Walnut Canyon National Monument

Had breakfast and off we went. From Needles we drove 210 miles straight along Interstate 40 to Flagstaff. Occasionally taking a little detour on Route 66. It's something😊 At the destination, the Travelers Inn right on Route 66, as often, we unloaded the car, inspected the room and went to Walnut Canyon National Monument. Walnut Canyon is known for the cliff dwellings of the Sinagua (without water). The Sinagua are considered experts in water conservation and dealing with droughts. They built their 'houses' under limestone ledges in the canyon. Pretty cool. There were houses, I have no idea how they got there. No ledge, nothing. Fascinating. 25 of these dwelling rooms can be visited in more detail on the Island Trail. It's 'only' 1.6 km, but there are 273 steps to climb over 56 meters in elevation. First down, but you also have to get back up + around the mountain there were another 190 steps🤪 Thanks to SF, we are well trained and managed the trail almost effortlessly😅 At some point, 2 circling shadows above us. -Turkey vultures😅 You never know what you'll find. At first I thought it was small eagles or giant kites, but according to Google, only turkey vultures live here🤷🏼‍♀️
From Walnut Canyon, we returned to Flagstaff. Downtown. We walked a bit through the streets before we ended up at the Corner Tavern. It was karaoke night. We sat at the bar and watched the whole scene. There were oh wow effects, but also omg hopefully the song will be over soon🤣 In any case, we had fun 😊

PS: Our neighbors seem to be very friendly people. See last picture😅