Sedona & Flagstaff ---- Snow Trip

If you didn't catch it from my last few post, Arizona just got blasted with snow. I had been planning a trip up to Flagstaff since the day I saw snow on the forecast. I changed around my normal weekend routine last week and we saved Sunday for Flagstaff.

Sunday came and we knew we were going to the snow but couldn't decide where. We were trying to decide if we still wanted to go to Flagstaff after all the snow came in so low or if we wanted to stay closer. Natalie wanted to stay closer, I was having second thoughts about going to the Mogollon Rim (which normally has more snow), and we couldn't decide. So when we left the house we hit I-17 and weren't quite sure where to go. We could see snow on the hills all around us that morning, something rare in Anthem. Once we got just 20 minutes up the highway the snow was everywhere on both sides of us. I have never seen so much snow around here.

When we got to the Cottonwood exit Natalie told me to exit. So we drove through Cottonwood but didn't see any good sledding hills. So we decided to drive through Sedona. Sedona had quite a bit of snow but nowhere to play in it. We drove to the airport buttes to grab a few pictures before heading further north. The parking there is on a hill that declines on the driver's side. So we parked, helped push out a guy who was stuck,took our pictures, then back to the truck to head out. 

Well as I was backing out on the snow that had been melted, compacted, and refrozen into ice, my back-end slid. I went from 2 feet away from the car below us to 1 foot. I tried to dig out and try again but I was now only 6 inches away. So I spent the next 20 minutes trying to dig out even more, front and back, all the way under the tires, and waited for the owners of that car to return. When they got back I dug them out and asked them to pull forward to give me space. I ended up digging them out then pushing them out before I left. My fun didn't end there though. The people below them were sliding too and apparently I'm the only one that brings a shovel. The car below them had no one in it but it was sliding as well. So I dug them out until the palm of my hand was bleeding them told them to finish digging. I was able to push them out then when I got back to my truck backing up was easy. I have no idea if the car below them keep sliding but that experience has made me rethink ever trying to park like that on ice again. My right hand was so raw from the digging I had to put Vaseline on it and keep it covered with a latex glove for two days. 

After a 45 minute digging delay we were back on 89A. Only problem was once we got out of town there was a sign that 89A was closed. So we turned around and had to go all the way back down 179 then back up I-17 to Flagstaff. Our first order of business was lunch. The kids were hungry, we were hungry, and I felt like I earned myself a beer. We had lunch at a pizza joint we have been to before that has some good local beer before heading out to play in the snow.  Leaving NiMarcos we got stuck behind more people getting stuck in the parking lot. It makes me appreciate not living in the snow. Fun to visit but it sucks driving in that craziness and everything is a muddy mess once the plows come in.

I did Adri's hair that morning. She got a compliment from some lady in NiMarcos about it.

From Anthem Way in Anthem. Two days ago everything was covered in snow. The day before the hills were still covered. This is what is left. The mountains behind Gavilan Peak (The big one on the left) aren't usually all that visible until they get some snow on them.

From the Table Mesa area. Table Mesa is so redundant.

By Red Rock and Crescent Moon Ranch in Sedona.

Idiots like this make me think we don't have enough natural selection. Some cars had a foot high pile on their hoods as well with half their windshields blocked. After I took this picture a bus turned in that intersection and a foot high sheet of snow went flying off it.

From the airport buttes in Sedona.

These trees are probably ten feet high. This wasn't a powdery snow It was wet, heavy, and all bunched up.

Downtown Sedona.

Driving back down 179.

Back on I-17 heading to Flagstaff.

@ NiMarcos

I couldn't resist. A grown woman going out for pizza dressed like an alpaca. When she was done eating she put on her alpaca hood and started playing in the dirty parking lot snow.

One of our favorite places to play in the snow.

School's closed.

Icicles to the ground.

Zach doesn't know how to walk in the snow.

Sledding time.

These people also had a big inflatable swan which popped on them.

I can't stand the way trashy people leave their broken plastic sleds all over the place. Leaving their pool worked out for us though.

After playing in Flagstaff we decided to head back towards home and look for more spots. We finally stopped at a location I'm not sharing where the snow was waist to chest high. Both kids got stuck going under this fence. There was a cattle guard under it and the snow didn't get packed under the guard. It all piled up on top and set a booby trap.

The snow here was very powdery and I couldn't form a snowman. So instead I made a volcano. Zach decided he's the hulk and just wanted to "Bistroy" it. I think I made the volcano four times for him.

We got to this place at 4:30 and it was 32 degrees. When we left at 5:10 it was 26 degrees, so cold my gloves and pants were sticking to the metal gate. I had to get in the truck with snow frozen to my pants and let it melt off as I drove.