Kingman to Williams, AZ (plus Sedona)

We all had a bit of a sleep-in. I felt very sleepy. We in fact found a Carl's Jr in Kingman so went there. We arrived at about 10:05, ate breakfast and made for Williams. We thought we'd try for accommodation there since it's closer to the Grand Canyon. The road to Williams was unspectacular, and we managed to get ourselves for two nights.

After unpacking and having a bit of a rest we headed off for Sedona, a beautiful place at the end of Oak Creek Canyon. Very steep rock walls but in the midst of pine forest. The rocks are bright red with lots of buttes and balancing rocks. You drive down through the canyon. Air very dry and hot.

Sedona itself is very quaint with lots of little shops selling Indian artifacts. We stopped for an ice-cream then headed back. Lots of people around for 4th July holiday. Lots of camp spots and people bathing in the creeks at the bottom.

Thought we'd try for Meteor Crater, another 50 miles east of Flagstaff. The country quickly changed. We were driving along a ridge with canyons either side, with very few trees and lots of grass - looked like Dances with Wolves countryside.

When we arrived at Meteor Crater we were told it had closed. How do you close a crater? Disappointed, we turned back toward Flagstaff and Williams and looked for somewhere to eat. The fast food chains haven't found their way to Williams and we decided on a place called Hoffman House. I felt like a proper dinner but not too much so settled on a rib-eye steak. It was 3 times bigger than I expected and had salad and soup included. Water provided on the tables - haven't seen that as much this time. The small drinks ordered were in fact, small!

People from Phoenix near us had come for the fireworks, put on by the Williams volunteer fire brigade, and was going to start at 9pm. Sean was showing signs of being extremely tired and the kids were all getting restless, so we thought we might have to leave the fireworks. We went back to our room at the Williams Comfort Inn but the fireworks were quite loud, and there was no way anyone could sleep for the next hour, so we moved our chairs outside and watched the show. Some of them were quite large.Read more