Sunday in Arizona

We attended church meetings up in Pine since they met at 9:30 and my sister, Juli's ward was not until noon and we wanted to be on our way north before that time. Driving through the pines was great. Steven asked if we might take a slight detour and visit Meteor Crator situatated between Winslow and Flagstaff and we said "sure".  I didn't do my homework, however, and had NO IDEA that, because it is privately owned, and, this is capitalistic America,  it would cost so much just to go see a hole in the ground!  $29 per person or, because Steve and I were seniors, $27 per person!  Hmmm, $54 can buy a whole lot of things so Steve and I said "no thankyou" and we sat on a bench next to the ticket window - in air conditioned comfort - and read all about Meteor Crator on Wikipedia on my phone while Elise and Steven went inside to the museum and, ultimately, to the lip of the crator. 

Once on our way again, we drove and drove and drove. The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is SO remote. Heck, it is closed half of the year due to roads covered with snow. When I was searching on-line for a place to sleep Sunday night, it became clear right away that any lodging right at the North Rim was already booked so I briefly looked into Jacob Lake, the closest "town" to the North Rim ("only" fifty-five miles away) but the one and only hotel was a lot of bucks with no bang.  I expanded my search to Fredonia, the next closest town. ("close" in the loosest way - it is about thirty minutes further from Jacob Lake). I found a very reasonably priced VRBO but, I am blaming my end-of-school-year burnout brain for not looking more closely at the actual location because, although it was under the umbrella of Fredonia, it was actually a thirty minute drive further west! In a place called Cane Beds which is literally a stone's throw from Colorado City, the polygymist enclave, AND a place where people go to hide out from the law (according to the La Quinta hotel clerk in Kanab, ten miles north of Fredonia). I also blame by end-of-school-year brain for not looking more closely at the actual accomodations. It SAID 3 bedroom, 1 bath. Well, THAT was false advertising unless you consider a cramped, window-less loft accessable by a tall ladder a "bedroom". The place was the size of a large storage building with a king size bed and small kitchen/dining area and bathroom on the main level and the two lofts on either end with full-size beds in each. But, because it said 3 bedroom, I invited my sister Juli to join us and to visit the Grand Canyon the next day and she accepted. So, as we were driving and driving and driving and I realized how much further this VRBO was from anything, I felt so bad that I was subjecting my sister to this  (she left after her meetings in her own car). Then, when I saw the actual VRBO, I felt even more badly! Blessedly, Juli is a good sport and she was not annoyed - at least not on the outside. She also said that, rather than share a small full size mattress with Elise, she would book a room at the La Quinta in Kanab since she had not slept well the last two nights. So, she left after we ate dinner and slept beautifully. We, on the other hand, slept COLD because it was actually chilly outside and because the stupid wall unit would not turn off of AC! Strike THREE!

Below are photos of Elise and Steven at Meteor Crator; the bleak landscape on our way to northern Arizona; playing Scrabble after dinner, and the VRBO itself. I did not leave a favorable review