Flagstaff

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In a break from the craziness of LA we have journeyed to Flagstaff Arizona. Its a small town here and things seem quite sedate. I have got a cold at the moment and it was so bad Tuesday morning that i was shivering and wondering if i had the flu, I almost stayed in LA and would have just layed in bed instead of travelling out here.

Still Im glad i came because it makes me think that if and when i come to the USA again it will be worth going to some smaller less travelled places. One place i have in mind is Des Moines, Iowa, mainly because it will be a gateway to Mount Rushmore, one of the countless US attractions that i havn't managed to see on this trip.

The main reason for coming out to Flagstaff though was because of a hole in the ground, this might not sound very exciting but its a pretty big hole so it was worth it. I am of course talking about the grand canyon, which was a really cool thing to see, we had a really good tour and got to see from a number of different places, we also walked down a path down into it. The path was 6 miles long and we walked down about 2 miles, getting back up was really gruelling and there are warnings all over that even the fittest and most experienced hikers should not attempt to walk to the bottom and back in one day as deaths from exhaustion are common. I can imagine this because our bit was so hard and this was only a third of the distance at a time of the year when the weather is cool. To go to the bottom and back (esp in summer), must be really hard.

We got to watch the sunset over the canyon as well and this was also really good.\

The previous days journey to Flagstaff was a tough one, we arrived on the greyhound around 1am to get to our hostel. The keys were left under the mat for us and we went to our room. Slightly embarrassingly though was the fact that the room we were in had just a double bed, which is not what Elaine had asked for when she phoned them.

Anyway, we made the best of it (we slept at opposite ends) and then the next day i moved to a dorm.

Incidently thia hostel is not only one of the most welcoming so far, its also one of the cheapest. Only $32 for a private and $16 for a dorm bed. We also get really good breakfast here (something that varies throughout the many hostels we have stayed at).

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