Down The Canyon and Flagstaff

It’s 106 degrees in the shade. OK, so it’s not quite 106 when we hiked, but later in the day it would be. Equipped with fruit, water and “pop” from Grandpa’s fridge we descend 1,300 ft from the canyon rim down the South Kaibab Trail. It’s a short 1.4 miles, but with so much elevation change, the climb back up gets your heart going. The views are spectacular and well worth it. I’ll yield to the pictures and save you from more reading.

We’re back in Flagstaff by the mid afternoon well before the 6:30 dinnertime Grandpa set for us, and so we decide to explore this city a little. San Francisco St. is the hip and trendy area. I mean, it does have a Coldstone Creamery. Two nice surprises: The first was stumbling upon a photography exhibition featuring Sue Bennett and Dave Edwards. (I guess First Friday gallery walks aren’t just in Dupont!) Edwards shot one of the “Top 100 Photographs” as determined by The National Geographic Society (http://www.daveedwards.com/editorial.html) Edwards’ day job is being a river guide on the Colorado, and he makes his home in Flagstaff. The exhibition was in his studio/gallery. I buy three photos of Mongolians which I intend to frame. The second surprise is a fundraising drive called Empty Bowls put on by local high school kids for a nearby food shelter. Their source of revenue was selling homemade ceramics (bowls, naturally). The highlight, however, was a performance by several girls and someone I assumed to be their hippie teacher, that upon first glance seemed to be someone’s acid trip being enacted out. Brian and I were intrigued, perplexed, and a little concerned for the sanity of these children. However, we couldn’t look away and were in fact really enjoying the show. After a minute it dawns on us that this was, in fact, a choreographed, silent rendition of the story of Peter Pan set to Jack Johnson’s “Better Together”. Totally original and delightful! But good gracious the hallucinogens these youngsters must be doing these days…