I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe, and long Labor Day holiday weekend. If you live in Arizona, you know we have another month or longer of heat in this record-breaking sweltering summer. So, this past weekend, I packed up the dogs and headed north to Flagstaff. This blog entry is one of my periodic "things to do around campus" reviews.

I happen to live in two cities that are so large that they somewhat overwhelm the rest of their respective states. Chicago seems to be an entirely different place from the rest of Illinois. The same can be said of Phoenix. One of the truly wonderful things about the state of Arizona, however, is the vast diversity in terms of climate, geography, and, indeed, way of life. Just a mere two hours drive north of the wretched heat of the Phoenix desert lies a beautiful area of pine forests and mountains: Flagstaff.


Photo: Me with my hiking team Lizzy, Jake, and Lucy

If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you know I hate the 100+ degree heat. Thus, the short drive to find daytime highs in the low 80s was well worth the trip. Beyond just nice weather, Flagstaff also has many great hiking trails and outdoor activities. With three big dogs in tow (my golden Lucy, my mutt Jake, and my friend's golden Lizzy), we first set out on the Shadys Canyon/Walnut Creek Trail, which is about five miles south of Flagstaff on South Lake Mary Road. The 2.5-mile hike takes you through wooded meadows, along a creek, and around a rocky cliff to a canyon with several interesting caves. While we thought the trial was a loop, we discovered it was an "in-and-back" route, so we ended up doing 5 miles. Fortunately, the dogs loved it and our water supply held out.


Photo: Lucy needs a water-and-carrot break.

Exhausted, we headed to the dog-friendly Residence Inn right off I-17 and route 40, which featured suites and a wonderful dog park. The dogs had a great time running around the park and they also definitely enjoyed the cool 70-degree evening mountain air.

The next day we headed to the Keyhole Sink Trail, about 24 miles east of Flagstaff on route 40. This 1.5 mile hike ends up in a scenic canyon area, with a small water hole and historic "deer hunt" petroglyphs inscribed by early Native American inhabitants of the region. After exploring the area, we piled back in the car and drove 8 miles west to the Route 66 "Auto-Trail." Another 1.5 path, this hike took us along the old Route 66 roadway dating from 1931. We saw deer (fortunately the dogs didn't try to chase them) and enjoyed the fresh scent of pine along the trail.

Since we left before noon, we were able to beat the rush of traffic back into the city and made it to Glendale by early afternoon. For those of you in Phoenix who need to beat the heat and find some great hiking trails in the summer, I highly recommend Flagstaff. And, if you can find a few dogs to share the trip with you, it makes it even better!

For those of you back to classes starting this week, best of luck for a great fall quarter!