First and foremost, to our dear friends and family in Michigan who are right now bracing themselves for a second day of the storm that has impacted 2/3 of our nation,we are perfectly fine, no storm here. We postponed our trip into Northern Arizona for a day because the storm was blasting Flagstaff and the higher elevations of Arizona. We got groceries, did laundry and enjoyed our beautiful campground in the desert just outside of Phoenix. Tuesday morning when we did head out, our drive north into the snow was breathtaking!
We had to take a detour into Jerome, Arizona. An old mining town that is a self-proclaimed “drinking town with an artist problem.” It is a tourist and biker stop on the steep cliffs, with a former Charlevoix resident as the chief of police. Scott went to school with Alan Muma, and Alan is a brother to Scott’s right hand man and long time employee, Rob. We checked out the little town, bought gifts at the local T-shirt shop, and discovered the girl that checked us out grew up in Michigan and spent her summers on Walloon…small world!
The town’s wishing well was quite interesting too!
After our brief stop we headed towards Sedona…Wow! What a beautiful place. There were red rock formations everywhere. I wish my photos did it justice.
As we left the desert and the elevation rose we saw more and more snow…but our roads were clear. On the mountaintop (elev. 6500) and in Flagstaff (elev. 6900) there was at least three feet of snow…a winter wonderland. Amber and Tyler were wishing we would have put the snowpants and boots in the trunk before we left the RV back in Pheonix.
To break up the drive to the Canyon, we planned on spending one night in Flagstaff. We had a reservation with a a motel that had a covered pool…and when we arrived we learned that it really was covered…in three feet of snow. We kindly declined that one, and found refuge at a Holiday Inn Express, and spent the afternoon at the Flagstaff Aquatic center, swimming and climbing the rock wall. The kids had fun and our driver got a well deserved break. For dinner we went to Black Barts Steakhouse, where the waiters and waitresses entertained us with song and dance.
They sang while seating us, and serving us too!
Our WAY Big Adventure 