Grand Canyon

Apr 18/18
So we're off to the Grand Canyon. Maryann iced her ankle last night. It's still a little sore so we are going to try the bike tour along the rim of the canyon.

The weather is a lot colder than we had anticipated. Too cool for shorts and t-shirt. So we bundled up and off we went.

Dani & Jordan led the ride. We stopped at several scenic lookout points. Little Red Dog really liked the spectacular scenery. They talked about different features of the canyon as well as the plants and animals.
Pictures do not tell the story. You have to see it in person to really appreciate the splendor.



Mary Colter was one of the very few female architects in the early 1900's. She designed many building in the Grand Canyon National Park, including this tower toward the eastern end It has an amazing view of the canyon.

The tower overlooks the spot where two commercial airplanes collided in midair in uncontrolled air space in 1956. All 128 people on board both planes perished making it the worst air disaster up until that time. The investigation led to the formation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1958.

On our way out of the park we saw some of the local elk herd. They like living in the park because there is no hunting there and very few coyotes. A peaceful existence, they are quite accustomed to having humans around.






It was much warmer in the afternoon. Turned out to be a lovely day to walk around. We headed back to Williams Arizona to spend the night in a former bordello which is now a B & B.

Flagstaff - Apr 17/18

What a chilly morning! We hadn't counted on this cold weather in Arizona. We did not realize that Flagstaff is about 6,000 feet above sea level. We have been told that it is generally 20 degrees colder here than in Phoenix.
The first stop in the Flagstaff area was Walnut Canyon. A totally amazing place. Very scenic and the site of ancient cliff dwellings. It's hard to believe that people actually lived on these cliffs. Apparently, the climbed up to the plateau to farm. But why would they live in such a difficult place to get at?

 See the light rectangle areas in the middle of the picture? That is the pueblo's where the folks lived. Can you imagine getting there from the top?

We had a leisurely hike down about 275 steps for a closer look. There were lots of signs warning about heart condition etc. But seasoned hikers like us had no problem. The total distance down, around the path and back up was about 1.5 miles.

Here are some of the partially restored rooms.

 A fully restored wall. Can you see the small hole above the door? The theory is that there was a gap under the door. Air would be sucked in under the door and the curved shape of the back wall would direct it up and out the small hole to carry the smoke from the fire, which would be built against the back wall. Still, I think that the air quality would be a little sketchy.

Lots of headroom. Maryann is about 5' 2"









Next stop - Sun Crater, the site of a dormant volcano. OK, hands up if you knew that there were more than 600 volcanoes in Arizona. I didn't.

Little Red Dog enjoyed the view of the volcano covered in volcanic ash. And the lava field.

We hiked up the side of volcano to look over the rim.

Little Red Dog was surprised that the crater was not a sharp drop off. I guess a million years will wear down the edges a bit. But it was still quite impressive.
According to the health app on my phone the journey took us 9.9 km and up the equivalent of 65 flights of stairs.

And the final stop for today was at the Wupatki National Monument. A series of ancient pueblos believed to have been inhabited between 1100 & 1400 AD.

Little Red Dog was intrigued by how they built this multi-story structure. The stones are held in place by primitive mortar that had to be constantly maintained and replaced.







Leaving this place Maryann stepped in a small hole and turned her ankle. Thankfully, we were only a couple of hundred feet from the car and not at the top of a volcano. Here ankle is quite painful. Hopefully it won't affect our planned bicycle ride along the Grand Canyon rim tomorrow.

A visit to a ghost town

Mon Apr 16
So we headed towards Jerome Az. Along the way we saw a sign for Tuzigoot National Monument and decided to drop in to see what it's all about. It is a 2- to 3-story pueblo ruin on the summit of a limestone and sandstone ridge. Basically a pile of old rocks. The pueblo was built by the Sinagua people between 1125 and 1400 AD. Tuzigoot is the largest and best-preserved of the many Sinagua pueblo ruins in the Verde Valley. The ruins at Tuzigoot incorporate very few doors; instead, they use trapdoor type openings in the roofs, and use ladders to enter each room.

Little Red Dog had fun exploring the ruins.










From there we had an exciting drive through twists and hairpins turn to the historic copper mining town of Jerome, Arizona. Once known as the wickedest town in the west, Jerome was a copper mining camp, growing from a settlement of tents to a roaring mining community. The population peaked at around 15,000 people in the 1920's producing an astonishing 3 million pounds of copper per month. When the mine closed in 1953 less than 100 people were left in town. It was promoted as a ghost town. Today Jerome is a bustling tourist magnet and artistic community. It includes a modicum of artists, craft people, musicians, writers, hermits, bed and breakfast owners, museum caretakers, gift shop proprietors and fallen-down-building landlords.

We ate lunch in this quaint Mexican restaurant. Excellent enchiladas. 



Now off to Sedona. Wonderful unique red mountains surround  Sedona
See Snoopy lying there. And Nancy up on the hill looking over him.

The area surrounding Sedona is beautiful with lots of hiking trails. But the town is a real tourist trap. Uptown is all restaurants and souvenir shops. Apparently, it is a health and wellness mecca and artisan town. 

There is a Stupid Motorist Law in Arizona. Any motorist who becomes stranded after driving around barricades to enter a flooded stretch of roadway may be charged for the cost of their rescue.  

The drive from Sedona to Flagstaff through Oak Creek Canyon was more fun switchbacks and hair pin turns.

Little Red Dog rides again

Wow!! It's been a while. But Little Rod Dog is off on a new adventure.This time to Arizona.

We left on Sunday Apr 15 - the day of the big freezing rain storm. We were a little concerned about getting away. But the drive to the airport wasn't too bad. Got there in good time. But our flight was delayed about 45 minutes. Oh! wait a minute. Now it's delayed 60 minutes.
We finally got off the ground 2 1/2 hours late. At least we got off. Some flights were cancelled completely. And My sister in law said that she saw on the news that people were at the airport for a couple of days.

We arrived in Phoenix to beautiful sunshine. Picked up the rental car and headed north to Cottonwood (near Flagstaff). We had planned on going to Jerome, a former mining town. But with the delayed flight it was too late in the day. So we just walked around Old Town Cottonwood. Most of the stores were closed so we just window shopped and then went to a local brew pub for a burger and a local beer. There was a family celebrating the wife's graduation as an esthetician. Her 5 year-old daughter was there. So I made the little girl a balloon butterfly and Mom a rose. When we went to pay our bill we were told that Dad had paid for our drinks. Very nice surprise.

We had not counted on the increase in elevation as we drove north. It was about 20 degrees colder in Cottonwood. We plan to spend the next week in this area. The temperature in Phoenix is in the high 20's - low 30's. Here it is predicted to be 5 - 15 degrees. And very windy. We didn't pack enough cool weather clothes. But I guess we will manage.

30k and a spa

Today was an excellent day for a bike ride.

A little cool. We did 30km. What's with the hills around here? Always going up hills or down hills. And what a weird bike path. It started as hard packed limestone, changed to a nice wide paved path, then loose gravel. It went through a forest and gradually became narrower. I'm sure that I heard banjo music, so we turned around and went back to the street and followed the bike lane. Check out that cool new cycling shirt. Got it in Quebec City.


Along the road we saw these weird houses.

Then it was time for the spa.

Much smaller and intimate than the spa in Gatineau, but still quite nice. It had all the usual things - sauna, steam room, hot and cold pools. We did the hot-cold-relax cycle a few times. We were there for 3 very relaxing hours. A nice way to end the day. Unfortunately they do not allow you to take a glass of wine to the hot tub.

Capital City

So, it's off to visit Quebec City. I was there about 40 years ago for the winter carnival while in college. What a party!! Today was completely different. Much warmer and no ice castle.
Of course, we visited Chateau Frontenac and walked along the boardwalk.

We explored lower town. Narrow streets of restaurants and shops.

While we were in Tadoussac we met Stephanie who told us that she worked at a restaurant, Lapin Saute, in lower town. She told us that it means "crazy rabbit" but my French-English dictionary translates it to jumping rabbit. They specialize in serving rabbit & duck dishes. We decided to pop in for a bite. Unfortunately, Stephanie was not working today. But we met her good friend, Marie. I made her a balloon rose and left a note for Stephanie.
It was a wonderful warm day so, we enjoyed our lunch on the patio. 

I tried the rabbit stew with puff pastry. It was quite tasty. Maryann was not as adventurous. She had the old standard - French onion soup and a salad.

New rubber

When we reached Mont St Anne, as I unloaded the bikes from the carrier I noticed a hole in the side wall of Maryann's front tire. We have a cheap ( OK ... free) bike rack that friends gave us. I guess the 2 bikes were too close and Maryann's tire was rubbing against some part of my bike and it cut a hole in the side wall.
Fortunately, there was a bicycle shop about 5 minutes from the resort. We popped in and they were not busy at all. They had a tire that would work. He sold it to us for 15% off list, he fixed it right then while we waited and did a minor adjustment to Maryann's bike. $6.00 labour charge. And he was a really nice friendly guy.
If you ever need bike repairs near Mont St Anne, go to Epic Bicycles. Tell them Bob sent you.