4th of July in Flagstaff

This year we decided to spend the 4th of July up in Flagstaff where it is oh so much cooler than Phoenix. Luckily we have friends who live up there and they know EVERYTHING about Flagstaff (and the Grand Canyon!). Two weeks ago we went up there and they took us to the Grand Canyon, which is BEAUTIFUL and AMAZING. I swear if we lived up there we would be there EVERYDAY.

Our first stop on the way up was at the Rock Springs Cafe & General Store where we bought the BEST pies ever. We were only going to get 1, but they looked soooooo good, so we bought 2 - strawberry and chocolate. Both were very yummy and I highly recommend if you come to visit us we go there - it's only 30 minutes north of our apartment.

The next stop was lunch at Quiznos which just happened to be in the same parking lot as the World's Largest Kokopelli! According to WorldsGreatestThings.com it is made from hand shaped and welded steel. It was the idea of Lowell Johnson, the then owner of what was the Montezuma Trading Post to draw in customers. He brought in an experienced blacksmith/artist and sketched out the design right on the sales counter. It is made of 1/4 inch plate steel and the hand shaping and welding took weeks as the 12 cubic yard cement foundation cured. Now that's all interesting, but you're probably thinking, what is a kokopelli? Well you know I wouldn't leave you hanging, so here you go:

Kokopelli is one of the most intriguing and widespread images surviving from ancient Anasazi Indian mythology, and is a prominent figure in Hopi legends. The figure represents a mischievous trickster or the Minstrel, spirit of music. Kokopelli is considered a symbol of fertility who brought well-being to the people, assuring success in hunting, planting and growing crops, and human conception.

And now you know!

The rest of our trip was great and relaxing. We ate (and ate, and ate), watched the Olympic Trials (Adam and I are Olympic FREAKS) and played Mexican Train Dominoes, which Adam picked up pretty quick and I'm sure from now on beat us all every time. This morning after breakfast we drove up to the Arizona Snowbowl which is about 7 miles north of Flagstaff. We got out of the car and walked up to the chair lift when it decided to rain, and then hail, for about 10 minutes. Luckily we were able to stand under a covered outdoor grill area. But the people who were riding the ski lift were pretty much stuck. After that we enjoyed a nice ride home down the I-17 and it's back to work tomorrow.