The trip; Flagstaff

Next stop was Flagstaff, AZ. It was about a 5 hour drive from Albuquerque. We left Albuquerque early in the morning so we could head up to the Grand Canyon after checking into our hotel. As we neared Flagstaff, the weather and road conditions got worse. It was snowing pretty hard. While we were checking in, we asked the person at the front desk what the road conditions would be like up to the canyon. She said there were already some accidents and the roads were in bad shape. We decided to drop off our stuff in the room and walk around town


the hotel was built in the 1800's so it's got some character!


Now, I couldn't figure this sign out until someone on Facebook enlightened me...it probably used to say "Gifts to Warm your Heart" but someone changed it to "Gifts to arm your fart", haha.

Next we popped into a small pizza joint for lunch. This was probably a popular spot for college kids



This is our hotel at night and below is some other building where they do the "Pinecone Drop" on New Years Eve. The historic part of Flagstaff is a tiny, little town




The Hotel Monte Vista was apparently popular with celebrities for quite some time. Each room is now themed by who used to stay in it most. Ours was Michael Stipe from REM. The rooms were ok. We were right by the train tracks so it was a little tough at night to sleep with a train blasting its' horn


the next morning we decided to try to head up to the canyon on our way to Vegas. So we checked out and hit the road. From our hotel, it was supposed to be about an hour and 1/2 drive to the canyon. the roads were definitely snowy and not many people were out. It made me grateful for getting the Subaru upgrade so we had all wheel drive


We reached the south rim of the canyon around 10:30. The trails along the rim were entirely snow covered. It was beautiful!









Our time at the canyon was brief but considering the snow, I was happy to have seen it at all! I wasn't sure we'd be able to make it. I have some video footage that Alex took but I will upload this at another time.

On to Vegas!