Reporting in from Flagstaff, Arizona!

We've come full circle from Grand Canyon to Canyon De Chelly to Monument Valley, to Moab, Utah to Towaoc, Colorado and now Flagstaff, Arizona!

We left Colorado on Saturday and arrived here in Flagstaff just in time to sit and watch a snow shower!

We are at Black Bart's campground, not a great campground but spaces are long enough and they do have 50 amps, but the draw for us is the Black Bart Steakhouse, Saloon and Musical Revue!

The food is really good here.  I had the baby back ribs and they serve biscuits with cinnamon butter...yummy!  The waiters and waitresses wait on you and also sing!  They sing songs from musicals!  Its really fun and most of them are very good!  The piano player was here when we came here several years ago, he's pretty good too!

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day.  We decided to go out to visit the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and the Wapatki National Monument!  The crater is large and there is a lot of lava and ash for over 800 square miles around.  Apparently there was no farming done here originally, but after the eruption, the lava breaks down and along with the ash lots of things grow in the area!  There are many many volcanic cones in the area.

Further down the road you can see the Painted Desert in the distance from the road to Wupatki!

We visited several of the ruins in the Wupatki area.  The Pueblo built multi-level dwellings including a 100 room dwelling.  The buildings remain partially untack more than 700 years after their owners departed!  It was interesting to know that the people figured out there was going to be an eruption and took as much of their personal property with them and moved far enough away to see the eruptions but to far enough to be safe.  They can tell from what was left behind when the geologists have sifted through some of the lava.  Some of the ruins have been stabilized and they allow you to walk around them.

On the way out of the park drove by an area filled with prairie grass, I thought it looked pretty!

Tomorrow we will leave Flagstaff for Bullhead City area.  We will spend two days there before going in to Las Vegas on the 10th.   Trent (our friend's grandson) will be playing baseball over the weekend in Vegas and we are excited to see the games!

Seeing Flagstaff..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Towaoc Colorado

We left Moab on Monday with blue skies and no wind!  We arrived here in Towaoc, Colorado at the Ute Mountain Casino, Resort and campground early in the afternoon.  The campground wasn't open until April 1st, so we parked in the casino parking lot with about five other campers!

We were in so early in the afternoon, that after setting up we took off for the Guy Drew Winery.  It was interesting getting there this time.  They have a small dirt/gravel road that leads down into the winery.  We got to the bridge and there was all kinds of equipment and they were working on it, but no people were around.  We had to back up and turn around (thank goodness we didn't have the truck) to get back up to the road for a phone signal.  We called and the lady at the winery who told us to park on the side of the dirt road, walk across the almost completed bridge and drive her Volvo up to the winery!  LOL so that is what we did! We don't care for most of their wines but did buy some more of their sweet merlot, a great summertime beverage!

We got back to the casino, gambled a bit and had dinner before retiring to parking lot camping!  The next morning the campground was open so we moved to the campground.  We were just settled in when the wind starting blowing really hard....again!

Yesterday morning we were having tea when we noticed we were having snow showers!  There were small flakes that melted before they hit the ground.  We stayed in all day watching it rain and staying warm.  It was a good chance to read our books and relax...again!

This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland!  We couldn't believe it, probably 2-1/2 to 3 inches of snow...everywhere!  This was Sophie's first time to see snow.  She stopped at the top of the stairs when we were going out and then she went for it!  She did her business and mom took pictures and hurried back in (30 degrees out)!

We called for a shuttle and went over to the casino for breakfast.  When we got back I took Sophie out for a walk and snow play.   I kicked up the snow and boy she chased it, tried to bite it and really had fun!

By 2:00 it was up to 46 in the sun and most of the snow was melted!  Thank goodness!

A winter wonderland...that melts..."Ain't Life Grand!"