AN ASTOUNDING AUGUST INTERLUDE

The bureaucracy gods granted us a day off together. It startedraining as we pulled out of Kiss the Cook. It had clouded over in the night.Wasn’t quite as hot in Phoenix . . . yet.

It was significantly cooler up toward Flagstaff. At first, I wasdoubtful about Emily’s suggestion that I wear a long-sleeved shirt, but she wasright. And I was soon rolling down those sleeves.

It was still raining when we got to Walnut Canyon. The trail downto the cliff dwellings was wet and slippery, but doable. We weren’t the onlypeople there. It seemed light-years from superheated Phoenix.

The forest smelled great. There was no need to run the car’sair-conditioner.

Lots of datura bloomed at the roadsides.

We headed down to Sedona and had the world-class Cowboy Up Burgers at the Cowboy Club.

While walking around, we passed an enlightened ape with a peelinggold paint-job in front of a “wellness cafe.” What is a wellness cafe? Did theproprietors think the whole thing was as funny as I did?

As we left Sedona, an indigenous angel with floppy wings and ahorned buffalo cap blessed us.

We visited the Highway 89 elephant on the way home.

We got into a couple of traffic jams, and Phoenix was blazing, butwe were feeling great.