July 28th. A day off in Flagstaff.

I can’t figure out what time it is, every clock tells a different story, the car clock, Betty, my phone, the computer and the bedside clock. I got up thinking it was 09:00 and went to have breakfast only to discover it was 07:00. I made my first ever waffle, not that it’s rocket science. The first job was to go and get Willy’s ‘Dickers’ boots, they cost about a quarter of what they are in Spain and another great thing is they have all the sizes even when I buy a t-shirt, when they say ‘XL’ they mean it. The we visited the Lowell Observatory, I always remember this place from my Collins book of the stars. The telescope here was the biggest in the world for quite a while. Our tour guide was a charming (Dutch?) woman called Maria who regaled us with stories of astronomers and their discoveries. There were quite a few star gazers around, Astronomers do seem to be a special breed, think Patrick Moore, it must be all those hours alone staring at the sky. Time to drop the car off and visit Barnes and Noble, the major book shop chain in the States. Willy picked up some stuff that he’d been looking for including a cool zip-up book cover. I was looking for the books that Pat had recommended but I think Amazon is the best bet. I was also looking for books on sausage making (my new venture), but no luck. Time to hit the town. First stop was Granny’s Closet for the happy hour, two pints, $5. Flagstaff is the summer camp for the Arizona Cardinals football team and there was a local radio station broadcasting from the bar with all the updates of the training schedule – sports analysts will analyse anything, anal being the word. Time for a quick walk around the town. It’s very picturesque Americana, a fine collection of eateries and curio shops, we have to pay a visit to a great retro shop on Aspen St. But valuable beer time is being wasted and Willy is getting tetchy and I’m a little dry. We hit Connor's for more happy hour beers, this time we tried a beer called 'Kilt Lifter' a Scottish style ale. I think we’ll be going back tomorrow, they have a fish race which I feel is my duty to report about, and the barmaids are babes. We went back to Moloney’s for some more pints of Skinny Dip, the barman (Brendon) had been warned of our arrival, it’s nice to feel wanted. That Skinny Dip should carry a health warning especially whe the barman tells us it's much better with fresh orange squeezed in. We visited a student type bar with snowboards and skiis nailed to the wall, this is where we had the shots of Jaegermeister which explains a lot today (the day after).We went back to Granny’s closet for the dinner special – Sirloin steak with all the trimmings for $9, I thought we were well behaved but Willy assures me that although we didn't do anything wrong, we were very happy and the charming Courtney and Kambria looked after us. Then back to the crib for the nightcap and to sleep with the TV on. Bliss.