Days 24 and 25--More Arizona: Phoenix to Tucson to Flagstaff

Yesterday, after the conclusion of Netroots Nation, I left my hostel in Phoenix and headed towards Tucson. However, before leaving Phoenix, I paid a quick visit to the Heard Museum, one of the finest collections of Native American art in the United States. I remembered the Heard Museum as being terrific from my visit back in 2003 and wanted to check it out again. Luckily, admission was free for most of the collection as it is all Sundays in July. I spent a little over an hour at the Heard. It was pretty crowded and I may have missed some things, but I love their large collection of kachina dolls.

After leaving the Heard Museum, I hopped on I-10 towards Tucson, a short ~115 mile drive. On the way, I stopped at an In-N-Out Burger in Chandler (part of the greater Phoenix sprawl). It was my first visit to In-N-Out (have never been in California despite having gone to California three times before this trip). For a little over $7, I was able to get a nice-sized double cheeseburger, an order of fries, and a soda, which makes it a good buy and the quality is also pretty good. However, I think there are better burger places (maybe not for the price).

I got to my uncle's house in Tucson a little after 2:30pm. His house is located in an industrial area pretty close to the University of Arizona and downtown but I didn't do much exploring (I mainly caught up with my uncle). At his house, he keeps a workshop for his musical instruments but there's also a pretty nice view.

This morning, I headed out to Flagstaff. Instead of retracing I-10 to Phoenix to hop on I-17, I decided to take a more scenic route on some state highways through the Tonto National Forest, passing through the towns of Globe and Payson. The route was quite nice, especially a stretch by Roosevelt Lake between Globe and Payson (didn't get a chance to take a picture) but may have not been worth the extra time. I had somewhat planned on taking a turn towards Sedona on this route but I missed that and it was somewhat raining where I was,

Once I got to  the Motel 6 in Flagstaff, the first thing I did was a couple of loads of laundry. After my laundry was completed, I headed into downtown Flagstaff (about 2 miles north from the motel). Downtown Flagstaff is a nice place to walk around although none of the businesses really interested me (they seemed mostly to be overpriced outdoor stores and microbreweries). As well, parking was VERY expensive for a small town (35-40 minutes cost me $4. I believe it was $3 for the first 30 mins and $1 for each additional 20 mins),

 I had dinner at the Panda Express outside of downtown (closer to the motel) and then have been relaxing at the motel as I have a long drive tomorrow to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and will be camping the next two nights (I'll try to get some updates up when I can, either if I can get wifi or if I can get a phone signal).

Next Stop: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO