Wednesday, August 20, 2008

From the mountains to the desert (and back again?)

We woke up one morning at our campsite near Moab, and decided it was time to head to Arizona. So we called our friends, Liz and Mike, who live in flagstaff, and gave them less than 12 hours' warning of our arrival. Then we packed up, hopped in the truck, and headed on.

For the next six hours, we drive through desert- flat, hot, sandy, prickly desert- and then all of a sudden we start climbing, and it cools down, and trees get bigger, and it rains...Welcome to Flagstaff. The town is located near 7,000 feet; a beautiful oasis in the middle of the Arizona desert.

That was last Sunday. Monday, we got our bearings in Flagstaff-a morning bike ride into and around town; an afternoon hike in the nearby mountains. And all day, we were thoroughly impressed; this is a cool town. Tuesday morning we woke up, and decided to change scenery again, so we headed south to Phoenix (though we were distraught to be descending out of the cool air and back into the desert). Tuesday night we spent visiting with Chris and Megan (long-time roommates in Richmond, who left the same day we did three weeks ago). It was great to see them, if only briefly, and a bit strange to see the same furniture I've lived on for the last 2 1/2 years in a strange condo in Arizona!

When the weather report this morning casually mentioned it would be 107 degrees by 11:00, we quickly decided it was time to head back to the mountains (sorry Chris and Megan!). A quick stop in Sedona to check out the alleged 'vortex' (check out sedonasacredjourneys.com or look it up on wikipedia) and we were back to the cool air.

And the answer to everyone's big question: "what's the next step?" ---- we still don't know. Next on the list is the grand canyon, lake powell, and zion NP--we don't know when or in what order, but we'll certainly keep you posted.


Coming Soon: John is presently assembling a "picture post" to quench the thirst of those starving for visual support, so keep an eye out for that.

1 comment:

cmherrington said...

Heat update...we went to the movies last night to celebrate the end of math camp. When we walked out, I commented that it felt much cooler than when we went in. I may have even used the word "pleasant". Yeah, then the car thermometer told us it was 106. Awesome. I think this is a bad sign.