31st Week in Review: Driving in Circles For Fun

The week started with Jay and I staying with our friend Kirstin at the Grand Canyon.  We had actually driven around the Grand Canyon during week 29 in order to get to Flagstaff from Utah, so it was nice to have a chance to come back up for a night to the natural wonder where we fell in love (ahh…).  Thursday evening we returned to Flagstaff for a couple more nights, giving us the chance to enjoy First Friday Art Walk and discover two new Flagstaff breweries.  Saturday, after a fortunate lunch date with our friend Kelly, from CVN, and her sister and friend, we were headed west again, towards Las Vegas.

Grand Canyon sunrise

We would have avoided Vegas if it was not the new home for Sharon’s childhood friend Rachel and her family.  More than five months ago, Jay’s parents came to Vegas to take us back to their home in Phoenix so that he could recuperate from a terrible accident in Death Valley.  Vegas was never our favorite place and after the accident it comes with bad memories as well.  Fortunately, the bad aura of Vegas was overwhelmed by the hospitality and good spirits of our friends.  We had a wonderful holiday weekend and were actually sad to leave, although we have lots of interesting road ahead of us.  Speaking of which, we headed north from Las Vegas to see more of Highway 93, an exceptionally scenic highway through some of the most sparsely populated land in the lower 48 states.  After stocking up on beer, we continued on a circuitous route into southern Utah, testing the limits of our four wheel drive and spooking wild horses on a deserted back road.  We ended the week in Pine Valley, Dixie National Forest.  We are making our way towards a volunteer project near Loa, Utah.  The drive from Las Vegas is only 5.5 hours, but we will probably end up driving closer to 20.

Wild horses on the road... yea, that happened.

Hours volunteered: 6 hours prepping the new employee bike fleet at Grand Canyon National Park

States: 2 – Arizona: Flagstaff, Grand Canyon; Nevada, Las Vegas, Boulder City, Caliente

Budget: under

People Visited: Rachel, Luke, and Monica Langley

Nights under the stars: 2 – Dixie National Forest

Best meal:  Chocolate and blueberry pancakes and bacon by Rachel and Luke

Best beer: Boulder Dam’s Espresso Stout

Advertisements