Sunday 15 June – Flagstaff, Arizona - “feels a bit like home”

It's 4.45 am, and we're up and ready to leave the train, but it will be another half an hour before we pull into Flagstaff station. The scenery has completely changed, from desert scrub to forest, and in the clearings, it's green scrubland, rather than desert! There are mountains in the background, and Flagstaff itself is built on a mountain – 7000 feet up.

We get off the train with a contingent of Japanese people – there's a smiling lady waiting for them with a flag on a pole (or maybe she's just got off the train). There's some young scouts huddled in blankets on the station benches, waiting for all the passengers to disembark before they get on the train. They don't seem to be in any hurry – often trains in America stop at a station for several minutes before moving away – though not the one we had to catch in San Francisco! Why are the young people huddled in blankets? It's really chilly here! I'm wearing a cotton hoody and am not too warm – feels like home! It's so refreshing. I never thought I'd say it's good to be in an cooler environment!

The station is pretty, and we like Flagstaff immediately. Unfortunately we only have a few days here – we've come mainly to see Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon, plus the town of Sedona, which we've been told is very beautiful.

We walk the short distance to our Motel - “We couldn't visit America without experiencing a motel,” says Reg. It's nearly 6.00 am – luckily Reg booked us a room for last night, so that we can go straight back to bed when we get in. We didn't check if there would be all night reception – but there's a bell to ring when we arrive. A young Indian man welcomes us, hands us our key, and says we can pay in the morning.

It's quite a typical layout for some American motels – the rooms are all ground floor, set out in a “U” shape, with the car park in the middle – so each traveller can park their car near to their room door. The room is small and shabby – quite a contrast to the Stratosphere! A standard lamp and one of the lamps by the bed aren't working, so there's only one light in the room, and the bathroom sink is cracked. High points? It's a reasonable cost (about £60 a night for the room, inclusive of breakfast), it”s ensuite with a brilliant shower, it has a large screen TV, good wifi (at times), and a clean bed! We also find out later that there's a sort of American pub right across the road from us, which has lovely food at prices much less than we've been used to recently!

We go straight to bed and don't wake up until about 11.00 am, so miss breakfast completely – it's between 6.00 am to 9.00 am here. Reg goes to pay for the room and find out the wifi password. Eventually we cross the road for something to eat; it's a “sports” pub and the tables are in booths, each with it's own TV! Reg is able to watch some of the Argentina v Bosnia World Cup game – and then watch the rest in our room. He's very happy! We knew we would be too tired to do much today – also, we need a day of rest.

I write yesterday's blog, and read for a while, and soon it's bedtime – hopefully we'll be feeling refreshed tomorrow and ready for some new adventures.

Just a few facts about Flagstaff:

• Flagstaff is in northern Arizona, in the south western USA.
• Population is about 68,000 (including the suburbs, 135,000)
• The city is named after a Ponderosa pine flagpole made by a scouting party from Boston.
• Flagstaff lies near the southwestern edge of the Colorado plateau.
• It's on the western side of the largest Ponderosa pine forest in the USA.
• It's next to Mount Elden, just south of the San Francisco peaks, the highest mountain range in the state of Arizona.

Flagstaff is also a centre of tourism, due to its close proximity to the Grand Canyon, about 60 miles away; it's also about 180 miles from Monument Valley.