Surprise Trip

Early in the afternoon on Friday, my DH sent me a text message telling me to get packed for a few days, we were going out of town. I sent a reply asking how I should pack. He told me to pack for Flagstaff, AZ. We almost didn't go, as when we looked up the weather, it looked like it was going to rain literally everywhere on the planet, with the exception of Toronto, Canada and Cairo, Egypt. Ugh.


We decided to go anyway, figuring that even if it rained, we needed to get out of the house, and get out of town for a bit. We live in a fairly crowded house, so any time alone is precious. We left Friday afternoon a bit late, about around 4:30 PM. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel in Kingman, AZ (closest one!) and arrived in Flagstaff at around 9:30 or so.

We got up a bit late the next day, but to be fair, we really did not have a time schedule for anything. Just go when we felt like it, eat when hungry, sleep when tired sort of thing. We drove to the Grand Canyon and hiked along the southern portion of the Canyon. It's gorgeous. I can't wait to go back. I took a lot of pics along the way. We hiked about 5 miles, and that was not including the walking we did in Flagstaff when get got back.

Flagstaff is a really neat town and I really do wish we could have stayed longer and/or moved there. It's kind of quirky and artsy and we really like it there. Only downside is the housing market is weird out there and we don't have any way to support ourselves. :( Bummer.

On the way back, we managed to catch some of the Gumball 3000. (The Gumball 3000 is an annual 3000 mile (5000 km) international rally which takes place on public roads, with a different 3000 mile route around the world each year. 120 cars participate, often driven by their owners. Now in its 11th year the event has grown into an established fixture on the popular culture calendar annually attracting household names from music, film and sport to participate, including David Hasselhoff, Adrien Brody, Johnny Knoxville, and Tony Hawk. Although set up as a rally with no official timing, or prizes for reaching checkpoints first, during the rally, some participants have been fined for speeding and other traffic offenses by the police in countries they passed through. Cars participating have also been confiscated by the authorities of countries they pass through. The Gumball 3000 was founded in 1999 by Maximilian Cooper. Cooper invited 55 of his wealthiest friends to take part in a 6 day 3000 mile drive around Europe, partying every night.) It was really neat to see all of the exotics like Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porches, BMW's, a Jaguar XJ220 and even a Bugatti Veyron. (Whoooooooooooooooo!!!)

I managed to snag this pic while we were crossing over the Hoover Dam:



I took some completely random shots of the Hoover Dam as we were passing by. I basically just stuck the camera out of the car window and clicked until I got something. :D Here are some of my efforts:


I would have had some cooler pics of the Dam itself, however, it was 7 bucks for parking and we had no cash on us. :(. Oh, well. It's half an hour down the road and it's not like they are going to move it any time soon. :P


Here is a link to more pics: http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/Archangelcin/Travel/Flagstaff%20Grand%20Canyon%20May%202009/


I hope everyone had a good weekend!


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Respectfully submitted,

C.