Since my sister works for a company that owns lots of hotels and offers their employees a certain amount of R&R days each year, she and I decided to hit up the Little America Hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona. I had gone to Flagstaff a few years back, but I was pretty much just passing through and didn't really do much in the area, so it was pretty much like visiting a new place altogether. Beforehand, Diane had looked up some of the local attractions and we discovered that there's actually a ton to do there! AND many of those things involved areas of archaeological interest, which was right up my alley!
Super early in the morning of July 18th, I hopped in the car and drove to Phoenix to pick Diane up from the airport. I made really good time and ended up killing about an hour at...drum roll, please...Wal Mart! Um. The Wal Mart in Phoenix is really scary; I don't ever want to go there again, but on the upside, the Phoenix airport is one of my favorites to fly in and out of. So, I'll just focus on that. Anyhow, I suck at directions, but am extra talented at getting lost, so finding Diane in the labyrinth of arrival and departure lanes, terminals, etc. was extra adventurous, but once I found her, our vacation officially began!
The first place we went was Montezuma's Castle! I'm pretty sure that Arizona actually means "hotter than the Sun" in some ancient language, and the second I exited my car, that belief intensified. Oh. So. Hot. BUT it was ok because what we were about to see was amazing! Look at this:
I know, I know! It's amazing! To give you more perspective of just how amazing it is, here's a picture that shows exactly how far up the mountain that dwelling was built!
This stuff always blows my mind! I love it!
After we spent some time here, we got back in the air conditioned car and drove to Sedona. Sedona is a cute little town that is known for it's beautiful rock formations. They really were pretty to look at with their multi-colored striations and rich red color. We walked around a bit and then went to see The Chapel of the Holy Cross, which is a church that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was built right into the mountain and was an interesting looking building.
After that, it was off to the hotel!
I thought our room was super cute (and also huge). Although it's not really my typical style, I totally fell in love with the chandelier in the room. After a long day of driving, we were ready to call it a night. We got dinner at the hotel restaurant and then just chilled in the room for the rest of the evening.
The next day was crazy busy! It was full of great things, but extremely full nonetheless! First up: Lowell Observatory! We got here at opening time so that we could fit everything into our day. This is actually a very famous observatory, where lots of cool things have been discovered. For example, this is where they discovered that the universe is actually expanding. Kind of a big deal. It's also where they discovered Pluto! Side Note: we had the COOLEST tour guide who was SO passionate about what she was telling us. Seriously, she's the kind of teacher I aspire to be! So knowledgeable and engaging! Plus, she helped us feel better about Pluto being demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet. Sorry, Pluto.
So, this is me playing with the telescope/camera that Pluto was discovered with. I totally geeked out!
And here's Diane looking at the sun through a special filtered telescope and that's our awesome tour guide!
After this, we headed toward the Grand Canyon. On the way there, I was driving through the middle of nowhere when, all of a sudden, a huge, dark grey WOLF ran out in front of my car! It was definitely not a coyote, but a gigantic wolf. Oh my goodness!!! I did not hit it, but I had to slam on my brakes and swerve like a maniac. Diane was sleeping and woke up very startled. For the record, I had no idea there were wolves in Arizona, so I Googled it a little later and discovered that the Mexican Grey Wolf lives in that area, Vindicated. We stopped at Bedrock City, which is right outside the Grand Canyon and it was pretty cool! It's basically like visiting the Flintstones' town. It's a major tourist trap, but I'm not gonna lie: it was awesome and well-worth stopping.
And this happened:
We each got to go down the slide a couple of times before some kids came a wanted a turn! Sheesh, kids! Do I look like I'm in the mood to share??? ;)
Next, we went to the Grand Canyon! I went there a couple of years ago, but this was Diane's first time. I'm still in awe of how beautiful this is! Truly, the work of the Master.
We also did some hiking and ran into this guy on the way back:
He was not bothered that there were people around at all. Later, as we drove out, we saw a whole family of deer, including adorable little babies!
When we left, we went back to Lowell Observatory for their nighttime programs and we got to look through the telescope at various stars and then we got to go into one of the big domes and look at Saturn through a big telescope!
It was awesome! BUT it had been an exceptionally long day and I was ready for bed! I had to go to a grocery store and then came back and hit up the room service menu. Sometimes you just have to eat a reuben and creme brulee in bed. Tonight was one of those nights. I must admit, however, that it was delish!
The next day, we found a local ward and went to Sacrament Meeting there. It was a bit of an adventure because they were changing the bishopric, so there was really a lot going on. We, then, headed to Wupatki National Park. There were lots of different settlements there and it was awesome! I even got to stand on a ball court! Those always fascinated me when I was taking my anthropology classes in college.
After this, we went to visit Sunset Crater, which is basically a huge lava field from a volcanic eruption. Seriously, lava was everywhere!
Pretty cool!
This was pretty much the last thing we did on the trip, but it was definitely a packed three days! Diane was flying out of McCarran in Las Vegas, so we made the trek out there and parted ways. Overall, it was a great trip where I got to spend quality time with my sister and see lots of awesome things I had never seen before!
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