Four Days in July

By Davey Masters

Story 4

30

The bus rolled into Flagstaff in the early afternoon and we got off: my sister Meg and I, and our Mom and Dad. Flagstaff is a small place and we were stopping here for a couple of days before moving on to the Grand Canyon.

Glossary

flagstaff: (n.) a staff on which a flag is hoisted

‘Flagstaff is a funny name,’ said Meg as we wondered around the center of town. ‘Why is it called that, Dad?’

Dad began to read the hotel brochure. ‘This place is next to a large forest with very tall pines. Back in 1876, before it was a real town, some people made a flagpole - or flagstaff - out of one of the tall trees. Then they put a flag on top to celebrate the 4th of July. It’s been Flagstaff ever since,’ he read.

The next day, we took a tour to Wupatki to see the ruins of the Native American pueblo there. It was very hot, but Mom and Dad love ruins and we had to walk around for hours and hours. Meg and I were very happy to get back to our hotel!

For supper we had Navajo tacos and Red Chile Stew. That’s typical Arizona food. After supper we went to the Lowell Observatory – the best part of the trip so far. I’m crazy about Space! The Observatory was built in 1894 and is one of the oldest in the US.

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The observatory is famous because this is where Pluto was discovered in 1930. Of course they called Pluto the ninth planet in those days, but now they’ve decided it’s not a real planet after all. We looked through the telescopes at the stars above us. Incredible! Then we stopped off at the gift shop and Dad bought some binoculars.

The next morning we were up early and took the bus to our hotel near the Grand Canyon National Park a couple of hours away. By mid-morning we were standing on the edge of the canyon looking at the stunning view! Wow! Glossary

stunning: (adj. gerund) very impressive especially in beauty or excellence

Glossary

deepening: (v. gerund) to become deeper or more profound widening: (v. gerund) to increase the width, scope, or extent of to become wide or wider Wow! The Canyon is over a kilometer and a half deep and where we were standing, four kilometers wide. It formed millions of years ago by the action of the Colorado River, which is still deepening and widening it today.

Meg and I wanted to take a mule ride, and Mom said yes! The wrangler – that’s the man who looks after the mules - told me my mule’s name was Wonka. Wonka was lovely and I felt very safe on her.

Mom looked a bit uncomfortable on her mule, Dobbin, especially when the trail got very narrow!

Glossary

trail: (n.) a marked or established path or route especially through a forest or mountainous region

‘Keep away from the edge!’ she kept shouting. But there was nothing to worry about. Our wrangler, Billy, had everything under control, and the mules did this journey twice a day every day in the summer!

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We kept stopping along the way to admire the view. Mom and Dad took a lot of photos and I used Dad’s binoculars to watch the bald eagles. They were circling around hunting for trout in the river below, Billy told us. Glossary

trout: (n.) type of fish

After the mule ride, we went on the free shuttle bus back to our hotel. It was getting colder, and soon it started to pour with rain!

It was just before supper when I realized Dad’s binoculars were not in my backpack! Oh no! My heart sank.

‘Dad, I think I lost your binoculars. I’m so sorry.” My dad was not pleased! But Mom was optimistic. ‘Let’s phone the mule trail company. Maybe Billy found them,’ she said.

And she was right! Billy had them and before we left to go home, we just had time to drive back to pick them up!

Thank you Billy for making this vacation just perfect!