Grand Canyon and Beyond

May 3

May 3 Grand Canyon and Beyond

After a night in Kingman, AZ there has been a lot of sights but not a lot of miles covered but it has been worth it! A quick stop in Seligman, AZ after seeing a sign for espresso which, in the middle of nowhere seemed out of place but the shop had a lot of crap and so I thought it could be interesting - either it would be the worth coffee ever or it would come with a story as to how decent coffee ended up in this almost forgotten town. It was good coffee and it was sold by a couple, him German and her Swiss, who moved to the area to run this store. Interesting couple with plenty of stories.

After couple cups it was time to move onwards. There weren't plans for stopping at the Grand Canyon but man am I glad I did. Not only did I see it on the ground but from the air too. On the road into the Canyon you pass by an airport where helicopters tours are offered and I thought why the hell not?!

Coming in for a landing at the Grand Canyon airport. - J. Bailey photo

Honestly the pictures from he air aren't much different than those from the ground but it was unbelievable to see the canyon from up there. There is no better way to get a sense of how incredibly huge and varied the landscape is around the canyon.

After spending far more time than I thought I would there I carried on to Flagstaff, AZ for the night. Getting in late didn't leave any time to look around but I was tired anyway. After some sleep, it was off to the old downtown which was along the original Route 66 trail. Flagstaff was a very cool place with lots of interesting little cafés, local breweries, and more outdoors shops and yoga studios than I've seen elsewhere.

One of the typical Route 66 businesses in Flagstaff. - J. Bailey photo

After a few miles there was a sign for "The best preserved meteor crater on earth"; that isn't something you can see in Toronto so I thought it would be worth stopping to see. I wasn't disappointed. It is hard to contextualize in a picture but the area on the ground is large enough for twenty football fields and the bowl could accommodate two million spectators. An analogy which I did not calculate, it came from the informational video they show.

Meteor crater in Arizona - J. Bailey photo

Next stop Winslow, Arizona. A tiny town with mention in The Eagles song, Take It Easy. Now done up in kitschy fashion with the flatbed Ford staged beside a statue of a woman, a vignette of what is described in the song.