Apr 30, 2013 - Trip to Walnut Creek, Sunset Crater, and Pueblo Ruins

We (Pat, Reggi and I) drove up Oak Creek Canyon on our way to Walnut Creek National Monument, we stopped at the Oak Creek Canyon Overlook. Walnut Canyon contains dwellings sheltered by overhanging cliffs that were home to Walnut Canyon's only permanent inhabitants more than 800 years ago. Inside the Canyon and throughout the Ponderosa pine forest and Walnut trees on its rims, the native people lived by farming, hunting deer and small game, gathering an assortment of useful plants, and trading. These people are today known as Sinagua -...

Apr 18, 2013 - No Longer Welcome in Flagstaff

I told you today would be a lay around do nothing day, and that's not too far from the truth. After several days of trying to deal with a minor COPD exacerbation I determined that it was getting worse and headed to the ER. After a few hours of care from a very kind staff, my doctor suggested that I leave town, since my kind of people aren't welcome in Flagstaff. The 7000' elevation with 20% thinner air is simply not kind to COPD. Add to that the cold, wind and dust and we are getting out of town in the morning headed to lower altitude. All...

Apr 17, 2013 - Good Food

The day began with a delivery of the trailer for AC repair. Now after two firms checking it we have been told that the AC unit is shot and must be replaced and that there is nothing wrong with it and there must have been an electrical problem in the campground. No way to check it in the current weather. The wind that was supposed to be gone today returned this morning and though much less than yesterday, it brought cold, and I mean cold temps. Low tonight forecast at 17 and the high tomorrow to be 59. That sucks! Visited Walnut Canyon...

Apr 16, 2013 - Blow, Blow, Blow the Man Down

Each day of this trip brings something unexpected and today was no exception. The weatherman told us the wind would blow to 30 in the morning and increase to 40 plus with 65mph gusts in the afternoon, so we got smart. Left the campground in Page at 6:30AM, yes folks, Linda was awake, and headed for Flagstaff. Hit a bit more wind than expected coming across the Navajo Reservation including a time when the road nearly disappeared, but it ended quickly. Got to Flagstaff early and headed out I40 to our campground. 20 miles short we came to an...

Apr 9, 2013 - Day 5 Holbrook, Arizona to Flagstaff, Arizona

Holbrook, Arizona to Flagstaff, Arizona 190 Miles - Total Miles 1350 We started the day by visiting the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. We had passed them yesterday but didn't have enough time to visit them and do them justice. It was a good decision since they were both quite spectacular and the hikes we took were great. There were a few attractions between Holbrook and Flagstaff but one was particularly interesting, the corner in Winslow Arizona. The Eagles made this corner famous when they wrote about it in their song "Take it...

Mar 29, 2013 - Volcano and Desert

No journal yesterday as the old folks didn't do much. Audra and Amaya went back to the Grand Canyon while we got some old folks rest. I made shrimp creole at Amaya's request last night, and we all watched a beautiful sunset. This morning we had to say goodbye to our girls after a buttermilk pancake breakfast. Much as we are enjoying this trip, seeing even part of our family reminded us of how blessed we are and how very much we love them all. We had no plans for today and started looking at the map which led us to Sunset Crater Volcano...

Mar 1, 2013 - Tuzigoot, Montezuma Castle & Well, Petroglyphs, Lowell Observatory

Day 47 (am temp 23.4) Tuzigoot, Montezuma Castle and Well, Petroglyphs, Lowell Observatory Out of this world! Awesome! What a day! My only real goal was the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, but one thing just led to another………and my apologies in advance for another large photo display….just couldn’t help it. First stop – the Cottonwood Post Office. But looky there, the Tuzigoot Ruins are just down the road a couple miles. Tuzigoot is Apache for “crooked water”, and was built between 1125 and 1400. The original structure had 77 ground floor...

Oct 29, 2012 - Albuquerque to Flagstaff

Today was a drive day to Flagstaff A cool morning in Albuquerque brought out the hot air balloons over the city. We hit the road on Interstate 40 for the long 500km or so drive. The desert as always entertaining with the changes in colours,animals and stupid drivers keeping us amused. we obviously have a car with a miscalibrated speedo as cruising at 80 mph in a 75mph limit it was still a lot slower than the bulk of the traffic. It is the 1st time we have seen a car on a trailer being towed at over 95mph. Brave drivers here! We stopped...

Oct 26, 2012 - $1.59 For A Gallon Of Milk

We decided to stay in Flagstaff again today because of forecasted winds up to 50MPH today. Flagstaff is a beautiful city on the old route 66 highway that is full of ponderosa pine trees with a population of 60,000 people at 7,000' elevation located at the base of the San Francisco mountains with it's highest peak at the 12,000 foot level. I have no idea why Arizona has the lowest milk prices of anywhere we've been but we just paid a $1.59 for a gallon, maybe the cows here are non union. This morning we took the tour of the Lowell...

Oct 25, 2012 - Computer Problems

Mary didn't get home from bingo last night until almost 10PM complaining about not winning and how tired she was so I let her sleep in until 10AM this morning. Made a trip over to Best Buy to see the Geek Squad about my computer, after blowing it out and checking it out they couldn't find a cause for the shut downs. This afternoon we went to the Northern Arizona Museum of History. The first section covering the prehistoric and geological history was nicely done and interesting the best part was the history of the Indians of northern Arizona...

Oct 24, 2012 - Didn't Keep Monty

Mary decided not to keep the black and white stray kitten that kept coming around even though she let him spend the night with us, we had even given him the Name Monty for Monument Valley. Once again the forecast for the morning was in the thirties and it is currently in the fifties, the downside is that the wind is out of the southwest and that is the direction we will headed on our 170 mile drive to Flagstaff. We almost didn't get out of the park because just minutes before we pulled out there was a four car accident on the road out of...

Oct 10, 2012 - Las Vegas, NV to Flagstaff, AZ

Day forty: Destination- Kaibab National Forest Soundtrack- Tom Petty, and Simon and Garfunkel This morning while I caught up on the blog and cleaned up, Nick played some blackjack. Thankfully, he had better luck today. We had lunch at the Mad Onion, which was pretty good and relatively cheap for the strip. Then, we headed over to the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign and got a picture with it. The half shaft fell off again right after we got gas. Nick put it back on, and we found on Ace Hardware so he could buy replacement bolts for it....