Weekend Getaway...

Last weekend we had a little getaway to northern Arizona. I am always chasing cooler weather. Unfortunately, it seems that the hot weather chases me.

But it was lovely. We stopped in Sedona for a little drive by the red rocks and then lunch at one of our favorite silly restaurants, The Red Planet. Afterwards, we took the long way to Flagstaff, enjoying the magnificent pine trees and landscape that is so totally foreign to Tucson. Arriving in Flagstaff, we checked into our room, a 2 room suite with a fireplace. ONLY in Arizona will you pay for a fireplace, turn it on (it was gas) and then open the windows and run the air conditioner because it's TOO HOT! :-) But the ambience is what we wanted and we got it!

We got into the car and ran to the NAU bookstore so I could buy some Alumni items (I came home with a great new T-shirt and a snuggly jacket and hope to wear the jacket at least ONE day this winter! Then we went to a pizza place that we have been trying for years to get to -- Roma Pizza. It was hands down THE BEST (what we call "sleaze") pizza in the world! It actually was not greasy but very fresh and tasty. We watched College Road Trip with Little L on the DVD that was in the room, and then to bed.

Early in the morning, we drove to Sunset Crater, a relatively recently active (just over 1000 years ago) :-) volcano. It's one of Little L's favorite places on the "rock" vacations. We spent a few hours there, taking photos and hiking. It was then time to head to the Grand Canyon. We keep forgetting that there is NOTHING, I mean NADA between there and the Grand Canyon and once again, we were starving by the time we arrived at 3 ish, having hiked quite a bit earlier in the day at Sunset Crater. Fortunately, there is a small cafe at the rim and we eagerly ate a snack (hot dogs for Sparky and Little L, a cup of chili for me) and then began our drive along the south rim.

We wanted Little L to experience the trail a little bit as we had never had her down one. So we took a few minutes to walk the Bright Angel Trail. It has been about 10 years since I first attempted a little walk down it with Sparky and had to stop as I got very scared at how close to the edge it is! People often think there is a fence or something around the Canyon. Um... no! It's a drop, baby. Straight down to the bottom! And people often go over the edge. (and die) so you can see why I am a chicken!

Anyway, it was a lovely day. As the sun was setting and the last rays were kissing the northern rim, we got in the car, only to see some deer grazing on the grass by the train station. Ahhhh, life is good. But we were still very, very hungry. It would be another 20 minutes before we hit civilization again and what did we find? The home of "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun! Yes, we found a McDonald's and though normally that discovery of the only place to eat would be met with moans, we were THRILLED. FOOD would be OURS soon! It was now about 8 ish. We stuffed our faces silly on the most expensive McDonald's meal we've every eaten. The prices, it is explained in writing on the walls of the fast food chain, are reflecting the fact that it's difficult for them to find workers in such a remote area, and therefore, they pay not only the workers wages, but they also provide housing for their employees. Not a bad deal, indeed.

We crashed at Sweet Pea's house, enjoyed a good night of sleep and then woke up early and got in the car for the final leg of the trip back home. It was a perfect little getway!

Not all of the photos are loading tonight so I'll post more tomorrow...