Every trip north with company requires a stop at Montezuma Castle National Monument. I’ve been stopping here a long, long time. But not so long ago that they still had the ladders up so you could go into the ruin. One fact sticks in my memory from a long-ago visit: a lower room was filled with bat guano. Funny what memories stick. Another fun fact: one western movie was filmed in the castle, Flaming Feather… in 1951.
Next stop: Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. Google maps told me one of our restaurant stops was permanently closed, Shugrue’s Hillside. We stopped anyway to find that it is now The Hudson owned by Shugrues again after some changes of ownership.
Through the canyon to the scenic vista at the top of the switchbacks.
And finally to the top of Mars Hill in Flagstaff to the Lowell Observatory. This is where the planet Pluto was discovered. Now it’s a dwarf planet, one of many. Phooie.
One of the first telescopes on the hill.