Saturday Night and Sunday -- Tim and Kathryn's visit

Since I limit my posts now to include only four images or pictures, I had to break off from the visit to the Canyon -- the blogspot doesn't seem to handle more than four images very well.  We had a wonderful walk along the rim and found a nice shady spot not far from where I had parked the Jeep and we relaxed and enjoyed the delightful snacks and sandwiches we had brought along -- Kathryn needed an additional layer as the temps began to drop and the breezes began to increase in the afternoon.

We finished up with a couple more pictures at the rim and then headed east on route 64 along Desert View Drive out the east entrance to route 89A south back toward Flagstaff.  The route back had been planned by me with the hopes that there might be a turn to the east from route 89A where we might catch a glimpse of the "Painted Desert" to the east.  However, when we reached that turnout (to the Wupatki National Monument) I decided to pass on by as the winds had picked up and there didn't seem to be anything visible to the east -- nothing but, desert and tumbleweeds blowing across the highway (and two passengers nodding off from a great day at the Canyon).

Our dinner reservation at Black Bart's wasn't until 7:00 p.m. so we headed into downtown Flagstaff with hopes of finding a parking space this time (didn't find one the day before) and this time we did.  So, we enjoyed a Gelato in the center of town and Tim and I had a brew in a nearby tavern as Kathryn did some shopping.

After a short nap for all, Tim and Kathryn again arrived back at my RV in the Jeep just a little before our dinner reservation.  We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening listening to the entertainment and the food was just as amazing as the entertainment -- Kathryn had the Halibut special (which is why the man went to Alaska), Tim had the full rack of ribs and I had the bacon wrapped filet mignon.



Sunset over Black Bart's Restaurant

The next morning, Kathryn and Tim checked out of the Little America motel and drove back over to my RV for a morning breakfast of blueberry pancakes, sausage, fruit and slices of cantalope -- followed by giving them all the small family albums with pictures to peruse out on the patio (while I did the dishes).

Then, came the one really scary occurence as I had taken Tiger out for a walk earlier to show Kathryn and left him tied to a chair as Tim and Kathryn went through the photo albums.  An unbelivable alarm or siren went off on the other side of the highway that sounded like the diving alarm of a submarine which scared the crap out of Tiger and he began to thrash and twist like the Tasmanian Devil to get away from the sound and the chair dragging behind him (probably thought the chair was out to kill him or eat him).  Kathryn got scratched badly and I did too as we tried to control him but, he eventually twisted out of the harness and disappeared on the other side of the RV as I tried to chase after him -- never mind my bleeding arm or wrist.

Cathedral Rock in background

We looked around for more than an hour and I checked with other campers to see if they had spotted him roaming around the campground -- nowhere in sight was my little companion and that really depressed me.  After reporting his escape to the camp office, I decided we still needed to head back to Sedona and then on to the airport to drop off Tim and Kathryn for their 7:37 flight back to San Francisco -- hoping upon hope that later that evening when I got back that Tiger would reappear from wherever he went into hiding.

We drove back down route 89A into Sedona and Tim and Kathryn picked up some small snacks at one of the nice shops before we decided to head for Cathedral Rock and a hike of about an hour or hour and a half.  Not a well travelled or well marked route but, we had a pleasant walk about nonetheless and snacked again later when we stopped at Sunset Point just off Interstate 17 (nicest rest area any of us three have seen).

After dropping them off at the airport about 2 hours early, I headed back to Flagstaff as quickly as possible -- first hoping to avoid driving in the dark as much as possible and second to get back to the RV with some hopes that Tiger had stuck around by the RV (I had left one of the compartments open under the RV with his favorite toys freshly covered with catnip nearby).  Upon arrival, he was nowhere to be seen and the light in the compartment didn't show him to be there either so, I went in to check on Molly in the bedroom.  As I talked to her, I heard a meow outside the open window and I guess Tiger heard me and let me know he was there.  Sure enough he was there near the rear tires of the RV and I scooped him up with a great sigh of relief and thanks.