Downtown Flagstaff

Decided that I had better take a look at Historic Flagstaff, since I've been here 4 days and have not gone there yet. First stop this morning was to Flagstaff Mall to see if a camera store there might be able to fix my telephoto lens. Unfortunately, they do not have anybody on staff to handle this. They did give me information of a Nikon repair center in Phoenix, so I may have to head South if I want to be able to use it on the rest of my trip.

While at the mall, I walked passed a Taiwanese couple giving chair massages. Just couldn't pass that up! $15 for 15 minutes, it was excellent, if you happen to be in that mall, stop by and let them pound on your back for awhile.

After the mall, headed to the downtown area, drove around for 20 minutes trying to find a parking spot. Ended up parking in a bank lot, which had very ominous towing signs, everywhere, and I mean everywhere, probably 3 signs for every spot. I decided to gamble. (SUV didn't get towed, so there!)

Walked through Heritage Square, where the park benches are made out of old railroad wheels, very interesting. The downtown are is very clean and lots of various shops to choose from. It was around lunchtime so I picked one called Charley's which is in the old Telephone Building next to the Weatherford Hotel. Lunch was very good, had the Flagstaff Dip, which is similar to a French Dip. Even tried the horseradish sauce on my sandwich.

Walked through the restored hotel, the Zane Grey Ballroom was closed, but was able to look in. Met the hotel cat, it kept falling me around as I toured. The rooms are very close to being authentic as they were in the early 1900's. Would be a great place to stay if you are still looking for that lost gold mine.

Went over to the Visitor's Center to look at the exhibits that were nearby, one being a big wheel log cart. There was a statue of a Gandy Dancer near the original train station. And of course a big sign for Route 66, the historic area is right on this old Mother Road. Get your kicks on Route 66!

As I left the downtown area, I drove up a hill to Lowell Observatory, it was founded by Percival Lowell in 1894. The observatory has a rich history of observations, among those being the ones that led to the discovery of the planet Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. Lowell was also fascinated with the planet Mars and as a result the name of the location which contains the observatory is now appropriately named Mars Hill.

On the way down from Mars Hill, there is a pullover that allows you to get a nice overview of the city of Flagstaff. I've enjoyed my time here the past few days and am now ready to move on to another location.