Day 28 - Flagstaff, AZ (Day 3)

It's 8am (MST).  It has been raining gently and continuously for hours.  This will be an "inside day" if the rain doesn't stop.  The weather pattern to the west appears to be clearing.  Here's hoping.

It's 10am (MST) and it continues to rain.  They call this a monsoon, but we wish it would end "soon, mon".  We're going to The Crown Railroad Cafe for breakfast.  It's been around since the mid-60s and displays northern Arizona's largest electric train layout.  After that we're just going to see what we can see.

6:60pm (MST) update ... it rained almost all day and we proved we're not smart enough to come in from it.

Crown Railroad Cafe:
The restaurant has lots of history.  It's been around for nearly 50 years and it sits along US-66. Our booth looked out on the highway.

The electric train layout ran around the entire dining area (along the ceiling) and was underwhelming. The fast freight trains that ran along tracks on the other side of US-66 were a lot more entertaining.

This is a family eatery that served us delicious breakfasts.  The menu boasts 66 varieties of omelettes and much more for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The server was excellent and service was timely.  It was a fun stop.

A Day in the Rain:
We decided to play in spite of the rain.  We bought a 2nd umbrella and headed off to see Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments.

Sunset Crater Volcano ...
The volcano began erupting between 1064 and 1085.  It covered more than 800 square miles of northern Arizona with ash.  The last eruption is estimated to have occurred between 1080 and 1150.

There are two lava flows: Bonito and Kana-a.

Bonito Lava Flow is just beyond
the visitor center

The area is covered with black ash

Sunset Crater Volcano

The park road winds over and
around ash covered hills

Wupatki National Monument ...
There are six ruin sites in the park:  Wukoki Pueblo, Wupatki Pueblo, Lomaki Pueblo, Citadel Pueblo, Nalakihu Pueblo and Box Canyon dwellings.  We saw a few and took pictures through the rain.  The Wupatki Visitor Center had wonderful descriptions of the history.  We were sadly reminded of how the government took control of the land from the Native Americans.

Wukoki Pueblo

The avg. height of men at the time
was 5'3" and women was 5'1",
but, that's not why doors were low

Wukoki Pueblo surroundings

We met these OSU alumni in the
middle of nowhere, in the rain

Citadel Pueblo

Lomaki Pueblo

Heading home ...

These yellow flowers brightened the
way back to Flagstaff

We finished the outing with dinner at Mike & Rhonda's The Place.  The sandwiches and salad were very good, but the portions were much larger than either of us could finish.  We stopped here four years ago and really enjoyed the food.

Tomorrow:
Rain is forecast here for the next five days.  We're going to head for Tucson, Biosphere 2 and maybe some sun.