Today was a travel day. We left Moab after breakfast and headed back to Phoenix for our flight home. We originally planned a night in Las Vegas but the thought of seeing all those neon lights after our trip filled with so much natural beauty left us lacking. Instead we retraced much of our trip north including a stop in Flagstaff.
My memory of Flagstaff, as a young boy traveling with my family, was that it was a real dump. A place to get gas when traveling on Route 66.
Things have certainly changed. We ate lunch at the Beaver Street Brewery in Flagstaff. It is located near Northern Arizona University in a very lovely neighborhood. Nearby is a quaint area known as the Historic District. The restaurant was recommended by a friend but neither of us can remember who. The food was very good as was the service and decor. Thank you to the person who recommended the place if he/she is a reader of this blog.
We checked into our hotel and looked for something to do. I told Patrice that the Diamondbacks were playing the Pirates today and she immediately started to grit her teeth and tighten her fists. She relaxed when I told her the game was to be played in Pittsburgh.
Instead of more baseball we decided to go to a nearby movie theater. We perused the list of available films and found “The Nice Guys” starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. When we were in Moab we heard a film critic from Salt Lake City give a very critical review of the film. He was talking about how inappropriate it was and how he was offended. My immediate thought was this was a “Red State” commentary aimed at a “Red State” audience. We looked at some other reviews and found a 8.1 out of 10 on IMDB and a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. With that in mind we raced to get to the theater. After seeing the film I think I might need to move to a “Red State”.
The film ended at a little after 8:00pm. We walked to two restaurants in the same complex as the theater and they were both closed. Finally we found a place that was about to close but agreed to seat us. Restaurants closing at 8 pm? This town sure isn’t New York City.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 