Wednesday 10th June

We arrived in Flagstaff on time. We are staying 3 nights with Sally Krueger, a step/in-law relative of mine Not really a relative I suppose but, whatever the relationship is, she was kind enough to offer to have us stay with her while in the area.

While still on the train I changed my watch from Pacific time to Mountain Standard Time (as the Amtrak leaflet advised) - but during daylight saving the MST clocks are not changed so the time stays the same as in California. So when I thought we had arrived in Flagstaff an hour late at 6am, we were actually on time at 5am. Wrong again! After our luggage was delivered to us around 5.20am I called Sally who had said she would be willing to meet us at that ungodly hour. On arrival at her house we fell into bed for a couple of hours, getting up in time for the lovely South West USA breakfast Sally had prepared for us.

We first of all went to the Information Centre where we were surprised and delighted to see a Memorial Bench for Howard Krueger, Sally’s late husband who was tragically killed in a road traffic accident a few years ago.


We spent most of today exploring Flagstaff and visited the Riordan Mansion. "Built in 1904 for two Riordan families, Riordan Mansion is an impressive reminder of gracious living in a small, territorial logging town. The historic building is an Arizona treasure — a remarkable example of Arts and Crafts style architecture featuring a rustic exterior of log-slab siding, volcanic stone arches, and hand-split wooden shingles. The expansive home has forty rooms, over 13,000 square-feet of living area, and servant's quarters. The Riordan residence was designed by the creator of Grand Canyon's El Tovar Hotel, Charles Whittlesey." (Cribbed from their website!)

Flagstaff is 7,000 feet above sea level so we felt pretty tired and breathless after a long walk and after the lack of sleep last night, so we headed back to Sally’s house mid-afternoon for a quiet evening in.