Arizona Snowbowl

We we close to Flagstaff, AZ (only 30 minutes from Williams) so we decided to surprise the girls with skiing. They have never skied before and have been begging to on this trip, we decided this is where we’d surprise them with it.

Arizona Snowbowl is on the Humphrey’s Peak (in the San Francisco Peaks Mountain range) which is the highest peak in Arizona at 12,633 feet.

The morning we had chosen to go (we signed up online ahead of time because of this amazing deal they had going on) we woke up to snow! It snowed all day, Flagstaff ended up with 2 inches. It was perfect to be skiing with real snow falling from the ski!

It was COLD!!! Chris has to watch the weather and when it gets close to 32 degrees he  goes out to fill our fresh water tank and then unhook the water and sewer hose (no one wants to see a poopsicle). He plugs in a little space heater to keep things warm in that compartment so we can have flowing water.  Then in the morning he waits for it to get warm enough and hooks us all back up. Needless to say, this will probably we the coldest spot we chose to stay in on the rest of our adventure.

McDonald’s dinner while mommy shopped at Walmart

Watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Sunday we found a movie theater in Flagstaff to watch Star Wars. It was worth the 40 minute drive! Seriously… who are Rey’s parents?

Afterward we walked downtown and had lunch at a sports bar and stopped by the visitors center by the train depot. We bought our Route 66 memorabilia here. We had already enjoyed the Route 66 ride in Williams but hadn’t bought our souvenirs yet.

Lowell Observatory

Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and is a National Historic Landmark…. why you ask? This is where Clyde Tombaugh discovered the Pluto in 1930. I don’t care what you want to call it these days… it will always be a planet in my mind and is welcome a the Planet cafeteria school lunch table. 

In 2011, the Observatory was named one of “The World’s 100 Most Important Places” by TIME. 

We visited at night so we could look through the 3 telescopes they have on site for the public to view the night sky so I don’t have any outside pictures because honestly I went just because I wanted to look through big telescopes and not ‘document’ it. Many Arizona cities have embraced dark sky policies, promoting limitations on lighting at night. Flagstaff was voted the world’s first International Dark Sky’s city in 2001. 

Pluto telescope dome

Astrograph telescope

vistor center museum

another piece of the meteor found in Canyon Diablo from the meteor impact

tire from the Endeavor shuttle

We also did a North Pole Experience here in Flagstaff. It started at the Little American Hotel. They teleport you through a portal on a bus ride to the North Pole. Here you visit a 400 year old Santa toy shop which specializes in making teddy bears. The children are able to help make teddy bears, see all the parts of the workshop, have cookies and hot chocolate with Mrs. Claus, get inducted into the elf university and private time with Santa Claus. He personally hands them a teddy bear:)  Great experience.