We are back from Arizona as of yesterday. A week ago Alex got back from France; we picked him up in Chicago (I got pulled over for speeding [72 in a 60 zone] out near Etna Green, but was let off with a warning) and just headed for the hotel and let him rest. The flight was bright & early Sunday morning (earlier than I had originally reserved, we got changed to an earlier flight, I think because of the Boeing 737 Max grounding. Also it was Natalie's first flight ever, she did well and didn't panic much at all). It felt eerie landing in Phoenix. Everything looked so familiar but felt so wrong. We got our rental (a minivan) and hit the road for Flagstaff, getting there by afternoon.  Laura and Thomas were already checked in, they got there the previous day and were on a tour of Antelope Canyon (a photo tour, where they let you take all the photos you want for as long as you want, instead of hurrying you up) and Horseshoe Bend up near Page, and wouldn’t be back until late evening. We got set up in the house (a nice big rental house from HomeAway, and amazing: 3 levels including the basement, with bedrooms for everyone (the girls were doubled up). Two master suites. Deck, firepit, gaming table, video game systems, stocked kitchen, everything. Spotless too.) and went on a little hike in a wooded area just adjacent to the neighborhood with a lot of trails through it, then headed for downtown Flagstaff to look around and find somewhere to eat dinner. We found some shopping areas and a fantastic BBQ restaurant set up in a corner of an old warehouse-looking building that had been converted to a shopping center. The next morning we had reservations for the Grand Canyon Railway, a train ride from Williams AZ to the South Rim near the village. We had breakfast at Denny's in Flagstaff so we thought we would have plenty of time, but it turned out to be the slowest Denny's ever and it took so long (they only had one server working) we had to lay rubber to get to the train station in time. The train ride was a bit underwhelming, I had expected the scenery to be more interesting along the way but it was pretty ordinary. It did save us a lot of time in getting a car through the entrance at the canyon and looking for parking, but since the trip took around 2 1/2 hours to go 60 miles, it may have just been a wash. There was a little entertainment on the train, a fiddle player on the way there, and a "holdup" on the way back. We had about 3 hours at the canyon before catching the train back, enough time to walk around in the baking sun a lot and get pretty lost and unable to find somewhere to eat because the restaurant there seemed to close really early. And Thomas lost his GoPro. He set it up on the ground to record a time-lapse movie of the canyon with the shadows from the clouds, looked away for a moment, and then it was gone. Poof. Anyway it was a really clear day and we got some great views before heading back to the train again. Overall I'd call it overrated and I wouldn't go on the ride again. We should know by now to skip the long train rides. Tuesday was unscheduled and our designated day to go to the Desert View watchtower and scatter Dad's ashes. The drive was about an hour and 45 minutes, more riding time...but a perfect day. We all toured the area and the watchtower, then found a trail going off to the east and hiked just a bit. We found a nice spot where there was a juniper tree just off the trail and at the top of a pretty steep cliff, maybe only around a 100 yard walk from the tower. I opened the box of ashes with Dad's old Swiss Army knife, and we scattered all the ashes under the juniper tree, and in large part to the wind. So was Dad returned to his favorite place in the world. We spent a few more hours in the vicinity, checking out the shopping and lunch options (having heard so much about Navajo tacos, we gave them a try there...they were not all that...) before heading back to the house. On the way we stopped and did some shopping at the Cameron Trading Post. Wednesday was the river float trip, probably the highlight of the vacation. It was another long car ride, all the way to Page like 2 1/2 hours away, and we got to the wrong marina so we had to hustle back to the right one and make it on time. I also got pulled over for speeding somewhere in the desert by the Arizona highway patrol, for not pulling over and slowing down for a stopped police car. Same car got me for that. But we made it on time, again barely, and had an amazing river float trip starting at Glen Canyon Dam and going maybe 15 miles downriver altogether. I was not expecting the water to be as cold as it was, honestly, and the sun was brutal, but nobody got burned at all which impressed me (except for the bottoms of Missy's feet at the halfway point on the way to the potty). It was a perfect day for the river tour, and the scenery was amazing, including the same Horseshoe Bend that Laura & Thomas were touring (from the top) as we got to town the other day. We had reservations to do Antelope Canyon the next day (a faster tour) which I was looking forward to, but not the long drive again, but it turned out all right because the tour was cancelled due to extreme weather. It's that hot dry wind, it sucks the moisture right out of you. So instead, L&T went off by themselves to check out some wineries and maybe Sedona, and the rest of us went out to Sunset Crater and Wupatki. In the evening we all went downtown and walked around shopping/browsing, then L&T & us went out to a kid-free dinner and got the kids pizza. That was July 4th, so in the evening Thomas and the kids and I went out to see the Flagstaff fireworks. Interesting time that; we got there maybe 20 minutes before the show was to start, and we were guided to park in a field that was incredibly haphazardly arranged. We were already anticipating an hours-long time getting out of the field and back home again based on how long it took us to actually get to a parking spot. Then the show started, and it was so very unimpressive. The fireworks were small, ordinary, low, and partly obscured from where we were. So, less than 10 minutes into the show we bolted and headed for the exit. So had a pretty large handful of people. It wasn't easy even finding the exit from where we were, even without the nightmare traffic, it must have taken at least another 10 minutes to get out. Lamest fireworks show ever. I still wonder how long it did take to empty that field afterwards. Regardless, since the fireworks was a washout, I took Missy out into the desert around 15 miles or so just after we got back to the house so we could see the stars. Missy had never seen stars like that, I haven't since I was in the Persian Gulf. There was an enormous spread of the Milky Way over the entire southern sky, and more stars out than I can describe. We even saw a meteor. The next day we all went out to Walnut Canyon, which was also very cool. Nat started feeling bad after a bit of climbing and hiking so she punched out early, but I caught back up with Thomas who had been left behind as he took pictures. That was cool because we got to see a wild coatamundi come trotting along the path towards us for a few seconds before heading into the brush again. L&T went to an art fair that was going on (turned out to be just as lame as the fireworks) and to tour the Lowell observatory, then after all that they and I went out geocaching in the woods behind the house. Found 3 of 5 we were searching for before running out of time before going out to dinner at Black Bart's Steakhouse and Saloon (see 4/7/2013), and between the 7 of us with appetizers and drinks and dessert the bill was over $500, thank you mom! The next day (Saturday) were the flights out for everyone. L&T left a bit before us, so we locked up and headed out. We got back to Chicago and retrieved the van from the hotel park & fly, and made it back home by around 11 p.m. Missed church today.