Kaleidoscope, Part VI

Our vacation to this point had truly been a kaleidoscope of adventures.  We started with the WOW of Hollywood,  followed with the restive spirit of the Native American themed desert resort, the joy of Chihuly in the cactus gardens,  the awesome colors of rock formations in Sedona, and then the full grandeur of the Grand Canyon.

And now we had an afternoon to spend in Flagstaff, a bit of shopping still to do and time to spare on this last leisurely day before we boarded the train at 4:00 a.m. to head back East.  I expected to find some good food and a few galleries within a few blocks area to fill the time.  This city is home to about 20,000 students enrolled at Northern Arizona University, and about 65,000 full time residents.  I did not see how many thousands, or hundreds of thousands or more visit annually to pass through Route 66 and visit the Grand Canyon, using Flagstaff for a base.  I did see that the Grand Canyon gets as many as 5 million visitors a year.

We had taken a taxi from the hotel and were dropped off in the midst of the historic downtown district, a short walk from the train station.  Since Route 66 runs right through Flagstaff, and it's truly an old town of the West, it gets a huge share of visitors, yet we found lots of residents willing to chat and give suggestions of more things to see, to do and to eat.  Their pride in Flagstaff was most apparent and it made us warm to the place immediately.

We chose a place called the Mountain Oasis for lunch.  It had been recommended by our Grand Canyon tour guide, John.  The restaurant was cozy and had ample seating and friendly staff.   I ordered a hot chicken sandwich with just the right combination of cheese and aioli, lettuce, and tomato.  I am not always a sandwich person, but this was delicious.  Toshiro had an ahi tuna dish that was good but not as yummy as mine! 

The Mountain Oasis and other quaint and interesting shops and restaurants across from Heritage Square

Brick walls were hung with Dali-esque style paintings by a  local artist, Sky Black.  His art was visually appealing and displayed a great sense of humor that I especially appreciated.  If I had more wall space, I would have loved to purchase one.  You can see more of his work at skyblackart.com or Facebook.com/skyblackart. Truly, please check this out!  Several of the paintings shown at the website were at the Mountain Oasis and I enjoyed them all, taking a walk around the restaurant before our food came, and another lingering one on our way out, just to stop and study each one.  They filled me with admiration for his creativity as well as his technique and talent for painting.

Tea Time But Still Dreaming by Sky Black

Affaire d' Coeur by Sky Black

 We headed down the street, going into shops like the Sweet Shoppe and Nut House with not only candies but candles for great souvenirs.  But having just eaten we were able to bypass the candies, and did not want to carry the candles that were shaped like cactus around with us. 

We then entered the Erica Vhay Gallery where Toshiro kept saying "Umai".  It means I envy her ability and I wish I could do that.  He began a lengthy conversation with the gallery manager who happened to be Erica's husband, Darryl Brown.  He conveniently worked on his web design firm from the gallery.  We learned they  had gravitated to Flagstaff from the Northwest for his wife's art and a desirable lifestyle.  As they continued to talk I admired all of Erica's work, and also a guest artist John Stebila who did sculptures with metals and clock pieces, that were again quite original.  We were having a splendid time here, at the gallery and Flagstaff as a whole.  You can see more of Erica's work at www.ericavhay.com and John Stebila's website is http://stebilastudios.com.

Paintings by Erika Vhay

 After quite a lengthy chat at the Vhay Gallery, we headed across Heritage Square, obviously a central meeting place for all to come and enjoy.  We talked with several people who were out and about enjoying  Flagstaff.  Some were visiting to tour the Grand Canyon just like we were.  But others lived here, having moved from California and Arkansas and the northern states.  They retired here; they came here to work.  But Flagstaff was a place they chose because they were drawn here.  

As the afternoon progressed, I found myself drawn here, too.  The people that we met were awesomely friendly, talented and each had a story to tell. If I were younger and looking to relocate, I would be doing serious job searches and getting in touch with movers to calculate costs right now to get the move on before winter!

Richard and jamie McNeil with (baby) Huey, a Bernese mountain dog, Hunk, a rottweiler, and Huckelberry, an English mastiff puppy,   They are great examples of happy, smiling Flagstaff residents.

Mural by Joe Sorren in Heritage Square.  He is an alumni of Northern Arizona University.

Sculpture in Heritage Square

From the Square we checked out the public restrooms, which is only notable because then we found a wonderful little place called the Old Town Creperie.  Ahh, but we were still too full.  So much food and it all looked good.  Here we found another small business owner, Jamie, who with business partner Laura Anne had opened the restaurant after deciding to make Flagstaff her home coming from somewhere in the East.

Charming storefront at the Old Town Creperie

The Old Town Creperie has an appealing entrance, and an outside seating area also.

We stopped next at Steep Leaf Lounge, a tea shop that was still going through some renovation, and getting ready to put in a 20 seat bar for tea tastings.  It was filled with lovely ceramics and I found an earthy white/gray heart-shaped mug by Alma Angelina of Yuma Arizona. This little shop had great gifts and again very friendly staff.  (https://www.leaflounge.com/shop/index.php)

After Steep we were ready to put our bags down and take a break.  My neighbor had recommended Charlie's Pub in the historic Weatherford Hotel and we had saved it for last, (always my favorite tactic).  We sat outside in the pleasant air, ordered cold drinks and studied the menu.  And as I read about the history of the building where Charlies' Pub was located, a childhood delight unfolded in my kaleidoscope of memories!

The Weatherford Hotel had opened its doors in 1900.  The roads were only dirt and travel was by horse and buggy.   Check it out here:  http://weatherfordhotel.com/   The hotel was visited by many famous people including Zane Grey, an author of the Wild West, who wrote many famous books like Spirit of the Border and Riders of the Purple Sage, also a movie.  He had  visited in the early 1900's soon after it opened.  So  what and never heard of him many of you might say.  But, as a kid,  Zane Grey was my second favorite author, right after Carolyn Keene, who wrote the Nancy Drew series. 

I have always had a ravenous appetite for reading.  While Calgon can take many away from their stress, I went to all those wonderful places with books. When I was 9 or 10  my dad would drive me to our small town's library and I would run in and fill my arms with as many books as I could carry.  I had to take that many because the library was quite small, and I believe it was only open on Saturdays.  It might have been open on Wednesdays, too, but perhaps my dad worked so I could only go on Saturdays.  My arms could hardly hold the books, usually 8 or 9 of them, but I would go home and start immediately.  My parents were pretty easy on me, and I could stay up late.  I would have all the books finished by late Tuesday or Wednesday night.  I just couldn't stop myself.  Then I would be bored until I could go back and get refills!  

But now I was where Zane Grey had sat and drank and slept.  What a revelation!  Now, of course, unless you are my age or older, and probably a guy, you have never even heard of him.  But if I had only read Nancy Drew, I would have run out of books, so I had turned to Zane Grey.  I also had my own collection of Trixie Belden books, hard-covers that could be purchased in the five and dime for 59 cents.  Those were read and re-read a hundred times, at least, to fill in until I could get to the library again.

Aiding me in collecting some of this information about the history of the hotel, because I was now feeling inspired and wanted to write about Flagstaff, was our very wonderful waiter, Mr. Martinez.  He made copies of the hard cover menus with the history of the hotel and invited me to go in and look around. 
The hotel still looked very old but they were working hard to renovate a bit at a time.  The old safe was in the lobby, along with some other antiques.  It was so interesting to see it.  Behind the lobby was a large old wooden bar with several customers, drinking eating and playing pool.  Renovation is a continuing process here and they are going to put in a "speakeasy" club downstairs for their next project.

Be sure to order the Fried Bread Taco!

Charlie's Pub in  the Weatherford Hotel

Weatherford Hotel lobby staircase, the ATM looks very out of place in this old atmosphere.

The hotel's old safe was a beauty.

Outside, at the table behind us was a cute little boy eating fries and chicken fingers but his face was painted like Spiderman.  His name was Christiano Cox Martinez and it turned out he was the waiter's son.  He was well mannered and most impressed that I, too, could spin out a web complete with sounds since I had a grandson his age who had given me very good lessons. 

I talked with his father's friend, Erika McNalley, who had brought him in and found that the dentist in town had had a children's party at the office to get the kids in and used to going to the dentist.  And they brought in the face painter as an activity for the kids.  Really, how could someone in this place not love it?

Cristiano Cox Martinez (Spiderman) and Erika McNalley  I am sorry we didn't notice the pole when taking this photo!

Before I knew it I saw several young women carrying vases with flowers and bags of trimmings into the hotel entrance.  I stopped the right person walking by and asked if it was for a wedding.  Yes, she said and she was the bride!  The wedding would be on Saturday and they were getting the Zane Grey ballroom set up for the reception.  She had just graduated from college the previous Saturday and while the family was in town, the wedding was going to follow. 

Excitedly, since I just love weddings and flowers, I gushed that if I were going to be in town, I would invite myself to the wedding.  At which point, my own thoughts were provoking questions to myself, like what is the matter with you, and why are you talking to everyone like you know them?  I had a little conversation with myself and decided it must be the elevation.  The elevation of Flagstaff is 7000 feet.  The elevation where I live now is 10 feet above sea level, and watch out for the storm surge!

 Meanwhile the bride explained that the wedding would be in the church at the top of the hill, and rather than get a limo they would make a procession down to the hotel, about 4 blocks and the bride and bridesmaids would carry parasols.  I practically drooled and wished we could have stayed longer in paradise, I mean Flagstaff. 

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapel

We sat there for at least two hours watching people come and go, talking to the waiter, Mr. Martinez, and everyone else and then decided we really should get back to the hotel.  We asked for a taxi and stayed inside in the cozy lobby, watching for it to appear.  We noticed 3 fellows seated outside, and as we watched the waiter brought them 3 orders of one of the Pub's specialties, the Fried Bread Tacos.  I had heard they were delicious, but we had been too full to order anything more.  Wow, I so wished we had saved some room.  They were so big they filled a platter and were piled high with toppings.  Easily one platter could have served two or more. 

Before I knew what I was doing, I was out of my chair and chatting away to the 3 fellows and found they were taking a 3 day hike into the canyon. They were visiting from New York.  At that the taxi drove up, and my husband came out of the lobby, took my arm, steered me away, and said "Excuse us, but she loves talking to everyone."  Yes, definitely the elevation.

We had discovered  a town full of activities and thriving small shops and restaurants with quality goods, creative and beautiful art, and fabulous food.  Flagstaff proved to be the the piece de resistance, the dessert of the several courses of our vacation!

 We have been back from vacation for about 2 months now and I still cannot quite explain it, but Flagstaff was very much alive and very special.  And I am still questioning myself about it, and wondering if it was the elevation or maybe the water?

When we returned to the hotel we had a light, uneventful dinner and tried to get some sleep before we left for the station in the wee hours of the morning.  We would travel overnight to Chicago and then another overnight on a different train to get into Washington D.C.  Again we experienced meeting interesting people in the dining car.  One huge bit of sightseeing for me occurred in New Mexico as we were going into Colorado. 

The car attendant had announced we were coming into an area of lots of wild life and we should pay close attention.  Just a few minutes after Toshiro got up to use the restroom I saw 3 grizzly bears maybe 100 yards from our cabin's window.  We were moving about 40 miles an hour, so I didn't try to get a picture.  It looked like a huge mama bear with two very good sized young bears.  They were light brown and sitting and looking - at us as the train rolled by.  Poor Toshiro did not get to see them, nor did those on the other side of the train.  But it was a sighting I hope I can always remember.

Somewhere in Kansas I took this shot of the many barns I like to photograph from the train, en route from Flagstaff to Chicago.  This is why I so enjoy travel by train.

 And so, dear readers, the series of the Kaleidoscope ends.  It took me forever to be able to get my thoughts together on Flagstaff.  I wanted to do it justice, because it will always have a very warm place in my heart.  Of course, the earlier separate parts of our vacation, new places and old friends, was so very special.  I will be forever grateful to our friends for sharing time with us.  It is, after all, the best gift we can give or receive.   And over time, it is the collection of these shared events that will click in my kaleidoscope of memories to be remembered again and again. 

See you next time on this blog, when I will be getting back to Japan.  I hope you enjoyed sharing our Southwest adventures.  And please leave comments!