Flagstaff and surrounds

His perspective

The guys in the hotel recommended a couple of different places for breakfast. Macy’s coffee and bakery or MartAnn’s for a Mexican style breakfast. Both were in old downtown, although Flagstaff is not really that old, mid to late 1800’s methinks, and created by the Santa Fe RR.

We opted for the full breakfast at MartAnne’s. It’s as if we had been transported to the ‘30’s or the ‘60’s. Great old vinyl kitchen chairs from the ‘50’s, black and white linoleum tile floors. One cook, Ann, the owner. I am sure “Her perspective” will handle the breakfast fare.
While waiting for breakfast, I commented to Nancy that all that was needed to complete the mood was a little bit of Dylan or some CSNY. Shortly, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” started playing. At the same time a pre-’67 VW drove past the window as the snow was coming down. It couldn’t have been any better!

After breakfast it was a short drive east to Walnut Canyon National Monument. We knew Walnut Canyon was there, but had no idea why. The answer, was cliff dwellings that dated back approximately 800 yrs. Some of the Hopi lived there then, making walls under the ledges to form their homes. Air for the fires entered in a small doorway and the smoke vented from a separate small hole in the wall above the door. There should be a pic on Flickr. We walked the “strenuous” trail, 185’ down and back up. We spent about 2 hours there. A beautiful place with the snow falling.

As we had time to kill and weather is supposed to be coming from the west, we continued east to Meteor Crater. The literature there said a meteor approximately 150’ across landed impacted in the desert about 50,000 years ago. The crater is approximately 4000’ across, and 600’ deep. It was cold and windy standing on the rim of the crater. The meteor itself has never been found. Just some fragments.

Next stop, Two Guns. Two Guns consists of a relatively modern deserted gas station, a wooden shack and an abandoned “Kamp” ground. And that was it for Two Guns. A modern day ghost town.

Back to Flagstaff to walk around town. We parked at the Visitor Center, which was also the old train and current Amtrak station. We didn’t take much of a walk as it started snowing pretty hard, and wet. We stopped at the other breakfast suggestion, Macy’s coffee house for a hot drink and croissant. Another great place, packed, and a throwback to an earlier time.

Flagstaff is a great town. A mountain town? A Western town? A taste of earlier eras? Small town, college town? Bend, Oregon? All of the above? It’s a great place. Come see it.

Weather permitting, tomorrow we head east. Hopefully to Navajo Country and maybe ending up in Gallup.

Her perspective –

Flagstaff….. What a cool city! A little like Austin, Texas or Sausalito, California. We have had the BEST time exploring this city. The people are awesome, the shops, restaurants, and scenery are all great. I highly recommend putting this city on your ‘to do’ list.

Our day began at MartAnne’s Café on the recommendation of a hotel employee. Great advice! A fantastic family owned hole in the wall diner on San Francisco Street. This restaurant has been in business for over forty years. The food (we had the chilaquiles with red and green chili sauce, rice, beans, hash browns, eggs, cheese, onions and maybe the kitchen sink thrown in too) was incredible. A huge portion of food that I put a good dent into before giving up on.

In need of a walk, Walnut Canyon National Monument was the perfect next stop.

After a quick stop at the visitor’s center we set off on the Island Trail. The trail takes you through cliff dwellings where the Sinagua people lived more than 700 years ago. The scenery is spectacular and even more beautiful because it was lightly snowing during our walk. The trail descends 185 vertical feet into the canyon and returns the same way. Good way to work off that big breakfast!

A quick stop in the museum and then a walk on the Rim Trail. With 2 canyon overlooks this was a much easier trail and we were back in about a half hour.

Tomorrow as we head toward Gallup via the Navajo Nation we are anticipating a long day. With that in mind, we decided to head east to get a few stops out of the way today. First up, a drive by Twin Arrows. A former trading post, the only thing left now are the two red and yellow arrows prominently sticking out of the ground. Just a quick look, didn’t even stop.

Next on the list, Meteor Crater. The crater which was formed about 50,000 years ago resulted in a formation that is about 4,000 feet wide and over 500 feet deep We took the self guided tour out to the observation area…….and yup, there it was…..a big hole. The scenery around us from the observation area was beautiful. We could see across the open spaces to the painted dessert, over to Flagstaff with very low snow clouds hanging over it.

Two Guns, a ghost town just east of Flagstaff was a quick stop. Located on private property all that remains is a shell of an old gas station and a big ‘Kamp’ sign.

Back in Flagstaff, we stopped at the historic AmTrak station. Built in 1926 by Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe the depot is now a visitor’s center. The train comes through Flagstaff twice a day. People were waiting for the next departure when we were there.

From the train station we wandered up the street to check out the shops. That’s when the snow started. It was coming down pretty hard when we decided to head back to Macy’s European Coffeehouse, Bakery and Vegetarian Restaurant for some hot coffee. This was another recommendation from my Route 66 book. A local coffeehouse filled with an eclectic crowd, it turned into a great find. Great thought provoking photography taken by the owner lined the walls. A good chocolate croissant and hot chocolate were the perfect snack for me.

The snow has let up and skies have cleared as I write this.

We are planning to head out in the morning. I cannot say enough about how much I have enjoyed Flagstaff. Awesome city!

Interesting that both his and hers perspectives contain numbers and his numbers always seem to be higher.