And We're Off

By the time we recovered from jet lag, loaded up the RV (in 100 degree heat), and made it out of town, it was June 12.  Our only thought was to get to a cooler temperature.  After checking weather.com, we decided on Flagstaff.  Although both of us had been through Flagstaff many times, we had never really spent any time there.  I love new places.

What a marvelous sight - the cool San Francisco Peaks on our way into town.

We settled into a spot in the national forest just a few miles west of town.  Heaven.

We were there for seven days and the temperature never rose above my comfort level.  Because I am a month behind on the blog, I'm just going to hit some high points.

We walked around town where we admired this church.

And wondered about the process of these high-tech trash cans which were all over town.

We took a day to explore Sunset Crater

And Wupatki National Monuments.

Wupatki (above) is the largest of the ancient pueblos in the monument, but a driving tour takes you to others.    Wukoki Pueblo (below) reminded us of a castle, although maybe we still had castles on the brain.  Diana said when she saw it, it reminded her of a ship.

We encountered wildlife assisting with the trash cleanup during our walk in Buffalo Park on the north side of Flagstaff.

Another day we went to Walnut Canyon National Monument where the Sinagua lived in cliff dwellings like the one in the center of the picture.

It was pretty interesting because you can take a trail down among the dwellings.  It involves 240 steps going down and I think even more coming back up.

Another day we did a hike called the 'Fatman's Loop' which climbs partway up Mt. Elden on the east side of town.  It's a pretty hike though interesting rocks and vegetation.

And is supposed to have a narrow section (hence the name), but you'd have to be really big to have trouble with the narrowest part I saw.

We also checked out nearby Mormon Lake.  Gee, I hope they weren't counting on it for water.

In between all this, Ron had to fix all the things that seem to go wrong when the RV is in storage.  "Ron, why does the water pump keep running?"  "Ron, why is there water all over the step and dripping out of the bin?" "Ron, why don't we have any 12-volt power?"  "Ron, why doesn't the toilet hold any water?"  And so on.  Luckily, Ron is a genius.

Meanwhile, I found a nice place to relax.