We’re not much for spur of the moment trips these days. When my husband and I were first married, we’d throw a tent and sleeping bags in the car and head to the beach with an hour’s notice. Or head for the ski slopes in Big Bear.
Friday, my husband suggested we escape the heat of the Phoenix area for a quick trip to Flagstaff which is two hours north at an elevation of 7,000 feet. I looked at the temperatures. Low of 44, high of 69. That’s after a week of blistering high 90s and 100 degrees at home.
My favorite hotel chain has a Little America in Flagstaff. Nice rooms. Delicious food. Hiking trails. Pool, jacuzzi, gym. I was sold!
We drove up to the ski resort called Arizona Snowbowl to check it out. People were skiing and snow boarding!
The Little America was my home away from home in Salt Lake City when my daughter was a student athlete at the University of Utah. We visited lots, because we liked to go to swim meets and watch her swim. I also love Salt Lake City, plus the aforementioned Little America. In Salt Lake City they have the fancier Grand America, but I prefer the lowkey atmosphere of the Little America and the lower prices.
Did I mention that the Covey family founded Little America? Britain Covey played football while my daughter swam at the U. Now Britain plays for the Philidelphia Eagles. Besides being a great athlete at only 5’8″ tall as a football player, he is a kind and authentic person. His grandfather, Stephen Covey, is famous for writing “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and owning Franklin Daytimer, which we used in the olden days to keep track of our appointments and schedules.
I wrote about driving to Flagstaff for our anniversary in 2021 and running into a hail storm that damaged our car from bumper to bumper HERE.
This trip was was quiet. Peaceful. We had fabulous meals and took walks in the 500 acres of forest that are part of the hotel property. It was a well needed break from the heat and a great escape for the weekend. The beautiful pool was closed for the season, until it gets warmer, but the jacuzzi was going strong.
Here’s to a spur of the moment trip for an escape from the heat!
Here’s a video of Gwen Stefani. She pops up from time to time on my Hallow App where she has been sharing personal stories of her faith. When my kids were in high school the word “Sweet” was used all the time like “Cool” from my earlier days.
Do you take spur of the moment trips? Where do you like to take quick getaways?
How nice to get away from those temperatures for a short time. The Coveys seem to have some talent (and tragedy) throughout the lineage.
It was a nice getaway. I don’t know about the Coveys tragedy in their family. I’ll have to read up on them.
Yay! I’m glad you guys split town and found some cool weather. I know the name of the ski area but have never been there but saw it from an airplane window! It looks like a wonderful retreat, have a great week Elizabeth!
It was fun. Very relaxing, but also some nice long walks in cooler weather.
Glad you had a fun little vacay!
A change of scenery is nice. The pine forest smelled so wonderful!
with the pets and no car we don’t usually do spontaneous. but I think the idea of it is cool, or sweet….
We always took our dog with us and the cat was fine home alone. It was fun to do something spontaneous again.
Betty and relaxing time away don’t ever go in the same sentence
Ha! That’s funny!
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A sweet getaway indeed! And I love the Gwen Stephani video.
It was a nice weekend to escape the heat and have a change of scenery. The Gwen Stefano song kept going through my head.
How awesome that you were out hiking. Is your foot all the way healed then? Sounds like a wonderful getaway and I love the backstory on the hotel chain. So fun!
It was so nice to be out in the woods in cool weather. The trails are wide and flat. Not exactly like a hiking trail so I could manage them! I walked further than I have been, probably because of the new scenery. I’m glad you enjoyed the hotel story.
What a beautiful nearby treat! Very smart as 2 hours away is a good idea. The outdoors and the pool look wonderful! I’m glad you got away.
I welcomed the change in scenery. It’s an easy drive so ai can’t wait to go back.
Amazing! Flagstaff is the perfect place to get away from the heat.
It really is perfect and close enough to not be difficult to get there. I’m wondering how cool it is in the summer?
It’s maybe 10-15 degrees cooler in Flag than Phoenix in the summer. We still often go up to “get out of the heat” but it’s only slightly milder. We light to stay in Oak Creek Canyon where it’s maybe 20 degrees cooler than Phoenix.
Thanks for the info. Is Oak Creek Canyon camping or do they have any cabins or hotels?
Both! We really love The Forest Houses. 🙂 https://foresthousesresort.com/
Thanks so much!
Wow! This was a great decision. I like spur of the moment plans because they happen quickly, no time to think about them and perhaps reschedule them. I’m glad you are having a great time.
Thank you! We hardly do that anymore as we age.
Very true, but once in a while, we should do so
Definitely!
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Thank you! Yes, I tend to want to rethink my plans and try to get out of them. Just picking up and going is good for me!
Yes, my husband does the same where I’m the impulsive type.
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Your first picture looks a lot like where we camped Thursday and Friday with our dogs. It’s about 1.5 hours to drive there and there are very good mountain bike trails, so we did a couple rides and hung out. Caught up on a little reading. I’m going on a first-ever girlfriend trip in April—to Maui! That certainly wasn’t on my agenda a month ago. 🙂
That sounds like a perfect weekend. Also, have fun on Maui!
Yay on getting away! Spur of ths moment trips are fun! 🙂
It was a nice break and I’m ready to go back!
😊 LOL!
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Nice escape, especially with those temperatures!
It was perfect!
That’s awesome!
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I love that the two of you took the opportunity to enjoy a change in scenery and temperatures. I’ve never heard of this hotel chain, never, ever! It sounds lovely. We all need and deserve a respite now and again; and two hours is so doable.
We’ve not had a spur of the moment trip in forever!
It was a wonderful weekend. Little America is out west. Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, San Diego, plus they own the Sun Valley resort in Idaho and Snow Basin in Utah. Also, the Grand America in Utah. That’s probably why you haven’t heard of them. I can’t wait to go back. We had a very social week and I was asking my husband when he suggested Flagstaff if we could pick another week because I was tired. But it was the perfect time to go.