DAY - 03: Sedona - Let's Go Flying

Day - 03: Thursday, September 25, 2014

Beginning Location: Sedona, AZ
Interim Location:      Flagstaff, AZ
Ending Location:      Page, AZ

We were up mighty early this morning and were out of the hotel by 5:30 en-route for our ballooning over the rocks experience.

                     

Today's post will be mostly about the ballooning, there's not much to say other than it was a great flight, offering a birds-eye view of the red rocks; the scenery was spectacular to say the least.

Ballooning was over and we were back in the hotel by 10 AM. That gave us plenty of time to shower and pack-up for the trip’s continuation and our rendezvous with Diane & Greg at Flagstaff.

By 11:30 we were on the road, actually the wrong road but the error was quickly corrected; we were finally en-route to Flagstaff. We traveled on US-89 a scenic highway north from Sedona. After a brief stop at one of the scenic overlooks we continued on having chosen the Flagstaff Barnes & Noble as our meeting location. Just after noon we met Diane & Greg at the B&N where we took a Starbucks break and Jack was able to replenish his book supply in anticipation of available reading time during the houseboat excursion.  Together we did a brief sightseeing tour of the town before arriving at the Lumberyard Brewery for lunch.

We departed Flagstaff around 3 PM headed north on US-89 toward Page, AZ. At Cameron, AZ we stopped for gas just to be sure we’d not stress-out as the tank neared empty on the final 20 mile leg of the trip. Somewhere north of Cameron we apparently entered a time warp as two oddities occurred. First of all we lost all track of time; were we on Mountain Time or Pacific Time? Secondly we encountered an officious looking sign routing us away from US-89. We followed the signs but encountered major angst with Amanda, the voice of our Garmin GPS. In the end we arrived at Page having to assume that roadwork was in progress on the originally planned route.

Glen Canyon Dam

Before checking in to the hotel we drove over to the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor Center for a quick look at the lake. Within a few minutes everyone was told the center would be closing in ten minutes at 5 PM. The paid federal parks employees were somewhat less than friendly and customer focused, seems that they wanted us out so they could go home.

We returned from the dam and checked in to the Best Western Lake Powell. Within a few minutes we walked over to the Dam Bar & Grille for a "lite" dinner and to watch the Giants vs. Redskins game. It would be a great night for Eli Manning and the Giants and a poor showing for the Skins.

Around 9 PM we retired to the hotel eagerly anticipating the houseboat adventure set to begin on Friday.