"Renaissance Snowman"

On the first day of March, John and I thought it would be fun to take Mary to Flagstaff, so that she could play in the snow. We had taken her there last winter (in December 2001), but I don't think that she enjoyed herself very much because she couldn't walk yet. Now that she was an active two and a half year-old, we knew that she would have a much more fun this time. Until February, there had not been much snow in the high country - it was just too dry and warm. Then, a major storm system passed through the state, dumping huge amounts of rain and snow on us. Although it wasn't enough to break the four-year drought, we were all grateful to see it come. The storm brought a good amount of snow to the high country, above 5,000 feet, and more snow was in the forecast for the weekend - it would be the perfect day for us to drive to Flagstaff for a day of playing in the snow. So, on Saturday morning, John put the sled in the Jeep, and then the three of us drove towards Flagstaff. It started out as a beautiful sunny day in Phoenix, when we left the house at 7:00 a.m. As we made our way north on I-17, though, the storm clouds were beginning to gather, getting ready to dump more snow on the mountains. As soon as we reached 5,000 feet, upon climbing out of the Verde Valley, a few light flurries began to fall on us off and on, all the way to Mund's Park. Then, between Mund's Park and Flagstaff, we drove right into a storm cell. The snow fell furiously upon us, forcing us to slow down to about forty miles an hour on the highway - mainly because we couldn't see more than a hundred feet in front of us! It reminded me of the trip that John and I had made to cut down our Christmas tree, in December of 1998, when we got caught in a freak blizzard between Globe and Superior. This time, however, we were not afraid: we had the Jeep! (We did put a moratorium on "Punch Buggies" while we were driving through the snowstorm, just to be on the safe side!) We arrived at last in Flagstaff around 9:30 in the morning, and as soon as pulled into town, we stopped at the Wal-Mart there to buy a winter coat for Mary. Although she was well bundled in a turtleneck, a sweatshirt, jeans, and a windbreaker-style jacket, John felt that she would benefit from having a heavier jacket. After parking the Jeep, we got out of the car, stepped out onto the snow…and immediately, Mary said, "No! Carry!" She did not want to walk on the snow! Oh, no… We spent about fifteen minutes at Wal-Mart, looking for a winter coat for Mary, but we walked away empty-handed - they just didn't have anything in Mary's size. At that point, John decided that Mary was bundled up enough for the trip, so we didn't need to buy a coat for her after all. With that, we left Wal-Mart and went back into the parking lot. By that time, the sun was shining, and it was twenty-seven degrees outside, although it felt a lot warmer. "She'll be fine," I said to John. "She won't need a winter coat." On the way back to the car, we stopped to play on a small pile of snow in the parking lot. At first, Mary did not want to step on the white stuff - it was all new to her - but once John showed her how to make a snowball out of it…well, it was all over from there! Suddenly, it was the best stuff she had ever seen. She grabbed fistfuls of it and flung it in the air, laughing as she did so. She even threw some of it at John and me. I just knew that she would enjoy it! Since we had no intention of spending the whole day in the Wal-Mart parking lot, we ended our snowball fight quickly and got back into the Jeep. From there, we drove through town to US 180 and took that north into the mountains, in search of some snow-play areas. Just after we passed the turn-off for Snowbowl, we drove into another storm cell, in which we had about one hundred feet of visibility. A mile later, we emerged from it and began to look for the turn-off to the Wing Mountain snow play area - that would be the best place to start our day. When we arrived, however, we found that the road was blocked by several big trucks, and all of the drivers were talking to each other. We attempted to make the turn, but as soon as we did so, one of the drivers stopped us to tell us that it was not a good idea to do that. The road had not yet been plowed, and a good number of vehicles were stuck there. We thanked him for the advice and decided that we should probably look for something else. A couple of miles up the road, we turned off onto FR 245 - the road that goes to the Lava River Tube and the Kendrick Mountain trailhead. John parked the Jeep on top of the cattle guard, and the three of us got out to play in the snow. We stayed there for about a half an hour, making snow angels and snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other…all while the sun was shining. (The storm cell has passed, and another one was on the way. In the meantime, we were able to enjoy a few minutes of beautiful sunshine!) By the time we were done playing, it was lunchtime, so we all got back into the Jeep to eat our sandwiches. Meanwhile, John pulled off of FR 245 and back onto the main highway, in search of another snow play area - preferably one with a sledding hill. We found one several miles up the road - its parking area was just off of the highway, and there was a sledding hill just inside the fence. Although it was very crowded there, we managed to find a place to park by waiting for someone to leave. (We were a little worried when we saw his truck slip on the ice and spin its tires, but he eventually made it out of there.) We didn't spend a lot of time at that snow play area, because as soon as we arrived, it started snowing again - lightly at first, then harder the longer we stayed there. While we were there, we did get to do some sledding…although Mary seemed to prefer just standing in the snow and throwing it at us as we came down the hill in the sled! John went down the hill with her twice, but after that, she was finished sledding. Once we were done sledding, we packed up our equipment and started heading south of US 180 towards Flagstaff. Along the way, Mary fell asleep in her car seat - it was naptime after all - so our snow play was over. We did, however, take a side trip to the Wing Mountain snow play area. The road had just been plowed, so it was safe for us to proceed…more or less. Now that the road was plowed, the Wing Mountain trailhead became a zoo - it was completely packed, bumper to bumper, with visitors, trying to enjoy the snow. We followed a line of vehicles through the parking area, hoping that we would be able to find a place to turn around to get out of there. It took us a while, but we eventually found a wide area in which to flip a U-turn; then, we had to follow another line of cars as they inched their way along the icy road towards the highway. At one point, the red SUV in front of us began sliding sideways, narrowly missing a parked car, and we knew that we were in for a long drive! As soon as we reached the highway, we continued our journey back into Flagstaff, taking one more side trip along the way. We pulled off onto another side road - one that had been plowed recently, too - and tested our anti-lock brakes on the icy road. (John was fascinated - he had never had those before.) Then, we drove non-stop back into town. After stopping for gas in Flagstaff, we decided that it was time to leave. Instead of taking I-17, though, we opted for the more scenic route - SR 89A, through Oak Creek Canyon. The canyon is beautiful no matter what time of year you go, but there's just something magical about seeing the red rocks covered in snow. It continued to snow on us as we drove down into the canyon. We passed through yet another storm cell in which the snow flurries fell fast and furious, leaving us with very little visibility. Although it was very pretty, it was also a bit scary. Of course, with John's skillful driving, we made it to the bottom of the canyon without incident. We soon arrived in Sedona and drove through without stopping. At that point, it began to rain on us. In fact, it rained on us most of the way home. We welcomed the rain and hoped that it would rain throughout the whole month of March. "Except on weekends," John interjected. "No rain on the weekend!" I agreed - no rain on the weekend! However, it did rain on us the next day, too, while we were at the Renaissance Festival with Janice and Joshua. But I guess that we can't complain too much, because the weather brought all of that great snow to Flagstaff - without it, we wouldn't have had so much fun that day. And without it, we may never recover from the drought...

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