I Might Have to Move to Flagstaff...

The day off (we were supposed to have a build day, but it was unfortunately cancelled) has been very good to us. After 7 straight days of biking across the Southwest, we were really due for a break, especially since we have been riding at high elevations and with some serious heat. Flagstaff was a great break, in addition to being a fun town. It is bike friendly, full of hippies/young people who like used bookstores and iced chai (read: me), and seems to have planned all of its fun events for when we got here. Last night, Flagstaff welcomed us with an artwalk and an open-air movie in the park. Today has been spent wandering around the town, buying ridiculous outfits for our stay in Las Vegas (OH! WE RECENTLY LEARNED THAT WE ARE STAYING IN THE IMPERIAL PALACE HOTEL AND CASINO IN LAS VEGAS! OH! MY! GOD!). Ahem. Anyway, Flagstaff has been great and the rest of the afternoon will be spent on our behind the scenes tour of Roden Crater. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/arts/design/25fink.html?_r=1&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

This NY Times article will give you some idea of how cool this opportunity is.
It's not the first cool thing we've seen in Arizona. Our days have been full of fun adventures, including a trip to the Painted Desert and a trip to Winslow, AZ, a town that seems to have built itself around the fact that it is included in The Eagles' classic "Take it Easy." It has a statue of Don Henley standing on a corner, a mural of a girl (my Lord) in a flatbed Ford, and two rival giftshops that continually blare The Eagles' Greatest Hits. Wow. Our ride tomorrow, however, will take us to the greatest Arizona sight of them all -- The GRAND CANYON!
So, sure, we'll be treking through the desert for a while, but with the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas to look forward to, I feel fairly confident that it will be worth it.