Flagstaff

After a wonderful visit in Tucson, we left and headed north, making our way to Flagstaff, Arizona. We decided to take the scenic route through Prescott and Sedona. It made for a beautiful drive, much prettier than we thought it would be. Prescott is a charming, historic town. We walked around and admired the old courthouse on the tree-lined square.

Then we continued on to Sedona, driving this wild road that had, according to T-shirts we saw for sale in Jerome (a town along the way), 158 curves in 12 miles. We didn't count the curves, but it was a crazy road. Jerome is a cute town, built right on the bluffs of the red rocks. We tried getting a picture of the houses right on the edge but couldn't get one that captured the steepness of the town. Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the Sedona/Prescott area.

Sedona was a nice town as well. Although the town itself is very touristy and has a real resort feel (something like Whistler, BC in the summer) the area is amazingly beautiful. We only stopped briefly as our couchsurfers in Flagstaff were expecting us.

We got to our couchsurfer host's house right in time for margaritas and guacamole made with freshly picked prickly pear cactus fruit! Our host Scott boiled the fruit and blended it to make a syrup. The fruit itself has the texture of dates and the taste is a combination of sweet and sour. It's very good, especially with tequila!


The next day we hiked up Mt. Humphreys, which at 12,633 ft. is the highest peak in Arizona. The trail starts from Arizona Snowbowl, a ski area which is above 9,000 ft. so the hike wasn't too bad of a climb.
While on the top of the peak we met a man who said this was his 73rd time climbing Humphreys! He'd lived in the Flagstaff area all his life and said he started "seriously keeping track after his 10th time." He'd been climbing it since 1974.

Our couchsurfing hosts, Scott and Amanda were great. They had a really cute dog named "Moondog" which apparently was her breed as well. We certainly don't know what kind of dog she is. Scott also liked to ride his custom fixed gear bike with Moondog on his side. His bike was a $5 Huffy that he converted to be a fixed gear bike. He called it a "fixed-gear truck" which we thought seemed appropriate in Flagstaff. Scott was also a really good Scrabble player and schooled me and Jaimee twice!

We left Flagstaff and cruised up to the "Meteor Crater". They wanted $15 per person to view this crater but we got a perfectly good picture right from the information sign!

Then we went through Petrified Forest National Park. The park was pretty much what you'd expect - a bunch of petrified wood, although there were also some beautiful overlooks and a "painted desert." We saw some Indian artifacts and petroglyphs and an old Indian pueblo.

Here are all the photos for Flagstaff:

Originally, we'd intended to go to Taos, New Mexico from Flagstaff, but we got a late start leaving Flagstaff so we're now in Gallup, New Mexico looking for somewhere to camp. Hopefully it won't rain on us as it's very stormy outside. Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe to visit my Aunt Debbie. Maybe we'll fit Taos in during our Santa Fe visit.