Day Zero:
Before I left, I laid fresh pajamas on my bed for one less thing I need to do when I return. I finished packing, and I feel I struck a balance between being well prepared for a variety of situations and traveling light. Cheryl drove me to the airport. She was very excited for me and said I should call if anything amazing happens.
The sky was overcast with thick clouds between Green Bay and Minneapolis. Like rolling hills covered in snow, from horizon to horizon. I moved across the airplane aisle to get a picture of the sunset. The rest of the journey was uneventful. I called the hotel when I landed and they sent a shuttle. Unpacked, showered, and ready for bed.
Day One:
I wanted to hike immediately, but my legs were sore from the the air travel. I knew if I pushed myself I would regret it the rest of the week. Instead, I went to Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home Taliesin West. I didn’t know anything about him except being a famous architect. He is from Wisconsin, and had a large group of apprentices, family, and friends. He had a strong vision of community, not just for his group, but for the public through his work.
After lunch, I traveled north to Sedona. I stopped several times to admire the vast and rugged landscape. The Lantern Light Inn, chosen for its cheap room, is a unique and charming experience. The rooms open to the garden, filled with hammocks, fire pits, and paths you could nearly get lost in.
For dinner I went to an Italian restaurant called Vespa. A couple vintage scooters decorated the front door. The food was alright. The waiter was very friendly and said “amazing” after every order in a tone like I had just solved world hunger, but yesterday I cured cancer, and achieved world peace the day before that. So it’s still an incredible feat, but he isn’t surprised that I ordered the chicken parmigiana.
Day Two:
Woke up early and found a restaurant that opened before 8. It was a little further and more upscale than I expected, but the food was good, quick, and reasonably priced. From there I hurried to the Soldier’s Pass trailhead. The parking lot was closed, so I had to wait for the shuttle.
It felt freeing to finally walk into the wilderness, even curated and traveled as it was. I was well equipped, moving at my own pace, and had a vague idea of my objective: the Soldier’s Pass Cave. I knew it was off the path, and I kept exploring dry stream beds thinking they might lead me there. Eventually I lost the trail entirely and forged my own path along the bottom of the mountain. The foliage was thick enough to block travel in most directions, but sparse enough that any opening looked like it could be a path.
My GPS was accurate and I always knew where I was. My only real concern was somehow getting seriously injured and unconscious and not being found for some time. But I stumbled onto a side trail that climbed straight up the mountain. With what I knew of the cave, I figured this was unlikely to be my goal. But I was halfway up already, so I followed it.
Almost to the peak was the cave. A massive slab of rock had pulled away from the cliff slightly, and holes in the bottom became arches. The crack was hollowed by erosion into a tube a hundred feet long, almost resting on top of the arches. It was an amazing sight.
For the journey back I tried to stay on the trail, but it was poorly marked and I ended up in the stream bed again. The shuttle was due for a while, so I walked the entire way back to the car. Returned to the hotel, showered, and bought a sandwich for lunch. Ginny’s friend Sherry lived in the area, and she invited me to an “Ecstatic” dance. The music was more club style, but I succeeded in pulling a few people into swing dance. I finally met Sherri after, but she had a personal emergency and had to leave almost immediately.
I relaxed in the hotel garden with my book for a few hours. It was a struggle to stay awake.
Day Three:
Packed my things and left the Lantern Light Inn. For breakfast, I found a cafe in the hotel across the street. The waitress was a little slow and seemed confused at times. I asked if it was okay if I wasn’t a guest of the hotel. She smiled and said “welcome, outsider!” in a tone that wasn’t creepy, but both awkward and sincere. The perfect mix of weird and wholesome. I still remember her half-asleep expression as she tried to greet me. The food was by far the best hotel food I’ve had, though also the most expensive.
After breakfast I hurried to the Park’n’Ride for the shuttle. The driver mentioned the parking lot was open, but I stayed on the shuttle to avoid parking fees. The Dry Creek Vista trail was a dirt road. It might have been the dry creek, but nothing nearby resembled one. Eventually I reached the trailhead for the Devil’s Bridge. It went up the side of the mountain, and was mostly rough stone mostly arranged in stairs. After several hundred steps, I found the arch.
The trail ended over the top of it. The arch was about thirty feet wide and fifty feet tall, but distances are hard to guess in the mountains. A medium size pine tree was growing almost directly under it. The lack of safety features was surprising. Nervous tourists were walking next to forty foot drops. The arch itself was only five feet wide at its narrowest, with the forest far below. Despite that, a line of tourists waited their turn to get pictures taken standing on the arch. A man I helped earlier asked me to photograph him in exchange for returning the favor. When my turn came, I only ventured out as far as I felt safe. My pics didn’t turn out as impressive because I wasn’t directly over the arch.
Instead of taking the Dry Creek Vista trail back, I followed the Mescal trail. It was visited by the same shuttle. I enjoyed it much more than Dry Creek . It followed a ridge and a plateau with nothing in sight but trees, rocks, and sky.
Back at my car, I considered visiting a Bhuddist Stupa but it was 15 minutes out of my way. I decided against it for now and traveled west to the town of Jerome. It was a mining settlement with a lot of history and a couple museums. The streets were narrow and steep, but the shuttle took me everywhere I wanted to go. I spent about four hours there, I don’t know if there’s enough I missed to warrant a second trip, but I know I would enjoy it.
I felt a lack of trains from the mining museum, so I stopped at a train depot in the town of Clarkdale. I hoped they would have a mining related exhibit, but they only offered 4 hour train tours. That would be worth a follow up visit.
I considered going back through Sedona to the Stupa, but the GPS had a faster route to the South. Again, by 15 minutes. I’m sure I’ll be there again, so I passed. I went straight to Flagstaff and found the quaint hotel I picked was actually an aging motel near a busy railroad. I miss Lantern Light. I now have too many trains in my life.
Day Four:
The first event I knew for certain I wanted on this trip was the meteor crater full rim tour, partly because we had to skip it on the family vacation. It was foggy then and we didn’t go at all. Today was clear and sunny. My legs have been increasingly sore the last few days five mile hikes up mountains, especially my ankles. But this was only 2.3 miles on comparatively flat terrain, so I wore my thick socks for extra support and stepped carefully to avoid stressing my ankles.
As soon as my feet hit dirt, I could barely feel any pain. There was only the trail ahead, the views around me, and the sky above. The guide pointed out many sights and I learned a lot about the history of the crater. It had been purchased by a millionaire in the early 1900s who was obsessed with finding a massive amount of iron to sell to the railroad companies. Scientists today are pretty sure almost the entire meteorite vaporized on impact, leaving nothing for him to find. We started at 10 and I didn’t get back to the car until 1.
Driving to downtown Flagstaff and finding a restaurant took until 2. At least it was big enough that I wouldn’t need dinner. Stella’s Italian Cafe served an excellent sandwich called Mob Boss. The waiter suggested Lowell Observatory for the afternoon’s entertainment. I had considered it earlier but wasn’t sure it had many public exhibits, but he assured me it did. I wandered a bit downtown to get my money’s worth from the parking meter. An expensive chocolate shop offered free samples of their fudge, but it was not to my taste.
Then I traveled to the observatory. While serious astronomy was being done there, it was mostly aimed at educational tourism, with many exhibits for all ages. I learned this was the observatory that discovered Pluto, and that same telescope was on display. They also mapped the lunar surface for the Apollo missions.
When it got dark they set up telescopes outside and I saw Jupiter and the galilean moons, and Saturn with its rings and Titan, and the star Capella 42 light years away. I looked through a 130 year old telescope and saw the blue clouds of the Orion nebula. No digitization, no colorization, just the natural light magnified. This same telescope was commissioned by the founder of the observatory, and later used by astronauts preparing for their mission on the moon. I left with a profound appreciation for astronomy and its history.
Day Five:
The temperature as I left Lowell was 33 degrees Fahrenheit, but I barely felt it in my excitement. It was unchanged in the morning, but now I was half asleep and shivering. I wasn’t getting more sleep, so I checked out of the hotel and found a place for breakfast. As usual, I was the first customer. I was entranced by the light of the sunrise on the snow covered peaks. It seemed so close I imagined I could walk out the door and right up it. After I ate, I tried to find a way to burn a couple hours until my next event. But Flagstaff doesn’t have many indoor attractions. Certainly none open before nine. So I brought my laptop into the restaurant and was welcomed back with a glass of water and the wifi password.
It became much more crowded while I played Rimworld with the trackpad. Eventually I decided to go to Flagstaff Extreme Adventure Course forty five minutes early. Despite spending most of the morning shivering, the time passed quickly. There was a large family with preteens, and the guide let me go ahead of them.
My family completed the Florida Extreme Adventure course a few years ago without me. Quinton completed black, the most difficult course, and now so have I. And with twenty five percent less oxygen at six thousand feet about sea level. Flagstaff Extreme also offers bundles for hotels, which I wish I had taken advantage of.
I felt my legs could still take some punishment, so I went to the Walnut Canyon National Monument. The difference between a monument and a park is that presidents create monuments and congress creates parks.
It was a beautiful canyon with many layers of rock exposed. Some layers eroded faster than others, creating overhangs. A thousand years ago, natives took advantage of the natural shelter and built a village here. Nothing but walls remain, but they seem well preserved. The trail had about two hundred steps. I thought about visiting more native ruins but decided to drive to Phoenix while it was still light. A traffic accident ahead added fifteen minutes to a two hour trip, and I hurried down the mountain while the terrain faded from green to black. I miss my house, and my bed. I miss talking to friends. I miss my daily routine of brushing my teeth while watching my oatmeal cook. I feel my body wants to rest, but I still have two more days.
Day Six:
I didn’t have solid plans other than visiting Tucson for the Titan Missile museum. It’s a two hour drive each way for a forty five minute tour. There’s an Air and Space museum and a military vehicle museum nearby so it would be worth a day trip. But four hours of driving is a lot. Next time I can stay there overnight, or bring a friend to switch with. And there’s lots of hiking to do here in Phoenix.
Instead of any of that, I crashed hard. I woke up at nine and stayed in bed until ten. Found a breakfast place nearby and managed to walk there. Even though I felt rested, my limbs were heavy. My brain was slow. It felt similar to Covid brain fog, but without the other symptoms. I tried to find something relaxing, like a pool or hot tub, but found nothing. I spent all day playing Rimworld and napping. Went to Pei Wei Asian for orange chicken. Best orange chicken I’ve ever had. Breakfast and dinner were the only times I left the hotel. I hate to spend the day like this, but at least I didn’t have a scheduled event, and most of the museums were closed on Mondays anyway. I know I have the strength and endurance for another hike, but I need to work on recovery.
After breakfast I felt adventurous. I ventured to the first hike I wanted to do when I first left the airport. It was hard going at first. Even on level ground, I had to stop every hundred feet to catch my breath. But soon my body abandoned whatever immune response was going on, and every part of me was focused on the climb. I told myself I would just go to the top and back, and if it got too difficult I would save my strength. But I underestimated both the intensity of the climb and my ambition to complete it. The rocks compel me to go Up. I must go Up until there is no more Up to go.
I may regret it later, but as long as later happens in Wisconsin and not Arizona it’s fine. Distance is hard to guess here. The hill looked like one or two hundred feet, but later research revealed it was five hundred feet tall. I finally reached the top, and it was rewarding in a way no other hike has been this trip. In Sedona, every trail ends in a sheer rock face which cannot be scaled without gear. This was the first challenge to be conquered completely. The city of Phoenix lay in every direction.
On the way down, I noticed the rock layers were vertical instead of horizontal. The entire mountain had been formed by a section of crust getting upended on its side and held there while the ground around it solidified from whatever cataclysm broke it apart. The evidence of such sheer force on the Earth’s surface was sobering. I had seen these layered formations before in caves and cliff walls. Walking over them on the ground was almost surreal. I would never mock someone who believes in vortexes and spiritual energy, at least not to their face, but the Earth’s true energy is unfathomable and uncaring. Pray you never experience it close up.
It took longer than I expected to get back because I decided I didn’t need trails and took a shortcut. Next I went to the Hall of Flame fire fighter museum. Originally I misread their poster as Hall off Lame and wasn’t impressed. The collection included 300 years of original fire fighting equipment, much of it from Kenosha Wisconsin. It was very interesting and educational.
For lunch I found a run down restaurant call Sack’s Sandwiches and ate an Italian Steak sandwich. Would order again. The Desert Botanical Garden was close, so I went there. It turns out “aloe” and “agave” are entire families with many varieties. Succulents are fascinating.
I passed two ladies looking at cacti. One said “Look it this one. He’s so tall, thin, and pretty!” So I said “thank you!” and she turned around and said “so are you!”
Next I found ice cream at an inexpensive shop called Valley Ice Cream. It was also run down, but the interior was clean. I asked about nearby places to dance and he mentioned Flor de Calabaz and Miel de Agave. He said they are open on the weekends and I can get a wife their for sure. I should check these out next time. With that, I returned to the hotel and prepared to leave tomorrow.
Day Eight:
I try not to eat at the same restaurant twice on vacation, and breakfast options were narrowing. A nearby cafe turned out to be in a business complex. After looking for a few minutes I tried another one. Also in a complex, but at least it was clearly marked. The sandwich was okay. My options for the rest of the morning were the art musuem and the Japanese Friendship Garden. I chose the garden.
It was designed by a famous landscape artist from Himeji Japan.A tour guide gave me in depth details for what would have otherwise been a rather short walk. Every rock and tree had been carefully selected and placed according to Japanese garden philosophy. The guide emphasized the value of participating in a Japanese tea ceremony. I will have to find one in Wisconsin. There was no time left for the art museum, but the garden was well worth it.
Ever since my last time in Arizona, I had been haunted by the taste of an In-N-Out burger. I don’t even like burgers, but I craved this one. Up to this point in my trip I either wasn’t in the mood or didn’t have one nearby. It seemed fitting to get one now for my last meal in Arizona. The burger was quite good, but didn’t do my memory justice. I can live without another one for a while.
Drove to the airport, returned the car, and tried to find the check in desk. Ended up in the TSA line instead. I was eighty percent sure I could use the app to get my boarding pass, so I continued with a little stress. Almost forgot to empty my water bottle, which added a little more stress. My boots didn’t pass the body scan, so I had to take them off and put them on the conveyor while my socks got patted down, which made me a little more stressed. A TSA agent complimented my boots, which decreased my stress a little.
While getting my things from the conveyor, my water bottle swung against the side of the table and shattered. Which left me standing in a field of broken glass wearing just my socks without my boots in sight, while passengers behind me were trying to move down the line and push my things ahead of them. Which increased my stress. TSA had to shut down the entire line. I quickly grabbed my things, put on my boots hoping there wasn’t still glass on my socks, and moved on. In my haste, I put my wallet in the wrong pocket. I was very concerned (near panic) for several minutes until I found it.
I found my gate, confirmed with the attendant I could board with the app, and sat down to wait. It was difficult to convince myself it was okay to relax and there was no further need to be stressed.
I was assigned the rearmost seat in the airplane. Only the flight attendants were in my row, and only occasionally. They made excellent company, and lack thereof, and I had plenty of arm and leg room. One of them showed me around the rear food service compartment.
The connecting flight was delayed and changed gates several times. The crew didn’t arrive until well after boarding was meant to begin. I passed the time chatting with a lovely lady in her sixties who reminded me of Cynthia.
After we pulled from the gate, there were more delays for maintenance on the front landing gear. The pilot said this aircraft hadn’t been scheduled to fly today, and was swapped out for a different one with even more issues. We spent more time waiting to take off than we did in the air. Finally, I was back in Green Bay. I called a Lyft home. The driver guessed I was a programmer and asked about a few AI conspiracy theories. I tried to ease his mind a little. AI is scary enough without making things up. I couldn’t help him with the lizardmen, though. 5 stars.
Ate, showered, put on my clean pajamas I laid out a week and a day ago, and went to bed.
Arizona was an amazing experience. I have always loved arid and rugged environments, and I’ve wanted to return ever since I first visited with my family in 2022. I spent most of the time since waiting for a partner who could climb and hike the Grand Canyon with me. But I realized there are plenty of things I can do myself, and I need to take what I want from life rather than waiting for someone else to hand it to me.
There are other places I want to travel to. California and Hawaii promise ships from the world wars. Europe with its cultural riches looms enticing and daunting. But Arizona fills me with a feeling I can’t explain. After the first day, when I would turn a corner and see another breathtaking vista, I didn’t feel the adrenaline any more. I just felt home. I miss it already.
I shall return.