Going to Flagstaff

Yesterday I headed up to Flagstaff to meet up with Tracie and spend time with her and her grandma. Since Tracie was already up there, I decided to take a US Airways Express flight, instead of driving our other car up. I’ve lived in Arizona for many years and spent 5 years going to school at Northern Arizona University, but I had never flown to Flagstaff until this. Strange but true, right?

The 3:10 to Flagstaff

The flight left Phoenix at 3:10, giving me ample opportunity to laugh about it being the 3:10 to Flagstaff and comparing it to the Russell Crowe/Christian Bale flick “3:10 to Yuma”. The plane was a little 37 seat Bombardier Dash 8. These are twin-prop puddlejumpers that find all possible turbulence.

The flight left a couple of minutes late, but got in the air quickly. I was happy I wasn’t a nervous or nauseous flyer, as hot afternoon air above Phoenix is pretty bumpy. I was sitting next to a really nice guy named Joe, who was a little unhappy with the turbulence. He did well on the flight though, and we chatted through most of it, which I think helped keep his mind off of things.

I was totally surprised at how fast we got to Flagstaff. I’m used to a 2+ hour drive, even from my house on the north side of town. We were in the air no more than 35 minutes before we landed. The flight was scheduled for an hour, but I was off the plane by 4:00. It was almost disorienting to go from the frying pan of Phoenix to the cool mountain air of Flagstaff that quickly, but it felt so good.