It was about $40 a night for a small Motel unit. There were people drinking and smoking for a lot of the night and I didn’t sleep much. Laurence slept marginally better than I did, but I think his discomfort was from the bed and pillows rather than the noises outside the room. This was our first stop after Las Vegas and I think we were both trying to be cautious with the amount we spent there and trying to tighten the belt a little. In hindsight, $10-15 more per night is not too much to pay for comfort. The sole benefit of the Motel was that it had a cute Diner across the road which we ate at on five occasions over the three nights that we stayed there.
The reason for choosing Flagstaff was its proximity to our next two stops, the Grand Canyon in one direction and Sedona in the other. We spent a day at each.
The Grand Canyon was certainly a site to see. Although I knew that it was large, huge, grand – in fact, I had not really thought about what that would entail. I guess this is because I like to look up what to do in areas but don’t like to delve into the specifics – otherwise it becomes a “been there, done that” thing before even getting there. The two standouts of the day were watching a Chipmunk eat an acorn/nut on the path in front of us:
and managing to find a spot on the canyon where the noise and sight of other people was rare (this is definitely an achievement given the number of people that visit each day – even on a Wednesday which is when we were there).
Sedona was to satisfy my curiosity about America wine regions. Over the course of the day I think I tried 31 different wines. I cannot remember them all, but I bought four bottles – which created the question of whether they were going to break in our packs on the flight from Los Angeles to Dallas.
Sedona itself is a pretty area of the world. We managed to find a National Park picnic spot which I would definitely want to go back to. I was surprised that there were only half a dozen cars there for the hour or so that we spent there.
The downside of National Parks, or wilderness for that matter, are the number of signs warning you about rattlesnakes. I have no idea how to avoid one if I came across it except to back away and run in the opposite direction – probably right into its mate that was stalking me from behind or something. Laurence and I had a conversation about this ‘fear’ and he advised me that it would be very rare for one to be in a National Park as they are frequented so often. This was of some comfort, but did not stop me from jumping at the rustling sound as the lizards crawled through the dry grass.
On the drive down to Phoenix we stopped at Montezuma Castle.
There we met a lovely Park Ranger who spoke to us about the castle and the Indians that once lived there. However, the most notable thing that she told us that there were rattlesnakes in National Parks. That we have probably already passed some, just didn’t see them. She said that they camouflage well and are probably only about 2-3 meters off the path. From then on I have walked in the middle of the path. I refuse to step to one side to let someone past – they can be struck by the hidden rattlesnake, not me.
Upon getting to Phoenix we discovered that that were having a heat wave – we had been expecting hot but had not expected 46 degree temperatures during the day and 40 degrees at night. Due to the heat, I basically refused to leave the air-conditioning of the room except for essentials. One of those essentials was a trip to the Hall of Flame (a firefighting museum which I had kept a secret to surprise Laurence with).
On one of our outings, the heat was so bad (like a heater or hairdryer blowing in your face) that I thing my jandels melted a little (they now need replacing) and I felt as though I was going to faint. The cold water I drank made me feel like throwing up.
For anyone travelling to Arizona, I recommend that you do this in winter.