Saturday, October 25, 2008

Flagstaff VS Bend....Round 1


If I were brave enough to go out into the morning chill and take a picture right now, you would wonder if we were back in Bend, OR.
Ponderosa pine and Juniper trees, cinder pits, wildfires, obsidian chips, dust, hiking trails galore, all 4 seasons, and ski mountains surround us...ahhhhh, the high desert.
Instead of the Deschutes River meandering through downtown like Bend, here we have the ever present sound of the Santa Fe Railroad. The tracks lie right in the middle of historic downtown and all day and night the train horns blow as they trek on down the track. Dinner last night at the Flagstaff Brewery was interrupted by a train and the kids grabbing on to their water glasses with the shake of freight passing by.
Flagstaff is smaller than Bend, although with 2 Interstates running through, it feels a bit busier at first. The downtown areas of both towns have somewhat of the same feel although Flagstaff is a bit rougher around the edge. We kind of like that. The breweries here are filled with ping pong tables and live music instead of football games on TV and wealthy tourists. There seems to be a good music scene here although it may be too small for Coldplay to pass through. But let's jump for joy for one moment because Jason and I have tickets to the Shawn Mullins concert tonight and a babysitter for the kids!!!
We all rode our bikes to the Flagstaff AquaPlex a few nights ago for family swim. Water slides, lazy rivers, whirlpools and hot tubs filled up our night followed by some good needed sleep. Fun times like that help us feel a bit at home in unfamiliar towns. I'm slowing getting a sense of direction and almost feel confident enough to explore on my own with the kids while Jason is at work. There is a lot to explore here. So much so that it's a town that's now at the top of our list when the time comes to settle down.

2 comments:

Renee said...

If you can get past all the political blogging going on lately we too are a family of 5 RVing and homeschooling. We say we are roadschoolers...lol. I got your story via a rv yahoo group I am with and thought wow their story sounds much like ours on some levels. We won't officially hit the road until next year sometime, but spent this past summer in CO, UT (right before the one arch fell), ID and MT. We will endure this winter in MT. I will be backing off the Politics soon so if you want you can certainly follow our adventures as well just nice to meet other families doing the same. http://howlsmovingcastleroadschool.blogspot.com/

Allons97 said...

You ever make it as far as Georgia ya'll will have to have come super at my home. We have been homeschooling for 7 years and spend our winter months out in our 5th wheel as much as possible. Very jealous of your adventure. LOL Good Luck to you and God Speed.