Vacations Blog

It’s 106 in the Phoenix area today, which is causing me to cast my memory fondly back to last Saturday and Sunday.

(Hover over the pictures to see captions.)

Last weekend was equally as sweltering, which prompted my husband to call me at work on Friday afternoon, all full of spur-of-the-moment planning. He asked if I wanted to head up to Flagstaff for an overnight getaway, to get out of the heat and to indulge in the annual Made in the Shade Beer Festival. Well, he certainly didn’t have to ask me twice (we are great fans of the beer festival, after all) – within a half hour I secured us a hotel room. Since, due to our last minute planning, everything in Flagstaff was booked or exorbitantly priced (the Beer Festival AND the Flagstaff Music Festival were going on) I ended up booking us a room in Sedona. It’s only a quick 28-mile jaunt down 89A from Flagstaff and, for that weekend anyway, cheaper.

We left home early on Saturday morning to beat the weekend traffic and made excellent time – two hours flat from our driveway to breakfast at the Galaxy Diner in Flagstaff. Thus sustained for an anticipated afternoon of drinking, we still had a couple of hours to kill before the festival opened at 1:00. We killed one hour at Collins Irish Pub, and the other hour at Altitudes Bar and Grill.

We were feeling pretty darned good by the time we rolled into the Coconino County Fair Grounds, where the festival was being held. After a brief wait in line to get in, we secured our little mini 3-oz mugs and proceeded to line hop from vendor to vendor. The start of the afternoon was actually cool enough for long sleeves (68 degrees!), with the occasional rain sprinkle, but as the afternoon progressed the clouds blew away and the sun came out long enough to finish frying my especially pale skin.

Note to self – even when it’s overcast, it’s still possible to get sunburned in Arizona.

We left the festival after a couple of hours and meandered our way back down Route 89A to Sedona, stopping briefly along the way to enjoy the greenery along the road. We drove straight through Uptown Sedona and headed a few more miles along the road to the Days Inn, where we were booked for the night.

After a brief nap, we got ourselves together again and had dinner at Oaxaca – sopapillas for him and fish tacos for me. Then it was across the street to the Oak Creek Brewery, where we sat and sipped and enjoyed the cool night air and excellent conversation. From there, still reluctant to go back to our hotel room, we decided to check out the Olde Sedona Restaurant and Bar, which turns into a pretty hoppin’ night club after hours. Let me tell you, it was a LOT of fun being the only sober person (I declined to drink any more alcohol after my nap that day) watching a club full of drunk people do their thang.

My friends, please be informed: alcohol can cause you to make bad decisions. This has been a Public Service Announcement.

The next morning we checked out of our room by 9:00, and stopped at The Orchards for breakfast out on their patio. We were disappointed in the service, which was haphazard at best, but the food was good. My husband had an omelette and I had poached eggs with corned beef hash, and both were prepared well.

Then, very reluctant to turn the car back toward Phoenix and the hundred-and-WHAT? degree heat, we drove back up 89A to Flagstaff. We explored the Visitor Center and grabbed some brochures, then walked up to Heritage Square (here is the Square’s website, and here is the live, controllable webcam) to watch some of the music festival. We wandered around, people-watching and taking pictures, before stopping one last time at Altitudes for a quick drink. We didn’t indulge, but beware the “Train Shots”, which are a buck whenever the train goes by on the tracks right next to the bar; or “Wrong Ways”, which is a dollar shot for any time a person drives the wrong way along the one-way street in front of the bar.

Finally, we could delay no longer, and drove “back down the hill”, leaving the lovely seventy-degree weather, cool breezes, fresh mountain air, and relaxed lifestyle behind.

Until the next time.