The Bee's Knees

After the Grand Canyon, we all drove to Flagstaff to stay the night. We walked around the older downtown area in the morning, and then went to lunch together before we parted ways with Marie's family. Flagstaff is a fun little town, and I think it would be fun to explore more if we'd had more time...and didn't have kids. But we did manage to see a few things. The Weatherford Hotel (notable guests were William Randolph Hearst and President Theodore Roosevelt).

The Orpheum Theatre (stage, movie screen, hardwood dance floor).

Babbitt Brother's building (mercantile and trade).

Hotel Monte Vista (had an infamous speakeasy during prohibition, said to be haunted).

I loved all the murals and just the overall feel of the place.

We had lunch at Salsa Brava, because it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and it was delicious.

The funny thing was, when we walked in, the hostess asked us if we had heard of the restaurant from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives OR from Sister Wives. Marie was immediately like, "Oh my gosh, this is the restaurant from Sister Wives?" And I emphatically said, "We're NOT here because of Sister Wives!" However, I will admit that both Marie and I watch Sister Wives (hangs head in shame), and discuss it at length. But still, that's not why we went there. Just to be clear. Hahahaha. At this point, we continued on to Texas, while Marie's family headed back home to Utah. We stayed the night in Albequerque, and then finally arrived to Wichita Falls, TX. Bert and Adreann moved here in the summer after having done three consecutive overseas assignments (England, Korea, and England again). We have done the drive So many times through New Mexico and Texas, but it's been quite a while. You know immediately when you're in Texas, and it just kind of felt like going home in a way. There's not much to do in Wichita Falls, but we were there to see family, and not the sights. We talked, and laughed, and ate, and played games, and watched movies, and just had a really good time together. Bert started his own beehive when they moved there, so we went out to see that.

And we also got a good Texas BBQ fix while we were there.

On our way home we were going to stop for the night in Albuquerque again, but when we got there Joe wanted to keep going. And then he wanted to keep going, and keep going, and keep going. Through Arizona it was SNOWING like crazy. I thought we should stop. Joe said he still had more gas in his tank. So we kept driving until we were only TWO hours away from home, at which point Joe said maybe we should stop. I was like, no way in hell are we paying for a hotel two hours away from home! A 15 1/2 hour drive is no joke you guys. I don't know how we did it, but we got home. Never again though! You know, when we lived in Texas, we used to do the 17 hour drive to Utah straight through all the time (which was usually 20 hours with young kids and many stops for peeing and eating). We were young. We had the energy back then. Not any more. We are old. We are tired. We can afford hotels, even when we can't.

A Grand Spring Break

For Spring Break this year I had two goals - go to the Grand Canyon, and visit Bert and Adreann in Texas. We wanted Cora and Andrew to come with us, but their schedules dictated otherwise, and then neither Joseph nor May could get work off (boooooo), so it ended up being just me, Joe and Alex. However, Marie and Antoine decided to meet up with us for our day at the Grand Canyon, so yay! We stayed together in an Airbnb in Williams, AZ. A very nice double wide trailer out in the middle of nowhere, but perfect for our needs. First thing in the morning we actually went to Bearizona, which none of us had ever heard of, but we drove by it and figured we need to go.

Bearizona is a 160 acre wildlife park. In one part of the park is a 3 mile drive through a pine forest where you get to see wolves, bison, reindeer, bears, and other animals.

The other part of the park is set up more like a zoo. We only walked through a small part of this because we needed to get to the Grand Canyon, but the bears here were by far the most entertaining thing we saw all day.

Then came the star of the show. I've been to the Grand Canyon before, but it was when I was very young, and I really don't remember much. Let me just say, the Grand Canyon is aptly named. It be Grand ya'll. I think there are about 10 stops on the bus route, and each one is amazing. Do the pictures do it justice? No. Am I about to post a bunch of pictures of it? Yes.

We had a delicious lunch mid day, and I had me a gigantic Navaho Taco, which they called a Native Taco.

By the end of the day it was getting chilly, and people were getting tired. Marie and I were determined to stay until Sunset. At the last bus stop, Hermit's rest, they have a little shop, so we went inside thinking we could wait it out somewhere warm. (Hermit's rest was built in 1914 as a rest stop for horse-drawn carriage tours. It's supposed to resemble an old miner's cabin with native stonework, a giant alcove fireplace, and front porch.)

The thing is, this wasn't the stop where we thought we'd get the best view of the sunset. So we braved the cold once more and took the bus back a couple of stops. Alas, while we were on the bus, some of our group decided that it was too long of a wait for anyone other than the truly didicated, which they were not. So those people stayed on the bus and said goodbye, while me and Marie waved goodbye, and then huddled together trying to stay warm. Guess what? It was worth it.

This post is getting a bit long, so I'll put the rest of our spring break adventures on another post.

View From the Top

Andrew's birthday is at the beginning of January, and Cora's is at the end of February, so we split the difference and they came in the middle of February to celebrate. They were so spoiled. We went to The LINQ promenande, one of my favorite places on the strip. We tried a BBQ place called Virgil's, with live music and really great food. This is also where The High Roller is, a 550-foot-tall ferris wheel.

Unfortunately May is extremely afraid of heights, so that's why she wasn't with us this night. It takes 1/2 hour to do a rotation, and the view from the top is great, especially at night.

The cabins actually hold 40 people, but thankfully there were only about 10 in ours. Some cabins have all-you-can-drink bars in them. I don't know how expensive those rides are, but I have no interest in being trapped with people intent on getting sloshed.

We also sampled one of Buddy Valastro's (from Cake Boss - we used to be big fans) cake vending machines. It was just okay. I'm sure the cake at any one of his other bakeries in Las Vegas would be better (He also has pizza vending machines, as well as several restaurants in Vegas - I've lost track of how many)

The next day some of Cora's cousins came to hang out with us. We met them on the strip, where we spent many, many hours. Some of us (not me) rode the roller coaster at The New York, New York.

We went to the Stranger Things store.

We walked around, ate good food, listened to music, danced, bought some street art, and just generally enjoyed ourselves.

At a certain point, the old lady (that's me) was starting to feel things in her back, so she decided to head home with her boys. Cora and Andrew were determined to stay until very late, and the cousins swore they were in it to the bitter end. Alas, not long after I got home, Cora called to say that the cousins were jumping ship, and could I please come get her and Andrew. The next day we had lunch at Dave's Hot Chicken, dinner at Chili's, and went Jeeping inbetween.

Needless to say, it was a very fun weekend, and we can't wait until their next visit.