Flagstaff

Isn't Flagstaff the city where Aunt Edna gets dropped off in Vacation?  Or was it Phoenix?  I think it was Flagstaff.  Anyway...that is my only frame of reference to Northern Arizona.  I never thought of it as a vacation spot.  Keith's parents generously gave us a week of their timeshare for us to use at any of their locations.  We picked Flagstaff because it was close enough to drive to and we wouldn't have to spend the money on airfare.  We figured we could easily visit the Grand Canyon and Sedona as well.  To be honest, I had low expectations.  I knew there was a space observatory there so we had that too if we needed something to keep us busy.

After driving seven hours through the desert we started our approach to Flagstaff.  About 10-20 miles from town, the landscape changed suddenly.  As soon as we hit about 5000 feet up, pine trees popped up around us.  Closer to town and we started to notice yellow patches in the mountains.  The Aspen trees were changing.  I was happy we did not miss the fall show of color.
 
We went to dinner that first night downtown.  Right next door to the restaurant was a theater.  Above the theater was a sign.  A sign that said Colin Hay was playing there that night.  We like Colin Hay.  It didn't look too crazy so we asked if there were tickets still available and if kids were allowed in the show.  We were surprised that they said yes to both questions.  Since we were in vacation mode we decided we'd be a little crazy and go for it.  Colin Hay put on a great show.  The last time we saw him perform was at The Belly Up and he didn't talk that much.  This time he was like a stand up comedian between songs.  And there were a lot of F-bombs and references to weed.  Lucky for us, his Scottish accent was so thick that Sam asked what language he was speaking.  He couldn't understand anything he said.  That relieved me because I was starting to doubt my parental judgement.  I was picturing Sam going back to 1st grade telling everyone he went to his first F%$#ing concert in F*$%ing Flagstaff.