We left the Anderson Valley on Friday the 3rd at 5am. We drove for about 13 hours that day, including stops for gas, bathrooms and food. We got to Kingman, AZ, at around 6:30pm California time. The drive was easy and uneventful - just how you like it. We found a steakhouse for dinner in Kingman - bad choice. My ribs were quite good, but the atmosphere and service weren't great. After dinner we drove around old Kingman and found it was "First Friday" - which in Kingman apparently is one gallery and one wine bar. The art in the gallery was predominantly nudes of the female form, except for the jewelery. We kinda chuckled at that - a theme, perhaps? The wine bar was packed - what else to do on a Friday night in Kingman? We spoke to a nice young woman who told us that First Friday started with a number of galleries and businesses participating but was now down to just the two. We found a nice bottle of Malmsey (some of which I sip now as I write) and settled in for a bit to enjoy the local scenery. We noted almost immediately that there were a lot of pretty young women - but where were the boys?? After a while a few trickled in - but the girls were dressed for a night out and the boys were in ball caps. Hmmm.
The next morning we ate a quick breakfast and headed for the Grand Canyon. We arrived around 1pm and headed for the dining room at the El Tovar for a nice lunch and a bottle of Louis Roederer champagne. Once our room was ready, we deposited our luggage and headed out for a short walk along the rim trail. We had enough of walking down in to the steep canyon on the last trip - this time we just wanted to admire the views. Also, this year is much snowier and icier than last year, if we needed another excuse to stay on top. We had dinner again at the hotel - we'd booked a "romance package" which included the meal and a souvenir bottle of Grand Canyon wine (what turned out to be a not bad bottle of very light cabernet). Our room was one of the few with views of the canyon, so with the moon full, we headed out to our deck after dinner to enjoy the view some more.
We left the Grand Canyon mid-morning and headed through Navajo country down to Flagstaff and then on to Sedona. We arrived a bit earlier in the day this year, so we were able to get a quick grocery run in before all of the superbowl was over. There is a great natural foods grocery here that we love - we picked up king salmon and lamb chops for at least two dinners. We have a fantastic room this year - a separate bedroom, living room and full kitchen, as well as a small laundry closet. A big improvement over last year where we had a bedroom/living room/kitchen set up in one space. I had some business to attend to the first morning here, but we headed out for a short hike this afternoon and got to enjoy the gorgeous area that is Sedona.
The rest of this week will be filled with hikes around Sedona, good meals cooked in our kitchen (and on the grills the resort provides) and maybe a movie or two in town. By the time I write again we will be in Pagosa Springs, CO. Until then, cheers!