Our first trip of the season to Kanab, Utah came a little earlier than planned.Both Fabgrandpa and our friend, Geogypsy, were sick and needed to go to the doctor at the clinic in town. I drove the ambulance, I mean, truck. As we left the North Rim, it was a gorgeous day. Because the road is not open yet, there was very little traffic out there. The only people we passed were people who work up here, and Arizona DOT employees where were spraying oil on the road. Everyone is getting ready for opening day.

A beautiful day

When we got to the scenic view on Hwy 89A, we saw clouds that were raining, but the rain was not touching the ground. I learned from Geogypsy that this is called virga. I have never known that it had a name.

Virga--rain that doesn't touch the ground.

We got into town and went straight to the Kane County Medical Clinic, where the two of them had appointments. They were seen promptly, diagnosed, and sent on their way with prescriptions in hand. Fabgrandpa has bronchitis. We went over to the pharmacy and dropped off the prescriptions, and went to lunch at Houston’s Trails End. It was too late for breakfast, so we ordered hamburgers (mine with no bun as usual). After lunch we picked up the meds, did a bit of grocery shopping, and headed back up the plateau.

Near the Utah/Arizona border

The sky was looking a little more fierce but the rain was still evaporating before it got to the ground. We saw several lightening strikes in that storm.

Dark skies in northern Arizona

The farther we went down the road, the darker the sky got, but the rain was still not falling all the way to the ground. We probably only had twenty drops of rain hit the windshield the whole day.

Virga in Northern Arizona

We got back home around 4:30, with no rain to speak of. I am happy to report that both patients are recovering nicely from their respective ailments.

This was the last day of our roadtrip to Arizona. We left Flagstaff, headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, to our seasonal jobs there. Though the North Rim doesn’t open until May 15th, Fabgrandpa has to start working on Sunday, so he wanted to get there a couple of days before that. The drive from Flagstaff to the North Rim has such diverse landscape. It is unbelievable how it changes so in just 195 miles.

We passed by snow covered mountains near Flagstaff.

San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff

Ponderosa Pines along the roadside north of Flagstaff on Hwy 89.

Hwy 89 north of Flagstaff

Just a few miles later you are driving through painted desert land.

Painted desert

You see some really different types of land formations along this road.

A butte along Hwy 89

Then the landscape changes again to red cliffs.

Hwy 89 north between Flagstaff and Page

The look of the cliffs changes again when you turn west on Hwy 89A into Marble Canyon.

Cliffs near Lee's Ferry

The cliffs are near the road when you head into Marble Canyon at Navajo Bridge

Rounding the bend into Marble Canyon

Even though I have seen this place many times in the last five years, I still am amazed by it.

Just beautiful!

The landscape changes yet again as you begin the climb up the Kaibab Plateau. There begin to be trees again, this time scrub pines and desert plants.

Climbing up the Kaibab Plateau

Once you turn south on Hwy 67 towards the North Rim, you begin to see Ponderosa Pines, fir trees, and aspens. There are lots of meadows, too.

On Hwy 67 south towards the North Rim

About ten miles south of Jacob Lake, you’ll drive through eleven miles of burned forest. This was the Warm Fire that was caused by a lightening strike in 2006 and burned about 60,000 acres.

The Warm Fire burned in 2006

As the elevation gets higher, the temperature gets colder. This frozen pond created by snow melt  is about five miles from the entrance to the North Rim Grand Canyon.

Frozen pond created by snow melt

The entrance station to the North Rim. The park doesn’t open until May 15th so the gate is locked until then. There was not as much snow this year as there have been in recent years.

The entrance gate is locked

You can see the difference in the amount of snow in this picture, that was taken in 2010 on about the same date as the one above.

Entrance station in April of 2010

This is about a mile south of the entrance station inside the park on Hwy 67. It looks like a lake right now but it’s just snow melt in the meadow.

The first bend in the road inside the park

We finally made it our campsite, within view of the canyon. I love my summer home!

View from my campsite at the North Rim

Our plan was to spend three nights and two full days in Flagstaff. It is the last town before we reach our destination of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, where we work for the season, from late April through mid October. We always stock up on supplies we’ll need before taking that last two hundred mile drive. This year was a little bit different  from other years, because we decided to actually see a little bit of Flagstaff. But first, we had to get the chores out of the way. Laundry, grocery shopping, etc.

My favorite store in the world!

A trip to Flagstaff always includes a shopping trip to New Frontiers, a health food store. They have so much good stuff!  Lots of gluten free items, even gluten free options in the pastry case in the bakery. Another must go place for us is Picazzo’s Pizza. Fabgrandpa can get regular crust and I can get any item on the menu prepared gluten free. We usually wind up getting two pizzas and taking home most of it. It is delicious reheated.

Purl in the Pines

Yesterday, after breakfast, and the trip to New Frontiers, we had to do laundry. It didn’t take very long though with us working together to get it done. Then while Fabgrandpa took a nap, I went out to Oodegarde’s Sewing Center to find some flannel fabric to make myself a new pair of jammie pants. My old ones have a massive hole in them that I have already repaired twice. It’s about time for a new pair. I also made a trip to Purl in the Pines yarn shop and picked up some nice cotton and bamboo blend yarn to make some washcloths. I want something lush and soft and 100% organic to wash my face with.

My haul from the fabric and yarn shops

That little ball on the left is cotton and bamboo, and the greens and browns are 100% cotton. That pink hank is one I found in a thrift store and is cotton and viscose. I’m loving these colors. And they are displayed on the green flannel I got for my jammies.

Today we went to Wal-Mart to finish up our grocery shopping. After everything was put away, we decided to go to downtown Flagstaff for dinner and a walkabout. Dinner was at Pata Thai. I had the Pineapple Shrimp and Chicken Fried Rice and Fabgrandpa got the Spicy Scallops. Both were yum, but I couldn’t take more than one taste of his because he got his hot!

Spicy Scallops

Pineapple Fried Rice

After dinner we walked around downtown “old” Flagstaff, going in and out of stores and window shopping.  We loved one shop, The Artist’s Gallery. There was so much in there that I want that I could spend my whole salary in there. We bought one piece, a kiln fired glass wall hanging. I love it! It will hang in our hallway someday at the house.

Kiln fired glass "face"

On the way home, we saw this unusual cloud formation:

What a weird looking cloud!

In the morning, we’ll hook up the trailer and be on our way again. The last two hundred miles from Flagstaff to the North Rim will slip by really quickly, and then we’ll be “home” for the season.

headed west

It was a lovely day for traveling–no wind, smooth road, sunshine, 47 degrees. We headed west once again towards Flagstaff. Although our end of the road on this trip is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, I always feel like I am “home” when we arrive in Flagstaff. I love that town!

Western New Mexico

We fueled up in Grants after seeing the Ice Cave yesterday. Diesel was $3.999 at Speedy’s in town. When we were in the planning stages of this trip, we planned on getting 10 miles per gallon and paying $4.25 per gallon. Both of those estimates have turned out to be wrong, both in our favor. Right now the truck is saying 11.4 miles per gallon.

Western New Mexico

This leg of the trip was just so nice! The scenery in western New Mexico is eye popping gorgeous!

A little bit of water

These washes are usually dry when we come through here. It was good to see a little water flowing today.

The last exit before Arizona

We crossed over into Arizona around 11:00 a.m. and gained an hour because Arizona does not observe daylight savings time. They stay on Mountain Standard Time all year long.

The state line to Arizona

We have been traveling now for nine days, seven of them driving days. We have been in ten states!

San Francisco Peaks

It’s always exciting to me to see the first glimpse of the San Francisco Peaks, the mountains in Flagstaff. This was fifty three miles from Flagstaff. We’ll be camping at the base of those mountains at Flagstaff KOA.

Flagstaff

We arrived in Flagstaff about 1:30 p.m. and got set up in the campground. We were expecting our friend and co-worker, Gaelyn, to be there already. About five minutes after we got there, though, she posted on Facebook that she had trouble with her truck and was waiting for a tow truck two miles outside of Flagstaff.  A little while later her rig was towed in to drop off her fifth wheel at the KOA, then they towed her truck to the Ford dealership in town. We are all hoping they will be able to get her on the road again in two days.