Visiting Flagstaff and Northern Arizona

Hi friends! The family and I just came back from a short but super sweet visit to Flagstaff and Northern Arizona, and I wanted to show you some scenes from our little vacation. We went to Disneyland and the California coast last year, so this year, we decided to stay in our home state and do a series of short trips, instead.

Still, we love escaping the heat and getting to enjoy the outdoors again in a much cooler climate. In fact, almost as soon as we arrived in Flagstaff, we headed out on a short hike in the San Francisco Peaks. It's always nice to see green again!

Flagstaff is only about a two-hour drive from Phoenix, or at least it is when the Hubs drives and I'm holding onto the seat and using the imaginary brake on the passenger side! Just kidding, but this time we were blessed with gorgeous, sunny weather, and since it wasn't the weekend, there wasn't a lot of traffic.

So in just a short time, we went from our desert abode to this gorgeous mountain view. This was along Mount Humphreys trail, just outside of Flagstaff where the Snowbowl ski resort is located.

In the summer, you can hike the trails or enjoy a scenic ride on the lift. In the winter when the mountains are covered in snow, it's all about skiing! 

The last time we were here, it was raining like crazy, and we didn't get to do much, so we spent as much time outside as possible.

At the base of the trail you can see where people have carved their initials in the trunks of the aspen trees.

In all the years we've been coming up here, we've stayed in several different places, from rustic cabins in the woods to comfortable hotels in the city. So this time around, we stayed at the Little America Hotel and enjoyed the best of both worlds!

The hotel has it's own 500-acre woods, complete with walking trails, so a few of the kiddos and I enjoyed a nature walk among the Ponderosa pines the next morning.

We saw this little guy enjoying breakfast. This is as close as I could get to him before he scampered away.

I didn't get a picture or anything, but for dinner we went to the Beaver Street Brewery, which was awesome! Well, actually I snapped a quick picture of my pizza on my phone, but since we were dining on the patio, it's pretty dark. Oh well, it's the taste that counts! 

I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I had to try one of their handcrafted brews, so I chose the the Grapefruit Pale Ale. Yep, grapefruit in a beer! It paired very well with their Southwest Chicken Pizza! In fact, I may try to make one of my own -- pizza, that is!

On the way home, we stopped near Black Canyon City at the Rock Springs Cafe. They are famous for their pies, and we like to buy a couple to take home whenever we come back from a visit up north.

This time around, we chose a chocolate cream pie and the peach crumble. I snapped a pic right before serving, so again, the quality isn't the best, but you can see the size of the pie. Look at all of that whipped cream!

If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend trying one of the pies -- you won't be disappointed!

Thanks for coming along on our little Northern Arizona vacation! I've got a tasty treat to share with all of you tomorrow, so see you then!

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