Snowbowl

Last Thursday, David got up and said I want to see snow!  I guess hearing about the snow everyone was getting in Minnesota made him feel lonely in not being able to shovel or drive in that mess.  So we set out for the Snowbowl just north of Flagstaff.  The Arizona Snowbowl is an alpine ski resort, located on the San Francisco Peaks. The Snowbowl ski area covers approximately one percent of the San Francisco Peaks, and its slopes face west and northwest. (Source (some):  Wikipedia)  This was the closest snow area that I could find from our campgrounds.

We decided to take the scenic route through Sedona rather than take the Interstate 17.  Getting close to Sedona, you could start to see the change in hill color to the bright red that this area is famous for.  They say the red rocks of the Sedona area are formed by a unique layer of rock known as the Schnebly Hill Formation. The Schnebly Hill Formation is a thick layer of red to orange-colored sandstone found only in the Sedona vicinity.   And you could definitely see the change to this bright red.

We only drove through Sedona, which is a busy town with tourist stuff, art shops, jeep rides, etc…..but we will go there another time and enjoy walking the streets and see the sites.

We drove out of Sedona heading towards Flagstaff and the road was another set of switchbacks and high cliff views.  This is what our GPS looked like at one point.

We came to a “Scenic Overlook” and decided to stop there.  The view was so incredible as you can look down and see the winding road we drove up to get to that spot.  There were also a number of Indian vendors there that sold jewelry and various items that were either made by them or their family members.

(I know the pictures do not even begin to do it justice, but I hope you enjoy seeing the views)

We continued on to the Snowbowl, but to our dismay the upper area, the actual ski area was not open so we could only get in to some of the lower parking lots, but did take some pictures of the snow from there.  And it was actually about 20 degrees cooler up here than in the Sedona area.

For my Minnesota family and friends, I know the sight of snow does not excite you at all!!!  But it is kind of amazing to one hour be in the dessert area and a couple of hours later you are in the snow area and a big temperature change.  Disappointing that we could not get to actually touch the snow, but we will have to save that for another adventure.  They say this ski area will open officially some time around mid-November.

TIFN