Road Trip (Before Covid-19) - Antelope Slot Canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon, and Dinner at Shift Kitchen and Bar (Flagstaff)

***** Warning; this post is super long.

Man, it's been over a year since we did this road trip. I thought I'd better get my posts done. The Missus wanted to do a road trip over the Labor Day weekend last year. She had been wanting to check out Antelope Canyon for years. So, after doing a bit of research , I came up with a plan, to do both Antelope Slot Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon, check-out Horseshoe Bend, and even do a small group tour of the Grand Canyon over the weekend, with just taking the Tuesday after Labor Day off. Frankie's Auntie "Alle" had just returned from visiting family in Italy and graciously said she'd love having Frankie around over the weekend.

So, we left on Saturday morning. I'd planned a couple of stops along the way. When we stopped right outside El Centro....good lord, it was in the high 90's and the humidity was crazy, so we drove through Yuma and decided to get gas in Dateland at the travel center. The Missus actually enjoyed shopping at the Travel Center and even bought a couple of packages of dates.

We then headed out east on the 8, then headed up the 85, onto the 10 East, then straight up the 17 toward Flagstaff.

Then it happened. About 15-20 miles out of Flagstaff, my transmission went out. I pulled to the side of the road and we tried calling AAA. Unfortunately, cell phone reception was very bad. I finally found a high spot off the freeway and got thru to the Auto Club. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find our location....I even got the latitude and longitude, but no bueno. What I neded up doing was calling the Highway Patrol and getting a location after they pinged the cell phone tower and I walked up about a mile and got the milepost as well.

And then it was just waiting......good thing I could still start my vehicle and run the AC and such. And we waited.....I think this cloud kinda looks like Frankie, what do you think?

And for some reason; a version of an Eagles song went through my mind; "stuck on the shoulder outside Flagstaff, Arizona...…"

After about 90 minutes a tow truck arrived and we got hitched up and were on our way to Flagstaff...….except about 5 miles down the road, our tow truck broke down....soooooo; we now needed a tow truck for our tow truck! About an hour later, a fleet of tow vehicles arrived, including the owner of the tow company who was so nice and apologetic.

This time they used a car carrier and we drove to the Flagstaff Toyota dealership. Now, I'm not big on fancy cars; my little 2005 RAV4 had over 220k miles on it....the Missus decided it was time I got a new car. Which is how we went on a roadtrip and I ended up getting a new RAV4. By the time all the paperwork was done and the car was prepped it was 9pm and we headed off to Page. Which was a 2 1/2 hour drive. We got into our hotel at around midnight and immediately crashed....it had been a long day.

The next morning; we had the hotel breakfast and checked out. I had made two reservations for the day....we'd be visiting upper and lower Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon is located in the Navajo Nation so all access is by tour groups.

Our first visit was to Antelope Slot Canyon. We headed into Page and arrived at the designated location for Antelope Slot Canyon Tours by Chief Tsosie. Based on our reservation time; we were loaded onto minibuses and headed out. Our guide was amazing; so knowledgeable, even fielding questions and making recommendations for other places to visit.

There were quite a few vehicles parked as several companies do tours here.

And what you don't really see in photos are the crowds of folks entering.

Though they do a really great job of keeping distances between groups allowing folks time to take photos and take in the beauty of the canyon.

Before entering we were given a little lesson on how the canyon was formed. We were asked how the canyon formed in the specific way and no one answered; so I finally went, "sandstone erosion based on fast flowing floods". The guy stopped and cracked up, telling me "I've been doing this for a decade and that's the best answer I've ever had." Not sure if he was just making feel good......and I got an elbow and a whisper of "don't show off" from the Missus for my effort.

Like I mentioned; our guide was amazing. He went over the famous "sites" and set-up and took photos of everyone in the group. He kept folks together; even the two groups of "selfie Instagram girls". He told us stories of Antelope Canyon; the flash flood in 1997 that took the lives of 11 people, with only one survivor (see the link if interested), about Peter Lik's black and white photo of Antelope Canyon fetching 6.5 million dollars, and that National Geographic is banned from Antelope Canyon, how the canyon had been closed twice because folks were illegally dumping human ashes in the canyon.

The lighting does play tricks with you...….

Other well known locations were pointed out; like the "Dragon's Eye".

Let your imagination run wild......

This tour was super easy; the terrain is level so there were quite a few people on the tour. It does get a bit cramped at times, but I as very happy we did this.

We had a little over an hour between tours. I had a well regarded fried chicken place in mind for lunch; but it was just too hot for us to think about having that. Instead, I just bought some cold cuts and a salad from the Safeway across the street from the tour office. This would be enough to hold us until dinner. We planned to be in Flagstaff by then.

After lunch we headed off to Ken's Tours Lower Antelope Canyon. Man, the waiting/office area was packed. Luckily, we had made reservations months earlier. When we were called, we queued up and then headed down a trail. Just looking out, you really couldn't tell that there was a slot canyon here.

And after a short walk, we arrived at some pretty steep stairs and headed down into the canyon.

And while our guide at Antelope Slot Canyon was definitely better; the lighting here was amazing. Also, foot traffic here is one way thru, you don't have to turn around to head back, which made things less cramped. And did I mentioned the lighting????

The lighting, shadows, red sandstone just adds to the otherworldly feeling.

And you start seeing shapes...….some of them are quite well known. This is "Bruce the Shark".

And don't forget to look up. I actually saw the shape of a seahorse in the view to the right.

This was quite an amazing place to visit and I'm glad we did it.

After the tour, before heading to Flagstaff, the Missus had one more place on Her "list". A place that was actually made famous by social media, a destination made popular by Instagram, Horseshoe Bend. Back in, say 2014, about 40,000 people a year visited Horseshoe Bend....but after folks started posting photos on Instagram, you know, the selfie generation, it is estimated that over 2,000,000 folks visit the site right outside Page every year.

And so we found a parking spot and made the short pilgrimage down the trail to the look-out.

Notice the folks sitting on the bench? Well, it was pretty darn hot already on this day.

We saw several young people sitting and vomiting.....heat stroke...I guess perhaps they'd partied too hard or hadn't hydrated properly. What was even worse were the knuckleheads who brought their dogs out. We saw one vomiting....a guy was running past us in the opposite direction; his poor dog was having seizures! What morons.

We joined the masses to take a photo that I guess everyone now needs to have.

We saw quite a few people head over the railing to get "that photo" of themselves here. Crazy. Even with the overlook in place, folks still find a way to kill themselves.

We headed off to Flagstaff. I'd booked two nights at the Residence Inn in "Flag" as I heard residence call the city. Home to Northern Arizona University, both the Missus and I enjoyed our time in the city.....folks were friendly, there's a kind of artsy, hipster, chill vibe. At around 7,000 feet elevation, the weather was much cooler than Page. Also, I was a bit surprised to see the pine forests surrounding the city.

We also lucked out as right across the street from our hotel, the city was having it's "Art in the Park" festival.

Where we managed to do a good bit of shopping and purchase some gifts for folks back home.

It was a fun time....folks (including the four legged ones) were so friendly here.

Gifts in tow; we headed back to the hotel for a short break before heading out for dinner.

And while our dinner destination was a mere two blocks from where we were staying; we took our time. We really enjoyed the historic downtown area of the city.

For dinner, I did a bit of research and decided on Shift Kitchen and Bar; the focus on shared plates and an interesting cocktail list seemed like just the thing for us.

We were seated across from the bar area; a perfect place for us as we could see what others ere ordering and still had some privacy.

The cocktails were good; my favorite of the evening was the Smoked & Dirty Martini.

There was one item that drew me to Shift. The Missus loves salt and vinegar chips and the Pickled French Fries with "Secret Sauce" seemed like something She's love.

Wonderfully "pickly" with a good amount of salt, the Missus just loved this. She really didn't need the "secrest sauce" (think Mickey D's). As a matter of fact, we had a second order of this.

The Duck Liver Tart, was well, a bit too "tart" and sweet for our taste.

We loved the greens, though the pickled pears were much too sour for us.

The Smoked Bone Marrow was quite good; though the garnishes added perhaps a bit too much acidity for our taste.

Loved the bone marrow; savory-buttery goodness on the toast. Could have done without all the mustard seed and really acidic pickled veggies - jalapeno which really detracted from the goodness of the bone marrow.

All-in-all, a decent first meal. Friendly, amiable service, solid cocktails.....we (the Missus) would definitely return for those fries.

Shift Kitchen & Bar
107 N San Francisco St.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Current Hours:
Wed - Sun 5pm - 9pm

We'd had a pretty busy 24 hours....we drove from San Diego, got stuck on the I-17, bought a new car in Flagstaff, drove to Page and spent the night, visited Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend, and were really enjoying Flagstaff. Man, would I sleep well on this evening. Dreaming of red sandstone shapes rising toward the sky......

Thanks for stopping by!

Comments

[RedDevil]

Beautiful pictures and great story. Way back when on a cross country move for school, our u haul broke down. We had to transfer all our belongings to a new u haul which it turned out didn’t work either. Lost a whole day in Oklahoma but had a wonderful steak dinner at some hole in the wall roadhouse for like $5. The music literally screeched to a halt when my wife and I walked in, great memories. Thanks for reminding me. Stay safe and hope you guys get traveling again soon.

[kat]

was getting worried after the two breakdowns...beautiful photos!

[Kirk]

Great story RD....funny how these mishaps really lead onto interesting experiences!

That was quite an experience Kat!

[Junichi]

I was planning a similar road trip this summer until Covid hit. Antelope canyon is sadly still closed. At least you had AC while waiting for the tow. Never even heard of pickled fries. Might have to look for a recipe online.

[Soo]

Congrats on your new suv! I never bought a new car without some testing before hand. You got some great photos on your road trip.

[Jason]

Wow, talk about rolling with the punches, too bad your car broke down but glad you were able to adapt (and get a new car) and still keep your road trip itinerary.

[caninecologne]

Cripes, what a road trip! Thanks for sharing your adventures. Those photos of the canyon are fantastic (love the way the light plays with the curves)

[Kirk]

The Missus loved those fries Junichi! Hope you get to check out Antelope Canyon once they reopen.

Well, it just didn't make sense to repair our old car Soo.

Something always happens Jason!

It does make for quite the story CC! Antelope Canyon is very photogenic!

[Janfrederick]

Great post. Looks WAY more popular than when we visited in 2002. I took my kiddo on a road trip to the area this past August, but as would be expected, Antelope Canyon was cerrado. We missed the horseshoe this time, but made up for it by checking out Goosenecks.

[Sandy]

One of these days, I would love to visit Antelope Canyon, but I will try to do it when the temperatures aren't so high. Great photos and hope you're enjoying the new-ish car!

[Kirk]

It's extremely popular Jan...probably due to all the social media exposure.

Definitely do it during when the weather is cooler Sandy - though because it's a canyon, the temps aren't very high. It's when you're outside....