Adventures in Flagstaff

In July I decided to go on a little road trip  to Flagstaff.  Karen and Rupert were passing through on their move to CA, and I hadn't yet met my new niece, Elizabeth.  So I seized the opportunity and drove 9.5 south, by myself.  It's now my longest (by far) solo road trip.  Thank goodness for books on tape: I listened to Odd Thomas.  Saturday night we had a nice dinner at the house, and on Sunday the girls had a jog down memory lane so to speak as we ran a loop around the park next to the house.  Also on Sunday those who went out for lunch (not me) had the first of the elite runner sightings: Abdi at Chipotle. On Monday we went for a walk downtown together to see some classic Flagstaff sights.While stopping at a coffee shop for lemonades we had the next Abdi sighting.  Later that day I went to Barnes and Noble and visited my old friend Laura who I worked with at Cyprus.  Apparently Laura was hosting an elite in her home: Lopez Lamong who was the flag bearer in Beijing.  I had a nice time relaxing on the patio and sipping the ginger beer Laura encouraged me to swipe from Lopez's stash.

On Tuesday Karen, Rupert, and I headed to the Grand Canyon for Karen's first visit!  We had lots of fun posing and taking loads of pictures.  On our way out we stopped at a little Mexican restaurant just outside the park.  They had some Tapatillo hot sauce at the table and I informed Karen of Clint's addiction to the stuff and subsequently, my habit as well.  I splashed some on a chip which I boldly consumed--then proceeded to start hacking like a cat with a hairball.  I rapidly consumed the rest of my horchata, and Rupert, taking pity on me, dumped some of his water into my glass.  When I finally calmed myself, I asked the waiter for a new clean glass of water uncontaminated with cinnamon and residual horchata chunks.  The waiter was fairly puzzled so I ashamedly had to explain my folly.  I'm not quite sure what happened: did I just get too heavy handed?  Did the restaurant sneakily put a more fiery sauce into an innocent Tapatillo bottle?  I don't know, but I sure looked like a fruit cake! At least Karen and I scored a picture in the restaurant face boards.  Hah!

After our grand adventure we came home to babysit the howlers. It was Derek and Mary's anniversary so we thought we'd watch the chillins for a bit.  We had three adults for three children and it still felt like an accomplishment to hold down the fort!  When Derek and Mary returned we spent our last night together chatting and playing with Smokey, the family ball python.