Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 23 years and 10 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

Our only planned adventure for today was to get back to Flagstaff and visit the Lowell Observatory. We left Phoenix at 9:00am and headed north on I-17. Based on suggestions from friends and colleagues, we decided to detour off to visit Sedona and Red Rock Country.

We took Arizona 179 north off of I-17 and headed into the mountains and soon saw the red rock formations that Sedona is famous for: Bell Rock, Courthouse Rock, Cathedral Rock, and many others. Glancing through the Guidebook, we made a stop at the Holy Cross Chapel, a church built high up on the side of one of the mountains and made to look as if it is growing out of the rock itself.

Lunch was had on the shaded balcony of The Hideaway restaurant (again, based on advice from our Guidebook) overlooking more of the beautiful countryside.

Having the Ford Explorer, we tried a little off-roading, taking an unpaved road up to Schnebly’s Vista. As we left the paved road, a sign read: passenger cars not recommended, and we soon discovered why. The rocky road was incredible bumpy and rough, but the views it took us to were incredible.

After having our fill of the red rocks, we headed north on Arizona 89A through Oak Creek Canyon, a road which has several hairpin turn switchbacks as it winds back up the mountains out of the canyon. We eventually met back up with I-17 and continued into Flagstaff.

We checked into the hotel, rested a bit, went driving through historic downtown Flagstaff on US Route 66, had dinner at a local Denny’s, and then headed up to the Lowell Observatory for the night show.

The Observatory is situated up in the hills above Flagstaff and is famous for the discovery of the planet Pluto. After a 30-minute presentation on what you could see in tonight’s night sky, our group headed out the Clark telescope dome. The 24″ telescope (and the dome it is housed in) is 104 years old and would cost $7 million to replace. While waiting in line to look through the Clark, we were able to look through a smaller, 10″ telescope pointed at a binary star system in the handle of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). The larger telescope was pointed at the near-full moon and we were able to see some fantastic craters on the surface. It was a beautiful clear night, and we even caught a glimpse of a shooting star.