Day 7

Day 7 found Caitlin and Joe waking up cocooned in sleeping bags on Matty's floor in Flagstaff, Arizona. After a bright and sparkly night out in downtown Flag, we decided the best way to follow up the night would be a large and satisfying breakfast, which is exactly what we found at Martan's. Gargantuan in proportion, breakfast at this delightful Mexican joint was phenomenal, if not overwhelming. Some of us were more successful than others at cleaning our plates...

Caitlin's food.


Matty's food.


Matty: Success.


Caitlin: Fail.


After breakfast we headed over to John's for some freshly made elk burgers, which received rave reviews. After discussing plans for the rest of the day, it was agreed that while away from the city, Caitlin should experience as much of the outdoors as possible. With this as the seed, plans were made to head out to the Cinder Pits for some shooting and target practice. After purchasing some rounds at a gun shop boasting some striking taxidermy, we loaded ourselves into John's truck, cranked the volume on the country music, and hit the road.

After bouncing our way up the hills, we finally pulled to a stop in a delightfully remote and snowy area that appeared perfect for our recreation. After an in depth lesson on the basics of firearm mechanics and safety, neon targets were attached to trees and the fun began. Having never fired a gun before, Caitlin was understandably terrible, but her enthusiasm more than made up for the shoddy marksmanship. Joe and John, both well practiced in the sport, actually managed to hit the target.







Note: It's always important to have ear protection.


After expending all available rounds, we packed up and began our descent back now the treacherous, snowy dirt road we arrived on. Caitlin, having never been off-roading of any kind, was wildly enthusiastic about the possibility of another bouncy ride back down. We got a little bit more than we bargained for unfortunately when the truck became thoroughly stuck halfway up a small, steep hill. So much so that only three wheels of the vehicle were actually touching the ground.



After digging the tires out and smoking up the wheels we finally resorted to jacking the truck up, and then letting gravity work it's magic as the car blew the jack and came thundering back to ground. Impressively, this tactic proved successful and a mere 10 minutes after becoming stuck we were back in the truck and once again on our way back down the mountain, country blaring and everything.



After this wildly exciting adventure, we decided that the day had been too good to possibly leave Flagstaff, so we resolved to spend another night in this delightful town. We headed back to John's to chill for a little while, before heading back to Matty's house to get some work done and rest up a bit before meeting John and Jon for pool at a local bar. After arriving, we quickly realized that Cranium was far more alluring than the pool table, so we settled in for a few hours of the best board game ever invented. After three grueling rounds we conceded that the teams of Joe and John and Caitlin and Jon were evenly matched, and called the game a tie.

We then headed to the Monte Vista, Joe and Jon with their hearts set on convincing Caitlin to do karaoke. Unlikely. At the bar were greeted by a painfully inept version of some 90's Metallica song, which while making our ears bleed, also boosted confidence in our own karaoke-ing abilities. After sitting through a couple very respectable and well known songs, Joe and John took the stage for a room- rocking rendition of "La Bamba," which was quite well received. As the bar emptied, Caitlin was convinced to join Joe and Jon on stage for "Bennie and the Jets," which is admittedly one of Caitlin's favorite songs. As we quickly learned, Elton John sung in the car and Elton John sung without any backup are two very different things, and the three of us croaked our way through the 5 minute song with considerable pain and a lot of laughter. It might not have been pretty, but it sure as hell was fun!

So tomorrow we really are departing for Vegas, hopefully after brunch with Jon. Our room at the Flamingo is booked, and we're ready to hit the town. Bright and shiny things await, and holy crap are we excited!!