Day 6—Grand Canyon & Phoenix Area

After a good night’s rest in a Flagstaff, AZ hotel, we got up early to sight see at the Grand Canyon. When we parked the car to go into the visitor’s center, Kim found both pair of tennis shoes and socks in the back and brought them out to put on. Andrew was extremely confusedabout why we would need tennis shoes to go to the visitor’s center, and thought his flip-flops would do just fine. And, he said “Why would we need tennis shoes if we are only going to be here 15 minutes to snap a couple of pictures.” Little did he know that we had to actually hike a short ways to get to the view. We both got a big laugh out of that after we arrived at the visitor’s center and everyone else had canteen’s of water and snack’s packed for the day.

When we finally arrived at the edge of one of the Grand Canyon cliffs, we were totally awestruck. The scale of the canyon is truly indescribable, and the photos don’t even begin to do it justice.

After spending some time admiring the Canyon and taking a couple hundred photos, we embarked on the next adventure.

We went to Sedona, AZ to visit the Chapel of the Holy Cross; a small, one room chapel designed by Lloyd Wright (FLW’s son).

To our surprise, we saw the most incredible view of red rock landforms we could have ever imagined. Hands down, it’s been Kim’s favorite natural landmark we’ve visited yet. We were in awe of the layers of the landforms and how massive and beautiful they were. Majestic is the best word that we can use to describe it.

After Sedona, we drove towards Phoenix, and did a series of “drive by” tourist events. These included: The Orpheum Theater, The Rosson House, The Arizona Biltmore, and the neighborhood of mansions leading to and from it, Old Town Scottsdale, Marshall Way Arts District, The Dale Chilly glass sculptures at the Desert Botanical Gardens, the Grady Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State (designed by FLW) and last but not lease Taliesin West.

the arizona biltmore

glass sculpture

Grady Gammage Auditorium

Kim was the most excited to see Taliesin West which is the site of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture school in Arizona that is still running today. However, when we arrived, we realized it’s closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This was a pretty unfortunate situation, so, Kim decided to sneak onto the property instead of missing it. Although she didn’t get to go inside as she imagined, she enjoyed the experience of being on the patio’s and at the site.

Our last adventure for the day was connecting with Kim’s old “Crewe-ton” buddy, Melissa Blevins. After a fine upbringing in the Town of Crewe, VA and degrees from Lynchburg College and Clemson University, a couple of years ago, Melissa began working at the Mayo Clinic as the Transplant Operations Manager and all around amazing lady. Upon our arrival, she gave us a tour of the recoverycasita’s where the patients go to recoup, and some of the beautiful campus at the Mayo clinic. We had a great time laughing and catching up with her over amazing Cuban tapas! Melissa was kind enough to let us stay at her home at the Mayo Clinic and it was great to be in such a “homey” environment.