Scottsdale to Flagstaff, Arizona

Our second day of the drive started with a great breakfast in the hotel where we were joined by Fred and Ernie. It was a chance to say goodbye to them and to thank them for coming to Scottsdale to see us. We must make sure it's not such a long time before we see them again.

Before we left I took a few photos of the Scottsdale Fairmont. It is a typical huge resort hotel and not a very beautiful one at that!!

Looking down on to the pool.

The jacaranda trees in full bloom

The rather stark main entrance.

We left the hotel at around 10.30am and headed north towards the town of Payson. We had to buy diesel and it was interesting to see how much cheaper it is in Arizona than in California - about 10% less.

The drive up Highway 87 was simply magnificent. A beautiful winding road through wonderful desert scenery with towering cacti for much of the first half of the drive.

 

 

From an altitude of 1,600 ft in Scottsdale, we rose to over 5,000 ft as we reached Payson. We all met up in the town to decide on the route to take to the Painted Desert region. Looking at our maps, we found an unpaved back road that would take us through a large National Forest to the town of Winslow on the southern edge of the Painted Desert.

Before we left Payson we HAD to go to a Dairy Queen, so that Thelma could have her usual large -  no, very large - strawberry milkshake. I'm not sure what Kenny and Dee Anne had, but whatever it was, it looked very unhealthy!!

We left Payson at about noon and took the small road off the main highway. It was called Rim Road and very aptly named as, after a few miles, we came to this breathtaking view.

Bob and then Kenny posed on the edge, with Kenny being urged to do a sky-dive!!

 

The road then became gravel for the next twenty miles, winding through lovely pine forests with campsites along the way. As we exited the National Forest, the scenery changed completely and became wide open flat lands stretching as far as the eye could see. What a contrast!

 

We reached Winslow and then crossed the I-40 to the southern side of the Painted Desert. Unfortunately, time was running short and we decided that, rather than going into the desert, which we have been to before, we would head for a place called Sunset Crater, just north of Flagstaff.

First, we took another dirt road which went across Navajo Indian Reservation land. Here we are following Kenny, with the wind fortunately blowing the dust away from us!

 

We reached Sunset Crater at about 4.30pm, which gave us plenty of time to look at the area around the mountain. Sunset Crater is the result of a volcanic eruption in the 12th century and the 1,000 ft high mountain stands starkly above the surrounding countryside.

 Huge larva flows run through the area and remind me very much of those we have seen on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was amazing to see how quite sizeable trees had managed to grow in the middle of such a desolate, unforgiving landscape. Nature never ceases to amaze me.

 

There was a view point from which you could see, in the very distance, the hills of the Painted Desert.

We stayed until about 6.15pm to watch the sun start to set and to see the changing colours of the mountain. It was a bit of a disappointment as the colours were very muted, perhaps because of the hazy sunshine.

We then had a twenty mile drive into Flagstaff to our hotel, the lovely Monte Vista, which opened on 1st January, 1927.

Driving into Flagstaff.

All the hotel rooms were named for Hollywood movie stars. Ours was called Gary Cooper, after the star of the Western, "High Noon".

We unpacked and then went, on Wendy's recommendation from the AAA road book, to Brix, a restaurant a short walk from the hotel. We had a lovely meal and it was a fitting way to end the second day of the drive. If all the days are like the first two, we will be very happy indeed!