October 4

The sunlight pouring through our window told us that morning had arrived once again. We protested slightly at this fact because we were still somewhat tired after our long drive. However, we got up because we had a full day planned at the Grand Canyon.

As I mentioned on the October 3rd page, we were planning to do some hiking at the Grand Canyon. Of course, one can’t hike without having some food in their stomach. So, we thought we’d try one of the breakfast places mentioned in the Lonely Planet. We drove away from the Holiday Inn back west toward downtown Flagstaff. We found a convenient parking lot and walked to two restaurants that Lonely Planet reviewed. The first restaurant, Macy’s, looked a little crowded. Since we were in a hurry, we decided instead to try La Bellavia. It turned out to be a great choice. There’s a real “home” feeling to the restaurant, down to the lace curtains in the windows. I had an omelet, while Dianne had the pancakes. My omelet cost $6.95, while Dianne’s pancakes were $5.25. I thought I had a large portion of food, until I saw Dianne’s pancakes. They were enormous. However, she didn’t get the biggest stack available. That honor is reserved for the “Swedish Pancakes”, which come in a very thick stack of three. They are so large and thick that a patron who finishes them gets their picture taken for the “wall of fame.” Anyone who can get through that stack deserves an award. Anyhow, La Bellavia is definitely worth a stop if one is looking for a good breakfast restaurant.

We drove out of Flagstaff around 9:30 A.M. and began heading north on Highway 180 to the Grand Canyon. The drive would take us through some of the forests around Flagstaff, and then into the high desert that surrounds the canyon. The drive turned out to be great way to see the changes that the fall brings to this part of Arizona. We were particularly struck by the beautiful yellow leafed aspens near the Arizona Ski Bowl.

After about an hour and a half drive, we arrived at the gate to the Grand Canyon National Park. We paid our $20 and continued driving along the park’s roads. Eventually, we made it to the parking lot at Yavapai Point and began hiking along the South Rim. I’ll save my detailed description of our hike for the Grand Canyon page. All I say here is that we ended up hiking 9.5 miles. While the hike was physically grueling, the landscape was as beautiful as advertised.

We started driving back to Flagstaff around 6 P.M. We were both exhausted, but glad that we had spent the time that we did at the canyon. We made it back into Flagstaff around 8 P.M. Since we had both expended all our energy on the hike, we decided to eat at a place which served a lot of carbohydrate based food. Lonely Planet suggested the Alpine Spaghetti Factory. However, that turned out to be no longer at the location indicated in the book. So, we drove a couple of blocks down the street to Salsa Brava. While it might sound like this restaurant would serve Mexican food, they actually serve food that would more accurately be called “Central American.”For instance, they served tamales, but they were made from a different masa than the Mexican tamales. The changes did not impact the deliciousness of the food. My tamale plate cost $6.95. The portions were large, but that’s just what we needed after a day of munching on granola. I highly recommend visiting Salsa Brava.

We drove back to the Holiday Inn. Given that my feet were a mass of blisters and that both of us were extremely exhausted, it was no surprise that we just wanted to climb into bed and sleep. However, I kept getting chills. I didn’t know how I had picked them up, but I kept feeling cold. I was hoping that I hadn’t exerted myself to the point where I had caught something. That fear continued running through my mind as I shook myself to sleep.

October 5 Home

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