Cooling off in Flagstaff...

Phew!  It's been HOT here this summer...and the monsoon's are going strong!  Of all the summer's to decide to stay home...makes me wonder why we chose this one??  Guess we needed to learn what Arizona's summers were really like, first hand, ha ha  

In truth, it's not been all that bad...You get used to it, and adapt to it.  Most days I go to the pool first thing in the morning and exercise with a small group of ladies for about an hour then come back and change and get what ever "outdoor" chores need to be done, done.  Then head inside to for most of the day for the rest of the chores, or in and out of a/c from one place to another.  You get into a routine.  But, after a few months of it...you need a break, or at least I do.  So, off we went to the (local) mountains!

One of our favorite stomping grounds is Greer's Pine Shadows Campground (now called Flagstaff RV Park) in Flagstaff.  We've camped there a number of times, usually coming and/or going from our trips.  We especially like it because it has TREES, and you really feel like you are in the mountains.  To many places are just large parking lots now with small planted trees here and there that don't even afford you any shade, let alone give you any since of nature.  This place is more like a state park with it's lots surrounded by nature, big old pine trees everywhere.  I love it.  So peaceful, you don't even hear the road traffic that's right outside of the campground or the trains that's not far away either...just nature.  Nice.  

Most the folks here that go to the "local mountains" go a little further higher to a town called Show Low.  I thought I would try it, and gave several campgrounds a call.  Our rig "was to old", so they wouldn't accept it.  Well, after a couple of calls, I thought "if that's their attitude, I'll go back to Flagstaff, who needs that attitude?"  So, we've never made it there...guess it's nice, but we'll never know...

Monsoons don't care if you are down in the valley or up in the mountains...they are going to find you!  We had lovely sunshine every morning, but by mid-afternoon, the rains came, almost everyday.  I got my morning reading and sunbathing in, but it sure put a damper on any grilling and campfires!  Oh well...

The cooler weather (in the high 70s, low 80s) was such a wonderful break, and just what we needed.  We browsed our favorite book stores, ate out a couple of times and just relaxed.  Pure R&R, nothing more. 

Soon our two weeks were up, and it was time to head on back down to the valley...no problem though, we were refreshed and smiling again!  Ahhhh

...kicking back in Arizona,  Marie

A couple of brief "cool" trips...

Deciding to stick close to home this year, have left us pretty much "hiding out" in the air conditioning of our home here in the heat of the Arizona Valley. Not fun. Other than going to the pool in the mornings, doing a few home projects, it's been pretty boring, to say the least! We were starting to get cabin fever! This is the first summer we've NOT traveled, and I can honestly say, I really, really miss it. Reading the various blogs and articles about how crowded campgrounds have been, how much the campground fees have gone up, how difficult it has been to even get a reservation, and then if and when you do, what was there to do and see because so much is closed, made travel seem like a senseless and frustrating expense. Along with everything else going on right now, it wasn't one we decided to take on. So, we asked ourselves, "what can we do to get out of here, yet not go to far?" We own a time-share, and had saved up points that we had intended to use this year, along with my niece and her husband, to take a nice big trip to Spain and Portugal...but, that wasn't going to happen now, so I "banked" what I could, but some, I had to use now. So, we chose a week in Sedona AZ right away, and a week in Dana Pt. CA in Sept. Then we began looking into where we might be able to camp close by, yet "cooler" than here in the valley. The first place we could get a reservation was in Payson AZ, for a week. All the other areas in the local mountains were booked solid.

We've been to Sedona a number of times before, so this was just going to be a relaxing, change of scenery get-away. Luckily, the restaurants and shops were open so it made getting out and about a bit more enjoyable. Their pool was also open, so we enjoyed that as well. The temperatures were only about 15 degrees cooler, but enough to make walking around during the day possible. It was the first time we'd been out walking around in months, and it really felt good1 Sedona is a pretty place, even to just look at. I was glad we went. 

The following week after we got back was our camping trip to Payson. We actually had been to Payson many years before. I remembered the Mongolian Rim and the Natural Bridge and the cute little town. We had stayed in a cute cabin then as it was before we had an RV. Since we were going to be here for only a week, I didn't see any reason to bring out toad, just the RV. The campground was small, and to our disappointment, not as many trees as we had hoped, and not as "cool" either. The temperature here was only about 10-12 degrees cooler than in the valley, which didn't make for sitting outside for more than a few hours in the morning feasible. I regretted not bring the toad after all, since we ended up being inside the RV more than I had anticipated, but, even still, it was better than being in the Valley. 

When we got back I continued to look into other campgrounds in the mountains for reservations. Friends were going to Show Low area, and I kept trying, but I could only get a couple of days at a time, or at another one, they wanted $75 a night and I just won't pay those prices! Our friends here wanted to go with us, but she doesn't like "switch-backs", so I started looking closer, at Flagstaff. Found a campground there that had two sites for a full week at a great price so we booked them for mid August! Crossed my fingers that it was a decent place... Turned out to be a great place and a great time! Our sites were near each other. Our friends had a bit more shade than us, so we ended up playing cards in the afternoon and having dinner at their site each night. Lots of wonderful pine trees and a super nice camp host that we even invited to join us for dinner one night. What a funny campground though...more like a puzzle than any I've ever been to! The camp host, Diane explained that it was built in the 60's when RVs were a lot smaller, so when they started getting bigger and needed bigger sites, they had to start tearing down some of the sites and combining them to make them big enough for some of the larger rigs...this, they are situated every which way! Some are side-by-side, some back-in, pull-through, or pull-in! It looks very confusing, but, I guess it works! We liked it so much that after a week, when our friends were ready to leave, we weren't, so we went to Diane and asked her to work a miracle and see if she could figure out a way to find us a spot for another week! She jiggled this and that and did! We moved and stayed another week...I was just able to stretch out our food supply for the extra 7 days! Yea! Once again, we hadn't brought the toad, as our friends had their truck, so didn't see the need! ha ha 

All that is left now is the trip to Dana Point later in September.  That's along the beach, so that should be different.  We have friends near there who we will be seeing as well, so we are looking forward to that trip as well.  I don't think we have any more camping trips planned until late October with our camping club...but one never knows!  Cabin Fever may strike again...stay tuned!  

Until then, kicking back in Arizona,   Marie

A Few Days in Flagstaff...

Flagstaff Arizona is one of those picturesque mountain towns that I've always wanted to visit, but never got the chance to because of the timing.  It's just high enough at over 7,000 feet that the weather has kept us out of there whenever we've been near it...tempting us, but to cold and the possibility of snow to high for us to linger.  Not this time!

So, we grabbed the opportunity to stay a few days to enjoy it's fresh mountain air, especially after many, many days of 90++ degrees of heat "down below"!  It didn't disappoint.

We camped in among pine cones and fresh breezes.  It was quiet and lovely.  We soon found out that Flagstaff has 100 trains each day that run through it, and we were so lucky that the campground we chose was well off the beaten path that we didn't hear one of them!  Not true with many of the others!  Phew, that could have been many a sleepless night!

We really didn't have an agenda, so just used our time strolling through the town, taking in the scenery and relaxing.  The weather was on-again-off-again rain and thunder showers, but if you timed it right, you could have hours of sun!

Our first stop was at the old train depot built in 1926 that half still operates as the Santa Fe Depot and the other half is now the Visitor's Center.  They have a model train running along the top of the wall that's pretty cute.  A big train came in while we were there that was pretty cool also.

The old historic part of town was delightful.  Lots and lots of murals everywhere, down alleyways, along side streets, adjacent to route 66 which runs through the town, etc.  Unlike most places, they didn't seem to have any postings as to "why, by whom" or the history on them, just painted here and there, and really quite beautiful!  I tried googling them and found some information and even some script that people noted that said even they didn't know when and by whom many were painted!  They even showed more that I hadn't uncovered.  Must be quite a few "hidden artists" in Flagstaff!

They have a lot of wonderful old buildings there as well, and even give walking tours of them.  Most of course have been converted into shops and businesses now, but it's nice to see that they have been saved.  It was also fun to see some old motels and neon signs from the 1950's & 60's - the hay days of route 66, I'm sure.

We were there over the weekend, and they had a small craft fair going on as well.  Not very big, but very nice things.  I even bought a couple of things for Christmas gifts.  It's always fun to see people's talent in various states along our travels.  I'm always tucking some of their ideas in the back of my mind in hopes that someday when we settle down I might do some of them myself!  Who knows??  ;-)

It was a wonderful little stop, but we are off to our next adventure!  One to "check off our bucket list" that I've waited many years to do!

...on the road in Arizona,  Marie


If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/