Arizona: Sedona and Flagstaff

I slept in a surprisingly comfortable recliner chair last night and River slept the night in his crate. He’s becoming so mature. This is the second time on our many travels that he’s slept in his crate all night. He always does at home, but in foreign places, he wants to crawl in bed with me.

Alba had set up a french press, a kettle filled with water on the stove and a grinder full of ground coffee for me in the kitchen. So I woke up with the sun and went into the kitchen to make my coffee.

I took River for a walk and was surprised at how cold it was. My whole life, every time I’d ever been in Arizona it was always blistering hot, so it was odd for me to feel this 55º weather this morning.

A couple hours later, Alba came by with a glass of homemade kefir. She took such good care of me. She also boiled me some eggs and gave me an apple and some almonds so I wouldn’t be hungry on the road. And she filled my water bottle with filtered water.

I packed up the car and Alba, her husband Fitz, and River and I went to eat lunch at India Gardens Cafe. I got a pulled pork sandwich and River got a peanut butter sandwich with a side of  banana. It came with a side of honey. I let him have the banana and just a few bites of his PB sammy, but I took the honey for myself.

Alba and Fitz are delightful people and we had a long chat in the garden cafe until Alba had to go for a massage client.

So River and I took off back over route 17 and through some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen. A place called Rock Slide is worth investigating. It’s definitely on my “to return to” list; as is Sedona in general.

It was a short drive to Flagstaff. Those are nice once in a while.

A weird thing is that there are two Motel 6s within a few blocks of each other. One has an enormous sign and is directly off the highway and the other is around the block. I turned off my navigation once I saw the Motel 6 sign. But when I tried to check in and they couldn’t find my name, the clerk asked, “Did you reserve at Benson or Lucky Lane?” When I told him I had reserved at Lucky Lane he gave me directions to get there. “But” he said, “we have renovated rooms and I have one ready for you now if you want to stay here.” I asked if it was the same price and he said that it would be a little cheaper over there at Lucky Lane, but admitted he was trying to tempt me to stay there. I thanked him and told him I was on a budget and headed for Lucky Lane.

I brought all my luggage into the room and took a quick shower before heading off to the gym to teach my Nia class. Many of the students there were also there when I taught ROCKIN last June. They remembered me and were excited to see what I was bringing this time with GOLDFINGER.  As a group they really didn't go for the whole "wear something shiny" concept. But we had a great time with the moves and I was impressed at how quickly they picked up my crazy 5, 9 and 13 count choreography.

I accidentally left my favorite hoodie in the bathroom when I changed before class and when I went back for it later, it was gone. So on my drive back to the motel room, I was cursing a pox on the entire town of Flagstaff. But I asked a friend via Facebook to talk me down and soon I felt much better.

For dinner I had the rest of the beef jerky I got at Gus’ as well as some of the pickled vegetables and dried cranberries. I also threw in a handful of pumpkin seeds and it was delicious. Then, for dessert I had one of the flax muffins that Alba had given me. (they’re better than they sound).

River is not putting much weight on his right rear leg tonight. I can’t figure when he might have done too much, but I suppose it could be anything. I gave him a pain killer and fed him his dinner and now he’s konked out in his crate. He looks so comfortable.  I think I'll follow suit and hit the hay as well.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Food Purist

Routines From the Vault

Night Sweats