When Cathy told me she was coming to visit in July my first thought was that we needed to get the h-e-l-l out of town or she would surely perish from the heat. We talked about doing Northern Arizona followed by Rocky Point or San Diego, but that seemed like too much driving, so we settled on Northern AZ and then a staycation in Phoenix. We rented a car for the Northern part so we could all fit comfortably and travel together in one car.
The plan was to rent the car on Thursday morning and hit the road by 10:00 am. After a few false starts with the rental car (we got lost trying to get it at the airport and then we had issues with actually renting it), we were on our way to Northern Arizona. Unfortunately, we were close to two hours later than anticipated. Michael was driving, so as the co-pilot, navigator, and road trip planner, I made the decision to shift plans for the day and do a Flagstaff itinerary instead of the North-Eastern Arizona itinerary.
Finally on the road!
I'm normally driving when we go from Phoenix to Flagstaff. It was nice to be a passenger and enjoy the scenery.
We got into town and immediately went to get some lunch at Diablo Burger in downtown Flagstaff.
My burger
Spencer's
Michael's
After lunch we went to take a tour of the Riordan mansion.
The Riordan mansion is the duplex home of Timothy and Michael Riordan, lumber baron brothers who married sisters, Caroline and Elizabeth Metz. The brothers were members of an important Arizona Territorial family who played a role in the development of Flagstaff and northern Arizona and were involved in lumber, railroads, cattle, banking, and politics.
Cooperatively the Riordan brothers built their thirteen thousand square foot mansion in 1904 while Arizona was still a territory. The home consisted of two similar six thousand square foot wings for each family, connected by a large common room.[1]
Charles Whittlesey was the architect for the Riordan homes. He also was the architect for the El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon. Architectural similarities between the structures can be found in the massive stone arches at porch corners as well as exterior elements that reflect the surrounding landscape like log planks, wood shingles, and native stone.
This is the back of the home.
Spencer was not in the best mood.
Elliott had a very rough morning, but did fine during the tour.
These were Tim's shoes.
Special windows that showed pictures on the inside, but looked like plain windows on the outside.
Maid's room
I was jealous of the linen closet. This is how you know you're old. When you are envious of a LINEN CLOSET.
A type of "air conditioning" system the family used to cool the home in the summer.
Another view of the "air conditioner".
The original stove/oven.
Family members lived in the home until the 1980's when they donated it to become a museum. They found the oven in the basement. It had not been in use the entire time.
Wet bar. Also jealous of this little area between the informal dining room and the kitchen.
Formal dining table.
Formal living room/parlor
The "swing" room. They had a porch swing inside. Jealous of that too.
Another view of the special picture windows.
The kitchen on the other side of the mansion.
After the tour we checked into the hotel, unpacked, and rested a bit. Then we headed to Beaver Street Brewery for dinner.
Cathy ordered a sample of beer to see if she liked it before ordering a whole beer. I was joking about her thimble full of beer.
I actually ordered a beer. Probably my first in close to two years.
It was about 72 degrees so Elliott ordered a hot chocolate.
He drank the whole thing.
Cathy didn't like her sample so she got sangria instead. It was way more than a thimble full.
And I was dehydrated so I ordered a second beer.
After dinner we were going to go to Target to get some stuff for the next day but Spencer had a major asthma attack in the car on the way there so we went straight back to the hotel. We almost took him to the ER that night but finally got him settled down with a lot of steam from the shower and a lot of nebulizing.
Up next: the Grand Canyon.
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