Today we are leaving New Mexico – “The Land of Enchantment” as they name themselves – and moving on to Flagstaff in Arizona, which is up in the mountains and a good deal cooler than Albuquerque. We woke up to a cooler temperature and grey skies, so back into wearing long jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, boots and the fleece will be needed too.
As we crossed the state border into Arizona the topography changed almost immediately to high rocky canyons still with scrub and it was getting cooler. Why I always associate Arizona with heat I'm not sure – I guess it's all the iconic images we see of the Grand Canyon. By the time we arrived in Flagstaff the temperature was 37F! To go from 98F in Oklahoma to this is crazy, and thank goodness we planned ahead. TOP TIP: Before we came I downloaded a weather app which also gives you the local time, and I programmed in all the places we're going so that I could see the week's weather, compare one with the other and see where the time zone changed. It is really useful and now we are away it keeps me up to date with the weather for the next part of the trip.
We are staying in a B&B again with a lovely couple on the outskirts of Flagstaff – our room overlooks the San Francisco mountains. We arrived to lovely warm fires and a toasty warm house.
We looked up restaurants on TripAdvisor and also asked our host Jim, and we opted for Josephine's (calls itself modern American bistro style). It was at the more expensive end of prices here, but only what you would pay for a good meal at home and the food was delicious. People locally were clearly choosing it for special occasions – there were birthdays going on around us – but you don't need an excuse to go here. TOP TIP: So far we haven't needed to book restaurants but here people eat dinner early, starting at 5pm, and most places close by 9pm so you really do need to book to be sure to get the time and place you want. I guess because this is skiing and hiking country people are tired. Dress at Josephine's for some was smart-casual, for others just casual. I wore jeans, a long sleeved blue t-shirt, brown jacket, orange scarf, boots and back into my Barbour jacket. Steve wore walking trousers with a polo shirt, fleece and jacket. We should have taken the umbrella too as it sleeted heavily when we were out. It's easy to park here and there are lots of choices of places to eat.
——–
Posted by Helen – WhatToWearOnHoliday.com
