High Speed, my ASS.

Woke up this morning in Flagstaff and headed out to drive a loop up through Red Rock Canyons to Sedona, on to Jerome, and over the hill to Prescott and then into Williams - finishing the drive only an hour away from where we started in Flagstaff (but having seen a day's full of wonderful things.)

We headed up the canyon road and I remarked that I didn't know why they called it Red Rocks, didn't look red to me. A few miles later I said, Oh.  This is postcard Arizona, the Arizona on the front of the AAA maps, and so on. Just beautiful.

We didn't spend a lot of time in Sedona, but did drive up to the Chapel of the Cross, which is beautiful itself but also boasts some incredible views of the valleys and Arizona landscape. I bummed some money off John and lit a few candles for my family. The only other time I have been in Sedona was with my father, years ago, and we were meeting my aunt and grandmother there. So the chapel fell into both the relics and the relatives categories, I guess.

We then headed up to Jerome, the town built on a hillside (copper mining town.)  It was pretty damned hot, and you have to climb stairs to negotiate the town; the museum said it was closed and wouldn't re-open for an hour, so we decided to go up a level to the deli and get some espresso, but the deli didn't have espresso. She sent us back down a level to an espresso shop, but it was closed too, and now I was losing my happy.

So while waiting for the espresso shop to reopen so I could get a coffee to enjoy while I waited for the museum to reopen, I wandered into a shop on the street, and it was - A KALEIDOSCOPE SHOP!  Now what on earth could be better for a drooping attitude than an entire shop full of the most amazing kaleidoscopes you've ever seen?  Wood and metal and glass, octoscopes and tray scopes and just about anything you can think of and a lot you couldn't.  We spent a fair amount of time in there, planning how we'll build our own.

You're looking through the triangular opening

of a two-mirror parlor scope. Colors provided

from a rotating cylinder behind it. 

And then the coffee shop was open and I got a granita sort-of-thing, and stopped by and went on the swings at the park, and then the museum was open and I got to learn about the town's origins and history and enjoy the stupendous panoramic view from the little park. So by the time we got back on the road we were just all right.

Prescott didn't offer much except my usual amusement with road signs:  Big Chino Wash, where I imagine the Levi Company prepares its larger sizes, and El Rocko Road - "and I shall call this land - hey, what's the Spanish word for rock?"  Can't recall any of the rest, but it occupied me until we got to Williams and found our hotel.  It's The Oldest Hotel in Arizona, and I love it, and John is being sweet and accommodating even though I am sure he'd be happier in a Sleep Inn with better internet, in-room television and fewer stairs.

Hotel hallway decor. Don't even think 

about misbehavin'.

We gambled on a local diner because of its reputation for pie, and the pie was only passable but the straight-up diner food was awesome (yes, chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and pepper gravy!)  We strolled the town after, enjoyed watching people on the zipline, horse-drawn carriages, outdoor cafe singers (apparently I have accidentally memorized all the words to Daydream Believer) and went into a few shops, where I bought some stuff, and you already know what John bought.

So that was the day.  I forget what we're doing tomorrow.  I could go look in my book, but the book is wayyyy over there on the dresser...