Weekend Update: Flagstaff Part Two

Sunday morning, we got up and headed into town for breakfast. Kelley recommended a place with good eggs benedict (my favorite breakfast splurge), so we checked it out. Very good! Afterwards, we walked around the farmer's market in City Hall Park. Everything looked so good but we only walked away with a bunch of carrots. I have this thing for fresh carrots with the tops still on. They remind me of picking them from my grandfather's garden when I was little. I don't know if it's the dirt that's still on them or what, but they are like nothing you get at the grocery store.
Carrots in tow, we headed to Red Mountain for our hike. It was earlier in the day, so the storm clouds didn't have time to develop yet. It was a beautiful morning! Red Mountain ahead:
Red Mountain is a cinder cone estimated to be over 1 million years old. Read the sign below for more information:
Beautiful wildflowers lined the trails:

Jay leading the way:

Inside were amazing rock formations! All different colors and shapes, molded by the volcano that used to be here.

The first sign of "wildlife" we saw - this little lizard. Jay saw a really big one but I didn't get over to him in time to get a photo.

You can see all the layers of rock from thousands (a million!) years ago:

Spooky looking rock formation:

On our way back to the car, Jay and I heard a really really loud sound. It didn't sound like the cows I'm used to hearing (in Vermont) so I thought it might have been an elk or something. Regardless of what it was, it was super close and I went on high alert. As we turned the corner, there was a big brown cow looking at us head on. He's way closer than he looks in this picture.

Soon after he spotted us, Brown Cow walked away.

One last view of Red Mountain before we headed back to town:

We stopped at this little Chapel of the Holy Dove. It was really tiny & cute. Just big enough inside to fit maybe 20 people.

Back in the car, Jay and I were talking about how we have never seen elk while in Flagstaff. There are signs everywhere to caution for them - but in all our trips up there, not one sighting! I was determined to find my husband his elk and minutes after announcing that "Flagstaff elk are B.S.", I spotted these out my window:

So we now believe that there are in fact elk in Flagstaff and have photos to prove it. It's about time.

Around 6pm, we started the drive home. It was nice leaving later in the day because we avoided a lot of traffic that we usually hit. And we got to see the beautiful desert sunset as we arrived in Phoenix:

I am so grateful to have had this weekend with Jay. We almost didn't go because of all our previous travels, but it proved to be well worth it. It was the perfect weekend to decompress and just enjoy each other in the peace and quiet. No laundry, no parties, no sweltering heat. Just us.