One nice thing about being empty-nesters is that you can just pick up and go on a whim. We haven't really taken advantage of that in three and a half years other than quick trips to visit our kids. But we recently celebrated our 35th anniversary, my Spring Break was coming up, the winter has been long, and it seemed like a good time to get out of Duluth.
We looked at a number of options, such as Mount Vernon or Northern California, but in early March those places are not overly warm. We considered a trip to Cathy's dad's winter residence in Port Aransas, Texas, but the airfare was pretty high. We finally settled on a trip to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, which I had seen as a boy and Cathy has never seen. And surely, it would be toasty warm in Arizona!
It didn't take long to put together an outline of a plan less than a week before we left. Airline tickets, airport parking, hotels, and research on recreational options were quickly completed. Before you know it, we were on the road to Minneapolis looking forward to five days of new sights and sensations. We knew that we were leaving Duluth right before a warm spell. Temperatures in Duluth were expected to be in the 50s, which is unseasonably, high, but hey - we were going to Arizona!
Our flights would take us first to Phoenix, and then to Flagstaff. Our first flight was on a plane that smelled and looked brand new. We were really impressed with American Airlines. There seemed to be more leg room than we were accustomed to, and every seat had a nice monitor on which you could watch movies or track the plane's progress across the states. It was even a clear day, so we got some really amazing views of the Rocky Mountains from Cathy's window seat. It was a foretaste of the vertical sights we would be experiencing every day in Arizona.
The plane to Flagstaff was much smaller, and for the first time since I was in El Salvador, I exited a plan down a stairway to a tarmac. We felt like the President and First Lady leaving Air Force One. When we set foot on the Flagstaff tarmac we got our first indicator that elevation has a significant impact on air temperatures. It had been in the mid-70s in Phoenix, but there was snow around the runway in Flagstaff and the temperature felt very Duluth-like. We learned that they recently had received 37 inches of snow in Flagstaff and temperatures had been hovering around the freezing mark. The elevation in Phoenix: 1086 feet. In Flagstaff: 6,909 feet. A rise in elevation of slightly more than a mile completely nullified our southern change in lattitude of 811 miles. So we put the jackets back on!
Flagstaff is a town of about 60,000 and to our surprise, it has an Uber presence. It's not quite as efficient as Boston, where you seem to never be more than a minute or two away from an Uber driver. We hailed a ride, and it took him about 20 minutes to get to us. He made up for his tardiness, however, by being an incredibly friendly and helpful driver. He advised us to be sure to make the drive to Sedona, a nice, scenic ride down the mountain to lower elevation, warmer temperatures. It's a touristy town with an abundance of hiking options. We liked the warm temperature idea the most and planned to make Sedona our first day's adventure.
The trip to our hotel was quick, and before we knew it, we were standing outside in Flagstaff, Arizona. Flagstaff seemed surprisingly like Duluth. The snow. The chill in the air. The small town atmosphere. Only one difference. There was an IHOP next door - a luxury we don't have in Duluth. So that's where we had supper.
We left Duluth at 9am and got settled in our room about 9pm. We were set back one hour in time and a few degrees in temperature, but our hopes were high for a real adventure in Sedona on Sunday.
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