AZ - Grand Canyon N&S, Sedona, Flagstaff, Painted Dessert

[blissful]

My son (17) and I will be traveling in Arizona the first week of August this year. We will stay in Flagstaff, traveling to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Sedona and the Painted Dessert. (am I missing someplace good to go?)
We are not going to Tucson, the West Rim of the Grand Canyon, Vegas.

We'll have a cooler with us most days traveling in the car, I'll pack it with fresh fruits, veggies, cheese, meats and breads and we'll eat mostly from the cooler.
I'd like to have a few preplanned places to go out to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the trip. I'm not fond of fast food very often. We like variety, all nationalities. I'd prefer medium priced meals that are good quality over fancy over priced small servings (he's 17--a vaccuum cleaner). Neither of us have allergies, we love seafood, fish, chicken, beef, pork + and we love our veggies too. Some of our favorites are Mochas (mine), ice cream/frozen custard (his), chicken alfredo (his), salads of all kinds (mine), other than that, we are very adventurous when it comes to food.

Has anyone been in these areas of Arizona and have enjoyed a restaurant they want to recommend? Thank you in Advance! ~Bliss

 

[The Z]

In Flagstaff, right on Route 66, there is a pretty good Mexican place called 'Salsa Brava'. It's a pretty mainstream Mexican restaurant, but the food is good there.

There's also a really interesting little 'convenience store' called 'Pay-N-Take' that has a wide variety of beers that you can drink while you're IN the store or outside in the little beer garden area. It's a popular and unusual evening hang-out.

 

[blissful]

Thanks The Z, we are staying right on Route 66 in Flagstaff too, so we'll have to try the Salsa Brava. I'm sure my son will love the Pay n Take <joke--he's only 17--would that make me a terrible mom or a really cool one?>.
Are there any funny laws about drinking or purchasing liquor in AZ? Dry state? Does AZ have a local specialty drink, like margaritas or something? ~Bliss

 

[simplicity]

Thanks The Z, we are staying right on Route 66 in Flagstaff too, so we'll have to try the Salsa Brava. I'm sure my son will love the Pay n Take <joke--he's only 17--would that make me a terrible mom or a really cool one?>.
Are there any funny laws about drinking or purchasing liquor in AZ? Dry state? Does AZ have a local specialty drink, like margaritas or something? ~Bliss

I've stayed on Route 66 in Flagstaff, not too far from downtown. You'll find shopping nearby. The grocery stores stock wine. I don't remember if they have liquor or beer. They have liquor stores though and drinks are available at restaurants, depending on where you eat.

Flagstaff is a great place to stay for the Sedona - Grand Canyon connection. Enjoy your trip.

 

[Dina]

Cowboy Club Grill & Spirits in Sedona has delicious food. Their mashed potatoes are sweet potatoes and all of their meats are great. Enjoy your trip.

 

[blissful]

Thank you simplicity and Dina!
MMM I love sweet potatoes.

So far:

Flagstaff Route 66--
Salsa Brava (mexican restaurant)
Pay n Take (beer variety evening hang out)
grocery stores (wine)

Sedona--
Cowboy Club Grill & Spirits (sweet potatoes-restaurant)

Grand Canyon--
Page--
Cameron--
Painted Dessert--

I saw a shrimp farm on the internet (seriously) in AZ in the area. I may have to tour it if the tours are in season.
TIA ~Bliss

 

[blissful]

What a sad place I am going to travel in regards to nice places to eat. I searched the internet with Google, i searched chowhounds, i find that flagstaff has a few places, sedona a couple places but mostly my trip is not going to have many choices of good food (unless I like fast food which I don't).
I guess that is okay, it's about the natural beauty and not the food. I'm going to try to concentrate on good food in the cooler so we can eat good food. ~Bliss

 

[Dina]

I did a lot of salads with grilled chicken and apples from fast food restaurants on our road trip this summer. Healthy food keeps you going and keeps you from gaining too much.

 

[blissful]

I did a lot of salads with grilled chicken and apples from fast food restaurants on our road trip this summer. Healthy food keeps you going and keeps you from gaining too much.

Dina you are right.
We are making a grocery list now, thousand island dressing, italian dressing, mayo and butter, bread (whole grain), tortillas, deli meats, rotisserie chicken, lettuces, tomato, cucumber, onion, milk, coffee, soda, lots of water....to start.
Fresh fruit, canned green beans, pickles, olives, canned garbanzo and kidney beans.

 

[valsdad]

Try the Hideaway in Sedona. Italian menu. Outdoor seating on Oak Creek.

 

[QSis]

Hi Blissful!

I contacted Dylan, an Arizona friend of mine, who owns a house in Flagstaff. He suggested Brandy's at 1500 East Cedar Ave in Flag. Phone 928-779-2187. Said he goes there for great breakfasts.

He said that he goes to Black Bart's, near some hotel in downtown Flag, for good burgers. In fact, he said that there are a lot of good burger joints in the older part of downtown Flag.

Also, there are several good cafeteria-style places near the canyon, and there's a particulary good one by a lodge on the canyon edge (Dylan didn't have a name for it).

Have a great trip! I've never been to that area, but I sure would love to! Dylan said the places you plan to visit are terrific!

Lee

 

[blissful]

thank you Valsdad and Qsis.
I wonder if your friend in Flagstaff is talking about the Cameron trading post for the cafeteria? It looks like a neat place. I'm really excited about the trip. (I need to get away!)

Flagstaff Route 66--
Salsa Brava (mexican restaurant)
Pay n Take (beer variety evening hang out)
grocery stores (wine)
Brandy's at 1500 East Cedar Ave in Flag. Phone 928-779-2187-breakfast
Black Bart's (burgers)

Sedona--
Cowboy Club Grill & Spirits (sweet potatoes-restaurant)
Hideaway (seating on Oak Creek)

Grand Canyon--
Page--
Cameron--
Painted Dessert--

 

[blissful]

Wow the trip is over and we didn't make the north rim (250 miles one way) or a trip to the painted desert, but we did see painted desert hills and it was pretty. We put on about 1300 miles in the week and saw so much! (Over a 1000 pictures)
It was just great overall.
We went to Sedona and Jerome (mining town upside a mountain) one day, very beautiful. We went back to Sedona on the north side and hiked seven miles in oak creek canyon another day.
We took two days at the south rim of the Grand Canyon, the first day we walked the entire walkable rim (2.5 miles about) and took the free shuttle back to parking (though Hermits point and west were closed), then drove the east section (except for Yaki point). It was monsoon season so the afternoons clouded up most days, so one day we went back to the south rim early, caught a beautiful sunrise and walked the rim again then picniked lunch just one block west of Yaki point. (Sadly that day while we were picniking, someone (29) fell 250 ft. down from that point-we heard the next day, and we crossed paths with emergency vehicles on our way back to Flagstaff.)
One day we spend in Flagstaff and saw the Northern Arizona Museum Arts and Crafts Show (annual event) and saw beautiful American Indian Artistry. We also went to Sunset Crater, a volcano that erupted only 900 years ago, and we saw the indian ruins up the road from there--beautiful painted desert area too.
We drove to Page AZ one day and took a half day smooth water rafting trip in Glen Canyon from Powell lake down 16 miles to Lee's Ferry, it was a beautiful trip. Our tour guide, Candace (19) was great. We met a really neat guy, Otto, from Austria, he is a teacher and very knowledgable, and he does tours of many areas on different continents. We also noticed that more than half the people on the tours were foreigners, mostly spanish and french, because the US dollar is lower in trade to their currency.
We put on so many miles and had little time to eat out, only bringing back dinner one night when we did laundry in Flagstaff from a place called Stromboli--a Stromboli Calzone, Noodles Alfredo w/roasted garlic and shrimp, and minestrone soup with garlic bread. The only sit down dinner we had was a Black Barts in Flagstaff. It's a RV park and truck stop and it had a great atmosphere--waiters and waitresses performing with a piano the entire night. Nighties from the 40's (dresses) on the walls, old time photos, very entertaining. We had steaks salads potatoes and it was pretty good. My steak was perfect, and his was over charred (for medium rare), the rest was great. They even served biscuits with honey butter with the meal. I'm glad we went just for the atmosphere.
I wish we had the money and time to go to more places to eat out but we were usually exhausted from the early mornings and long drives to each place--I don't think we could have done it any other way.
We stocked up in the beginning of the week with salad stuff and dressing , sandwich stuff from the deli, a rotisserie chicken, pumpernickle bread, cereal, fruit, milk, snack food w/crackers and seafood salad, ice cream and sherbet. We had a refrigerator/freezer and microwave in the hotel, and had a rolling soft sided cooler to bring with us each day. (we brought lots of water for hiking and needed it) Usually before we went to sleep, I'd assemble sandwiches and salad, and baggies of fruit and snacks to pack in our backpacks for our hikes or to keep in the cooler. We made mocha coffees each morning, with caramel for sweetening and went through a lot of soda with the water.
Over all it was great and thank you all for the suggestions on places to go eat so we had some choices.
What a great trip, I'm so glad we went. Thank you for your help! ~Bliss

Yes I'm back and glad to be back!

 

[QSis]

Thanks for the great report, blissful!

I hope to get to that part of the country someday! Black Bart's sounds like my kind of place!

Lee

 

[blissful]

These are a couple pics of Black Barts. Thank you, Bliss

Picasa Web Albums - Bliss - Black Barts

 

[blissful]

I finally finished all the web albums for the trip. There is a web album for each day. I like the slide show view the best, if you want to look.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joy.mks