Fall in Flagstaff

We drove to Flagstaff to see the fall leaves today. There were also two breweries/taprooms in Flagstaff on our Pubpass that were hadn't used yet. Both were dog friendly, so our dog got to come with us. Our first stop was Grand Canyon Brewing for a drink and lunch. The prickly pear beer was quite tasty.

After lunch, we drove the road to Arizona Snowball, 

and admired the aspens along the drive.

We parked in the lot for the Aspen Nature Loop trail. Parking is much easier on a Tuesday than a weekend!

This is a 1.8 mile, fairly flat, easy to walk trail, which is more of a lollipop than true loop. The only thing that makes it slightly challenging is the high elevation (9271 ft / 2825 m).

You start by walking towards the aspens near the base of the ski lifts, with the San Francisco peaks in view.

Once we reached the loop, we decided to go counter clockwise, and soon saw Sasquatch.

As we continued down the trail, we entered the aspen grove. A lot of these trees had already dropped their leaves.

After exiting that grove, we entered a prairie zone. The big white cloud in the top right section of the picture is smoke from a wild fire southwest of Flagstaff.

This gave us a great view of the valley below.

We then headed to another aspen grove.

Many of the trees here still had their leaves.

From here, it was a short walk back to the stick of the lollipop and back to the parking lot.

On the drive back down to town, we saw three elk (no pictures), then headed to Hops on Birch to use our other PubPass (the tart cherry cider was delicious).

Apache Trail drive to Tortilla Flats AZ

We took advantage of a break in the rain to drive the Apache Trail to Tortilla Flats this afternoon. 

We drove through a few giant puddles,

 saw Canyon Lake 

and even saw a few waterfalls! 

The road was closed after Tortilla Flats due to flooding 

(so was the saloon/restaurant). 

So we had an ice cream 

and turned back towards home.

Summer Roadtrip (13 days): June 12-24, 2025

One of the girls moved to Omaha earlier this year and had stored some of her furniture/boxes at our house. She was ready for her things, so we loaded up the minivan with everything that fit. Since we were making that drive, we decided to use it as a starting point for a 13-state summer road trip. (Map shows approximate route.)

We split the road trip into four sections:

Days 1-3: 

Phoenix to southern Wisconsin, including a stop in Omaha to visit/complete the move then continue to southern WI to pick up my mom.
(AZ, NM, TX, OK, KS, NE, IA, WI)

Days 4-6: 

Mini road trip with my mom to Michigan's upper peninsula (counter clockwise loop).

(WI, MI)

Days 7-8: 

Spend time with mom and take a break from driving/sightseeing (WI)

Days 9-11:

Road trip to visit South Dakota attractions.

(WI, IA, MN, SD, WY)

Days 12-13:

Return home, with scenic drive through Colorado and stops in New Mexico.

(WY, CO, NM, AZ)

Summer Roadtrip Day 1: Phoenix to Tucumcari NM

The car's all packed, we are gassing up, and are ready to go.

Getting into the pine trees outside of Payson.

We intended to go directly to Holbrook from Payson but rerouted to Winslow to avoid an accident and construction delays. We saw a brewery advertised in Winslow, so that made the decision easier, since we would be there for lunch 

Unfortunatly, this was only a taphouse and they didn't brew any of their own beers.

Just down the alley from the restaurant, I saw these murals.

Just past Holbrook we stopped at a "trading post" to see the world's largest kachina. It was defunct and missing its face, so we didn't bother with a picture of that. We did get these pictures while in the area:

Around Gallup NM, the car started rattling and shaking, so we pulled over to check the tires. We saw these wild horses in the area by the gas station.

On the way towards Albuquerque, the check tires warning came on, we checked the tires, they looked "ok" and we headed onward. Then it happens about 30 miles later. We added a quick stop at Discount Tire, arriving less than 10 minutes before closing.

Three new tires later, and we were back on the road.

We arrived in Tucumcari around 10 pm, and we were tired, so I didn't take pictures of neon signs in town like I planned to do. Here's a picture of part of our room at the Roadrunner Lodge.

Summer Roadtrip Day 2: Tucumcari NM to Lincoln NE

This morning we got an early start and began our drive to Nebraska

We pulled over to see the Texas Sheriff man near Dalhart TX.

From there, we passed into OK,

where we saw the first of many oil derricks.

We stopped briefly in Hooker OK for a stretch break and to get a few snacks/water, and then we were back on the road. 

Shortly after entering Liberal KS, we had an unexpected traffic stop/delay. 

It felt like the big bear was laughing at us as we patiently waited for the police officer to finish his work.

Our next stop was to visit Dorothy's Oz house.

From there, we drove to Dodge City to see La Salsa man.

He was just down the street from the brewery where we planned to have lunch. The brewery was closed so we had lunch at the Cowboy Capital, in a historic building.

After lunch, we drove to see the world's largest Czech Egg in Wilson KS.

The town also has smaller Czech eggs by various businesses and attractions, and had a selfie mural.

The next stop was to see the World's Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City KS.

We also checked out a few things across the road.

Steve spent a lot of time talking to the owner of the ice cream shop across the road, so we were running slightly behind schedule.

After what was supposed to be a quick stop for dinner in Strang NE (it was not quick), we decided to skip seeing the largest uncovered porch swing and drove to Lincoln NE, to spend the night.

Summer Roadtrip Day 3: Lincoln NE to New Glarus WI

Today was a light sightseeing day. We started the day by driving to Omaha to deliver one of the girls' belongings that she was unable to take with her when she moved earlier in the year. After moving boxes into her apartment, we got a tour of her place, then went to brunch with her. We dropped her off at her place around noon, then headed toward Wisconsin. 

We took a rest stop in Adair IA to see the smiling face water tower.

We then drove pretty much straight through IA until we crossed the Mississippi River into WI.

Once in Wisconsin, we stopped at the Dickeyville Grotto and Shrines.

By the time we got to Platteville, we were hungry, so stopped for dinner before heading to my mom's house. 

A few miles out of town, a big raccoon crossed the road in front of us (we did not hit it).

We arrived at mom's house around 7:30 pm and spent the night.