The day has come come to start heading back to Arizona from our social distanced times in Southern Utah. But first coffee at a lively upbeat coffee shop that isn’t too far from our hotel–Feel Love Coffee. The Riverside location has a yoga/pilates type of studio as part of the shop and it is hopping with music and pounding of those working out. Fun eclectic place with good breakfast food and coffee plus outdoor seating. I was feeling the love and if you are ever up that way, make sure to check it out.
As we head out of St. George and on to Hurricane, we have decided to take the long way home going back to Kanab and on to Page, AZ so we can stop by Horseshoe Bend since I had never been. South of Kanab, we drive into AZ by Colorado City, a town with an infamous past built on polygamy. We wanted to check out the local brewery, Edge of World Brewery, but they are closed on Wednesdays. Who would have every thought that Colorado City would have a brewery? The times they are a changing. We continue through Fredonia, AZ and head towards Kanab.
Big Al’s Burgers is on my mind with a big buffalo burger just waiting to be devoured. We have arrived around the end of lunch time and once again the place is jumping. We grab the buffalo burgers to go and head towards Horseshoe bend. By the time we arrive, I have developed some nice stains on the front of my shirt. Trust me, well worth the stains.
Due to COVID-19 very few tourists are at Horseshoe Bend. Per Carolyn, the trail has been changed and is wheelchair accessible–a mile in and a mile out. The view is beautiful but in my opinion, but it is not something that overwhelmed me.
I guess I have become accustomed to having strenuous hikes to beautiful views so I was it was a bit of a let down for me. I am still glad to have visited and to have seen the view so I’m glad we visited. I did learn a new toilet technique by using the restroom at the Bend. I was so thankful to obtain new knowledge to day while using the Horseshoe Bend facilities. The things I learn while traveling.
How to use a toilet in the USA.
Back on Rt 89A, we head towards Flagstaff with a new change in our plans; we are using the Hilton Team Member rate to stay at the Doubletree by Hilton Flagstaff so we can relax and visit a couple of our favorite breweries. First stop is Mother Road Brewing Company.
Mother Road is always an interesting stop. They have a great outdoor patio seating area, good food, and good beer. While hanging out enjoying our time, we are told that Flagstaff is participating in the statewide curfew that has been put into place due to rioting and protesting the George Floyd death, and not COVID. The Conserve and Protect Kolsch is easily a favorite of ours. We have an appetizer with our beer and walk on over to Lumberyard Brewing Company in an attempt to beat the clock for curfew.
We arrive to total chaos as Lumberyard has not figured out how they are going to do things in a social distanced manner. We have to leave our number as the bartender describes a 30 minute wait even though there is not many there. He recommends a place across the street for beers while we wait. As soon as we order a beer at the new place, we get a text that lets us know that our table is ready. That 30 minutes turned into 10 minutes. We get back to Lumberyard to stand in line with 15 others (non social distanced) as we rotate one by one past the bar to order drinks and then be delivered to a table. The Hazy Angel is very tasty and a favorite of ours. Im hoping they have figured out a better system because what they were doing did not work well at all.
Out we go, racing the clock in our walk back to the hotel to beat curfew. Our journey back to Phoenix has taken an intentional detour and delay as the coolness of the mountain town is a nice respite from the heat of the Desert. It has been a great start to Carolyn’s emergency time off month from Southwest with our six day road trip. Many miles were hiked and many new eating and drinking places discovered and in some cases rediscovered.
Carolyn and I head into sleepy land with talks of what lies ahead and where we are headed for our next adventures but first some rest.
timfruth 