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| | | Northern Arizona Trek - May 2013, AZ | | | |
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Northern Arizona Trek - May 2013, AZ
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| Backpack | 10.00 Miles |
250 AEG |
| | Backpack | 10.00 Miles | 4 Days | | |
| 250 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Sarah’s Grad and Northern Arizona Trek - May 2013
4 days
3 nights
791 miles by truck
110 miles by boat
324 digital images
1 Master’s Degree celebration
1 Slot Canyon
1 Natural Bridge
1 Vintage Mary Colter designed hotel
1 Mother’s Day
Priceless!
With my daughter Sarah’s graduation from ASU with a Master’s in Clinical Speech Pathology, my parents made the trek down from Canada to celebrate the achievement. Considering that Mother’s Day would be over the weekend, a road trip was in order 
Friday May 10th
11am to 3pm Sarah’s grad @ ASU
3pm drive from Ahwatukee to Flagstaff – 161 miles, 2hrs 26min per Google Maps
Fairfield Inn Flagstaff, 2005 South Milton Road, Flagstaff, AZ – Confirmation #85054171 & 85054171
5pm – 9:30pm Lowell Observatory 2nd Friday Science Night, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, Arizona
ASU Clinical Speech Pathology https://shs.asu.edu/pg-mas
Marriott Fairfield Inn, Flagstaff AZ https://www.fairfieldinnflagstaff.com/
Lowell Observatory https://www.lowell.edu/
Beaver Street Brewery https://beaverstreetbrewery.com/
After Sarah’s graduation ceremony held at Wells Fargo Arena on the ASU main campus, friends and family gathered at our Ahwatukee home for some good eats and an opportunity to personally congratulate Sarah. As the day wound down, it was time to head out on a road trip to Northern Arizona to take in some sights my parents only thought they could view through other people’s photographs. First destination – Flagstaff AZ to catch the “2nd Friday Evening Event” at Lowell Observatory on Mars Hill. The evening event was just about to wrap-up when we arrived 9-ish, but we still were able to walk the grounds and see the various telescope installations. Checked into the Marriott Fairfield Inn – rooms were scarce since NAU grad ceremonies were also on this weekend! Had time for a late evening stroll to Beaver Street Brewery – a Flagstaff visit requirement…
Saturday May 11th
8am drive from Flagstaff to Page AZ – 192 miles, 3hrs 15min per Google Maps (note Hwy89 closed at Echo Cliffs)
Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas, 100 Lakeshore Drive, Page, AZ 86040 - Confirmation # 80002356H
Upper and/or Lower Antelope Slot Canyon guided or self-guided hike
Mars Hill [ Mars Hill via Lowell Observatory Loop ]
Hwy 89A Kachina homage [ photo ]
Tuba City Dinosaur Tracks [ Tuba City Dinosaur Tracks ]
Upper Antelope Canyon [ Antelope Canyon - Upper ]
Glen Canyon Dam Overlook [ Glen Canyon Dam Overlook ]
Horseshoe Bend Overlook [ Horseshoe Bend Overlook Trail ]
Wahweap Marina Walk – Glen Canyon NRA [ Wahweap Marina Walk - Glen Canyon NRA ]
Lake Powell Resort & Marina https://www.lakepowell.com/accommodatio ... tions.aspx
Big John’s Texas BBQ, Page AZ https://visitpagearizona.com/activities ... beque.html
After our complimentary breakfast at the Flagstaff Marriott Fairfield Inn, we checked out and returned to Lowell Observatory to trek around the grounds in daylight – quite the contrast from the previous evening’s “stumble in the dark”… We met “Big John” performing some of the morning chores around Lowell and he invited us into the Pluto Observatory for a private tour prior to the official visitor opening at 9am. “Big John” was a fount of information giving us the history of the site, including all the construction obstacles and the competitive nature of the academics in the race to discover planets in their predicted mathematical location. Once we’d had our fill of astronomy, we hit the road towards Page AZ. After an obligatory stop at my favorite Kachina site [ photo ] (kicking myself that I failed to take a geocoded photo with my iPhone), we bounced our way up Highway 89 towards the detour around the sinkhole (check out https://www.azdot.gov/us89/ and https://www.azcentral.com/news/articles ... lapse.html ), via Hwy 160 through Tuba City to Hwy 98 near Cow Springs to approach Page AZ from the SE. This detour easily adds another hour onto your drive from Flagstaff to Page. We elected to do the Upper Antelope Slot Canyon tour rather than the Lower Slot Canyon, only because of the flat terrain. I recalled multiple ladders and rock butt slides when exploring the Lower Antelope Slot Canyon. Our Navajo Guide, Frankie, was full of facts about the canyon formation and pointed out the mostly unnoticed features within the slot canyon. Unexpectedly, Frankie is quite the digital photo buff and helped set up shots for most of the visitors. He knew my Canon cameras beyond any of my abilities. After Antelope Canyon we drifted into town to find a late lunch/early dinner joint – Big John’s Texas BBQ fit the bill. We checked into our rooms at the Lake Powell Resort and Marina (NPS Annual Pass came in handy once again to gain entrance into the Wahweap section of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area), freshened up prior to some sunset exploration around Glen Canyon Dam and Horseshoe Bend Overlook.
Sunday May 12th
7:30am to 1pm boat tour to Rainbow Bridge – confirmation # 80002356O
2pm drive from Page AZ to Winslow AZ via Hopi Lands – 241 miles, 4hrs 22min per Google Maps
La Posada Hotel, 303 E 2nd St, Winslow, AZ 86047 - Confirmation#72185 for Rm115, #72184 for Rm125
7:30pm Mother’s Day dinner reservation at Turquoise Room in La Posada per Jonny
Lake Powell boat tour to Rainbow Bridge https://www.lakepowell.com/play/tours/b ... idge-.aspx
Rainbow Bridge via Lake Powell [ Rainbow Bridge via Lake Powell ]
Walpi Hopi Village https://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=32451 and [ Walpi Tour ]
La Posada Walking Tour [ La Posada Walking Tour ]
Turquois Room https://www.theturquoiseroom.net/ Mother’s Day, 3 people, $235 including tip…
Mother’s Day – Up at dawn to catch an early breakfast and check out of our hotel rooms prior to boarding our Rainbow Bridge tour boat at 7am [ photo ] . Besides our Captain’s Derek and Theresa, I think I may have been the only other Arizona resident on that boat that day. Had a chance to chat with visitors from France, Germany, and England – many who had seen the bridge on previous vacations. Interesting that there was instant recognition by our fellow boaters – we all were on the Upper Antelope Canyon trek the day before and were all staying Saturday evening at the Lake Powell Resort! I failed to note the time extension for the tour “The Castle Rock Cut is currently closed due to low lake levels. This tour will last approximately 7 - 7.5 hours total.” Hopefully this won’t impact our 7:30pm dinner reservation at the Turquoise Room in Winslow AZ… The lower lake levels also tacked on an additional half mile for the hike to Rainbow Bridge (hope I didn’t burn out my parents’ wheels tackling Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend the day before). Mission accomplished [ photo ] . Upon returning to Wahweap Marina, we grabbed some cold refreshments and jumped in my F-150 for the backcountry tour through Navajo and Hopi Lands. Didn’t have enough time to stop at Coal Mine Canyon ( [ Coal Mine Canyon ] ), but we did have just enough for a drive-by of Old Oraibi and Walpi on the Hopi mesas. We arrived at La Posada in Winslow before 6:30pm – plenty of time to freshen up prior to another gastronomic gem served up by Chef John in the Turquoise Room [ photo ] and https://www.theturquoiseroom.net/_blog/ ... ial_Event/ . After dinner we had a chance to explore the eclectic La Posada then sit out back to do some trainspotting…
Monday May 13th
8am drive from Winslow AZ to Ahwatukee via Mogollon RIm – 183 miles, 3hrs 16min per Google Maps
La Posada Walking Tour [ La Posada Walking Tour ]
Mother’s Day – The Day After… Gathered at 8am in the Turquoise Room for morning breakfast (don’t know where I found the space for breakfast after that huge Sunday meal) and a daylight stroll around the hotel grounds before taking the Hwy 87/Mogollon Rim route home through Payson.
More photos to follow... ;) |
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