Flagstaff Fourth

We spent the 4th of July in Flagstaff with our friend Jack.  Flagstaff, like Austin, surpassed my expectations.  Flag sits at a higher elevation and in the middle of the pine forest.  It was warm by day and very cool at night, requiring long sleeves for me.  It was still burning in parts of the forest.

It was food and fun that weekend.  We spent much of our time at Jack's favorite bar, Beaver Street Brewery/Brews & Cues.   This bar had a decent selection of their own brews.  The lager was my favorite but they had a great trippel, too.  Their sister bar, The Lumberyard, was the more college influenced bar with a DJ (yeah...about that...I will still drunkenly shake myself around on a dance floor and call it "dancing").  We finished off our 4th of July outing at that bar where we celebrated a birthday with a guy we just met and watched a couple break up.

The other perks of Flagstaff:

The Greek Islands restaurant: great food, sweet staff that really took care of us, and good prices.  This little place is off the beaten path in a tiny little space.  In the warm months ask to sit in the back patio area.  I ordered the gyro sandwich with fries and an Aris Greek lager.  Apparently people don't like the Aris since every time I looked for a link I came up with reviews.  I enjoyed this beer.  It is a light, cidery beer that paired nicely with the heavy gyro.  The staff was trying out "Greek cinnamon rolls" that they provided us with for free.  They also supplied us with additional freebies when Jack pressed them on the issue.  I loved this little restaurant and it satisfied my craving for "hamburgers or BBQ" (my 4th request), although the restaurant served neither of these.

Roma Pizza: Decent pizza.  The best deal with this place: the girlfriend hook up, courtesy of Jack's girl, and the breadstick deal we received.  We ordered breadsticks, 12 of them to be exact.  The server came back with this: "Bad news guys.  I don't have 12 sticks tonight.  What I do have is 7 sticks for free.  You still want these?"  Yes, we did still want them.  The pizza here is big, New York style slices.  I think we walked away from this meal for $8+tip.  Thanks to all those that helped in this eating transaction.

All you can eat fish fry:  I don't know where we were for this exactly.  It was outside Flagstaff with Jack's lovely parents in some hotel's restaurant.  The fish was really good (cod, perhaps?), battered and fried perfectly.  The catch--they ran out of fish on all you can eat and I'm pretty sure we ate all that they had.  Bonus here: free desserts.  The server, who was on close terms with Jack's parents, was so excited we came and joined them that he brought me a free ice cream sundae.  Thanks, Miguel!

4th of July horse races:  I am not a gambling kind of girl.  I work hard for my money and I hate to throw it away frivolously.  However, I did enjoy the horse races that were held at the Flagstaff Fairgrounds the weekend of the 4th.  I won every race I bet on except one.  I was looking at a different race card, thought I was betting on Mia Casa for the one mile and ended up betting on Pete's Possum Pony for the 220.  Scott had to tell me that the reason my horse quit running, along with all of the other horses, was simply because the race was over.  Not to be deterred, I bet on Mia Casa for the 1 mile in the next race and came up a winner.  When asked about my winning strategy I explained that it was a "feeling".  I simply waiting for the horses to hit the parade grounds before line up, watched the jockey and horse and then allowed Scott to place my bets based on my gut.  It's a sure fire way to win for me.

Downtown Diner:  I don't remember what I ordered from here.  It didn't matter, really, since it is just good diner food.  It's greasy, hot, and we sat in a crappy booth with cracked seats that my bare legs stuck to.  The Coca-Cola was divine and the food was good for the headache and growling stomach.  This place really places up the kitschy diner theme but it's worth a visit.


In all, we really enjoyed Flagstaff.  The people are friendly, the food is good, the weather is beautiful, and there are tons of activities for the outdoor and indoor enthusiast.  If you see an oversized Chevy with a fireman who may or may not have a gun in tow, it could be Jack; give him a wave for us and don't let him bully you around, he's really a good-hearted kind of guy.