tomfuller

Watchtower east end of Grand Canyon
Twice I have started to write a trip report. I hope that this attempt will not crash .

tomfuller

I hope that this attempt for my trip report goes better than the past 2.
My wife and I started our trip in the late afternoon of 11/4 with a flight from Redmond Oregon to Phoenix Mesa Gateway on Allegiant. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel in the Superstition Springs area of Mesa.On Tuesday morning Enterprise picked us up and we were soon on our way to Flagstaff. We stayed at the Days Inn along the historic Rt. 66.
On Wednesday morning we had a brief thunderstorm in the Flagstaff area. We headed west on I-40 to Williams and then north on AZ 64 to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We parked at one of the large parking lots of the visitor center. After a brief stop at the visitor center we walked out for my DW's first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. After a few minutes we took one of the free shuttle buses out to the next viewpoint going westbound. We rode several buses out to the west. We rode the bus that went to Hermits Rest only as far as Powell Point. I did get a picture of the plaque with the names of those who went with John Wesley Powell down through the rapids of the canyon.
From Powell Point we took the bus back to Angel Landing to get another bus back to the visitor center. When we got back to the visitor center about 2PM, we got 2 pretty bad sandwiches from the small cafe at the building that serves as the bike rental shop. As we had seen all that we had come to see, we headed back to Flagstaff. To avoid going back on the Interstate, we turned off onto US 180 at Valle. Before we got to Arizona Snowbowl we were at an elevation above 8000'. There was several miles that had 3+ inches of snow in the middle of the lanes. We are experienced snow drivers so it was no problem. By the time we got into Flagstaff, the temperature was in the 50's. In the next post I will report on our trip to Sedona and the great restaurant in the little town of Cornville where we had our anniversary dinner.

tomfuller

Before we left Flagstaff for Sedona, on Thursday morning, I had to scrape frost off the windshield. We headed south on AZ 89A and went down through the Oak Creek Canyon into Sedona. The highway down through the canyon was a bit scary with several tight hairpins. When we got down to Sedona, there was some construction along the highway and a couple of side streets were being reconstructed. We did manage to find free parking in a city owned lot in the uptown area. We visited a few of the shops along Main St. for a few gifts. We did make it to the south end down near the bridge over Oak Creek and headed back on the other side.
There were plenty of tourists (including us) shopping. I can only imagine how crowded it was during the summer. When we had completed our shopping and had eaten some ice cream, we went to the Sedona Heritage museum which was at the upper edge of the uptown section of town. The museum was originally the homestead of the Jordan family. The family was involved with the cattle industry and had an orchard of over 100 acres of apple and peach trees. I saw the charter that established the Sedona Post Office. Sedona was one of the Jordan daughters.
We left Sedona going south on 89A to Cottonwood. From Cottonwood we went east on Yavapai County road 30 to the small town of Cornville. My wife insisted that we go to a restaurant that served German dishes.
The Manzanita restaurant is not much to look at on the outside. The interior was very well appointed. Since we were the first to arrive with a reservation, we got the prime booth.
There were several German dishes on the menu, my wife got the sauerbratten with German potato salad and red cabbage. I got a bison steak with a couple of side dishes I don't remember.
The food was excellent. I had a draft dark beer that I had never heard of. My DW had a CA red wine. We shared a large slice of German Chocolate cake to end our anniversary dinner.
From Cornville we went east on 30 to I-17 and then back north to Flagstaff.
After several hours of doing laundry on Friday we headed east on I-40 to Winslow AZ. We picked up a map at the west end of town at the C of C. Second street in Winslow was the original eastbound part of Historic US 66. We parked at a small free lot just east of "the corner". We walked back for pictures with the 2 bronze statues of Glen Frey of the Eagles. From one of their best hits "Take it Easy" is the iconic line 'standin on a corner in Winslow Arizona" of course there is also a flatbed Ford parked on the corner.
Across the street from the statues, is a 1904 bank building which is now a small cafe. Inside the vault of the bank in 1904 was Winslow's only jewelry store. After a good lunch we went to the east end of town and saw a 9/11 memorial with 2 beams from the World Trade Center. They also had a flag that flew from the Pentagon on their flagpole.
From Winslow we headed north on AZ 87 to Second Mesa in the Hopi Nation from there we went west on AZ 264 toward Tuba City. By the time we got to US 160 in Tuba City the low fuel light had been on for more than 10 miles. We had driven over 130 miles without seeing a gas station.After filling up in Tuba City, we went west on US 160 to US 89 south to Cameron. We then went west on AZ 64 to the east end of Grand Canyon NP to see Desert View. The picture that I posted to start the thread is of the Watchtower built by Fred Harvey under the watchful eye of Mary Colter architect.
I did manage to get to the top of the watchtower before they shut off the climbers at 30 minutes before sunset. We had an uneventful trip south to Flagstaff in the dark.

emalloy

tomfuller

We were at the watchtower at sunset. We went south on US 89 from Cameron to Flagstaff long after dark. The Desert View-watchtower is just inside the east entrance of Grand Canyon NP. We had no desire to go down over the rim and climb back up. Next up on the trip report later today will be the Lowell Observatory and the Riordan mansion in Flagstaff.

tomfuller

On Saturday we decided to stay closer to Flagstaff. After a good breakfast at "The Place" along historic 66, we went up Mars Hill to the Lowell Observatory. Our tour guide told us much of the history of the various telescopes and the attachments that go with some of them including the spectrograph and the large plate camera that took the photos that first identified Pluto. An amateur astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh took the photos in 1930 under the direction of V. Slipher. Clyde was sworn to secrecy and that night went to a movie at the Orpheum theater. It was several months before more photos confirmed Pluto as a planet. There was a naming contest and a young girl from England came up with the name Pluto. It was also handy that The observatory was founded by Percival Lowell (PL). In case you were wondering, PL got a rather large inheritance from his father who brought the industrial revolution to Massachusetts. The town of Lowell MA is named for him.
I did go back for an evening program which included the studies that there is both frozen and liquid water just under the surface of Mars. It is widely thought that there is -or was bacterial life in the water of Mars.
There was quite a long line for the telescopes pointed at the nearly full moon but some hazy cloud made the view less than ideal.
On Sunday we went to church at the Federated church in Flagstaff. We had lunch at Jimmy Johns and then walked down Riordan Road into the campus of Northern Arizona University. The two Riordan brothers married sisters after founding the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company. They hired many craftsmen to build two large houses that were connected by a large common room. The mansion is now owned by the Arizona State Park system and tours run on the hour most days. Later in life, the Riordan brothers founded the Northern Arizona Normal School as a boys school. From that small school it has grown into Northern Arizona University.
After a light breakfast on Monday morning at the hotel, we headed back to Mesa. We were told that we could return the car at the airport but there would be a $35 drop fee. The Enterprise agent at the airport was nice enough to waive the fee and dropped us at the curb so we could check our luggage to Redmond. After we went through TSA security, we were told that our flight was changed to Gate 1 from Gate 7. After we sat at Gate 1 for nearly an hour, people got a text message that we were leaving from Gate 6. The A320 came in from South Bend IN about 20 minutes late. After the passengers from South Bend deplaned, we were allowed to board. A maintenance man from Allegiant then took out an oxygen bottle and replaced it with another. By the time all the paperwork was done, we left Mesa about an hour late.
We were headed for a straight in landing at Redmond but the pilot either came in too high or too fast and we had to go around and try again. It was 6:32PT when we walked into the terminal at Redmond.
All in all it was a memorable and enjoyable trip.

tomfuller

Flatbed Ford

Before Neil knew he was going to the moon

MichelleY

Thank you for reporting back!