Spring Trip 2009: Flagstaff, Arizona

Part of the Spring Trip 2009 series.

My overwhelming impression of Flagstaff, Arizona, will be one of heavy panting. (No, get your minds out of the gutter!) The entire city is above 6,000 feet in altitude, and by the time I checked in to my hotel late Sunday evening, I was feeling like I couldn't get enough air. The Grand Canyon didn't affect me nearly as much, or perhaps I had become somewhat accustomed to the thin atmosphere up on the Colorado Plateau.

As mentioned, I got into Flagstaff well after dark on Sunday evening; indeed, I was doing well to find a restaurant that was still open. (I found a decent fifties-themed place on Route 66, and also stumbled across a studio facility that wasn't on my maps, so it worked out OK.) Monday morning I got up early to do my airchecks, and planned to be out of Flagstaff after lunch, so that I would arrive at the Grand Canyon with good light remaining. My first stop, once I finally found it, was at the Yavapai Broadcasting sales office/KVNA newsroom, where I unexpectedly got a quick impromptu tour. I then wasted about an hour trying to find KVNA's longwire STA facility, way out in East Flagstaff near the county DPW yard. Another few studio stops and the KAFF (930) tower, then lunch, and I was gone. I didn't make any attempt to see the mountaintop south of Flagstaff where the market's big, full-C FMs are, nor did I make it up TV Hill (which looked to be accessible but not to my rental car) on the north side of town.

After spending nearly a day in the Grand Canyon, I came back down through Flagstaff on US 89, but didn't see the need to stop again, so I continued on down Route 89A to Sedona.