Flagstaff, Times Two

I got the joy of visiting Flagstaff, Arizona two weekends in a row! I got to see my best friend Hannah (who is more like a sister) both times, as well as my cousin one weekend, and a few other friends along the way.
Weekend 1, September 28-29
This was a mostly unplanned trip. A week before, my mom approached me, asking if I would drive her to Flag after work on Friday, so she could meet up with my Dad and join him on Triumphest 2012 rally. It turned out that my mother was ill, and was unable to attend...but I wasn't about to give up free gas to Flagstaff!
I hopped in my car after school on Friday, and booked it to Flagstaff. I made it there in record time (I left at 1:30-ish and arrived at 3:15-ish)...which translated to "Time for Amanda to go listen to her dad give a presentation on the parts of Triumph cars."
Now, I love my dad dearly, and I enjoy watching him work on cars, but I would like to compare the presentation to my 12th grade Calculus BC class. The vernacular was technical, and I was too weary from the drive (and far too excited to see Hannah) to really pay attention. However, according to the applause he received after the presentation, I assume he did a good job.
Afterwards, he drove me from the hotel where all of the Triumphest participants were staying to Sechrist Hall, the dorm building of my lovely near sister, Hannah. I was out of my wits when I saw her. I got out of the car calmly, then commenced a full-powered sprint toward her. We hugged and spun in circles for a while--until another car nearly hit us. I really hadn't understood how much I missed her since the few weeks after she left, until then.
My dad soon left, leaving us to shenanigans. I was soon introduced to a few of her high school friends who I had met a while before (16th birthday party, I believe). We sat around, and talked to other people, and enjoyed the importance of human interaction with people of your own age, which is something I have not been able to enjoy much since moving back home for college.
We ended up spending some time stargazing, eating delicious food at Chili's, and seeing BJ Novak. Yes, BJ Novak from The Office. He was at NAU for a comedian show and I suppose that, after the show was over, he was hungry (after all, he is human.) So he sat two tables down from us just as our table was starting desert. We fangirled so much...but didn't have the chutzpah to go and ask him for an autograph or a photo. But really, we know it was him.
I'm not sure when or how, but we ended up in the room of Hannah's friends Rachel and Mackenzie, who were visiting a friend in Tucson. We enjoyed the Mac desktop computer and Netflix Rachel provided us with, and soon fell asleep.

I really do fit in perfectly with Hannah's family.

On Saturday, the 29th of September, we woke up at 10 a.m. fully clothed and refreshed. (That's how you know you didn't do anything you regretted the night before.) We had enough time to shower, for me to pack, and to even spend some time with Hannah's family. Yes folks, it was family weekend at NAU! We took some photos on Hannah's über comfortable bed, and then my daddy came to pick me up. I was able to take my mom's spot in the Triumphest rally!
The premise of this rally was to take two hours driving around the Triumphest city (this time it was Flagstaff), with a driver and a navigator.
The driver has the task of driving the car wherever the navigator says. Meanwhile, the navigator spends all his or her time directing the driver where to go, as well as asking the driver certain questions about the surroundings of the road. For example, "What is the name of the mountain in front of you?"and "Where is the green parrot?" Both the driver and the navigator have the task of noticing things, while the navigator writes them down and answers unobserved questions with cheeky answers.
Long story short, my father is a great driver, and I am a cheeky and correct answer writer, so we both got first place in our respective categories! (Example question: What equals 10? Answer: 6+4. Logic: 6+4 equals 10, and we're on Route 64. Now, who else would think of that besides the girl who over-thinks everything?) But before the awards were given, I was already long on my way home, for a day of homework on Sunday.
Weekend 2, October 5-7
Much like the previous week, I left Phoenix after class on Friday, only I left much later this time. I had nothing packed before I got home at 1 pm, but I was still out the door and on the I-17 by 2:30.
Upon arrival to the NAU campus, I was phoned by Hannah, who requested time to sleep and study. Luckily, my high school friend Kayla had texted me earlier, asking if I had any free time in Flagstaff. I was soon greeted by her at the campus Starbucks, where we sat, drank soy Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and split a banana bread slice. I enjoyed seeing her smiling face, listening to her talk about her classes, and getting a tour of Mountain View, the sorority and fraternity resort dorm.
Before long, Hannah was done with her homework, or sleeping, or whatever, and I met her back at University Union. We then ate dinner, where I was able to meet Rachel (whose bed I slept in the previous weekend) and Mackenzie. We ended up spending the rest of the night with them and a few of their friends who were also visiting from Phoenix. We again went star gazing (I just can't get over how beautiful and clear the stars are up there!), and kicked it around the dorm room, staying up late, watching movies.
Saturday was mostly all blocked out for Hannah-Amanda time. We slept in rather late, showered, and ate a deliciously unhealthy brunch of a blueberry muffin and another soy Pumpkin Spice Latte around noon. Hannah had a hiking location picked out, somewhere down Highway 180, somewhat west of Flagstaff. Her beautiful Ford station wagon made it down the primitive road, and we ended up in a cul de sac where a few other cars were parked.
There was a trail somewhat farther up, leading toward the mountain. We headed out,armed with sunscreen and bottles of water. It turned out to be the most beautiful hike I had been on since the Grand Canyon. The trees, though mostly green, had hints of yellow and red. We happened upon a log where we took an adorable picture (as we usually do). As time went on, it began to get warmer, so we chose to stay mostly in the shade. Hannah had to be back, showered, and changed for work by 5, but we wanted to get somewhere where we could see a beautiful view.
We took a few different branches from the trail, hit dead ends, and turned around, but we eventually arrived at simple switchbacks which lead us up the side of the mountain, where we found a strange hole in a tree (Hannah threw a stick through it before sitting down in it, just to be sure it wasn't a portal to a past dimension or whatever.) The view was breathtaking, as was the hike to get to it.
With a quick check of our watches, we realized it was time to head back if we wanted to eat lunch before dinner time. The hike back down was quick, and far easier than the hike up. We nearly lost the parking lot, but realized where the road was, and sorta followed it to the parking lot. Cheers for navigation skills!
Lunch consisted of a bagel, apple, and cup of coffee at 4:30 pm. Leaving the student Union, we passed Starbucks, where my friend Olivia happened to be working. From her reaction to seeing me, I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was in Flagstaff. We talked for a moment, and decided we would hang out after Hannah started work. So, at 5:45, I hugged Hannah and bid her adieu, and went to Starbucks (for the third time in 24 hours...way too often, if you ask me) and was handed an iced tea lemonade "On me!" from Olivia. I had already finished reading The Great Gatsby earlier that morning, so I had fifteen minutes to distract Olivia before we jetted off to her room to meet her roommates, visit her "big sister's" apartment, and take me back to Starbucks to meet with my beautiful cousin Christina. It really was only a whirlwind of 30 minutes spent with Olivia, but I'll take what I can get when it comes to seeing my friends.

Christina wasn't late in arriving at Starbucks, I was simply early. As soon as I saw her in front of me, I stood up and ran into her arms--much like I had when seeing Hannah a week earlier. (What can I say, I get emotional when I see my best friends for the first time in months.) Christina and I were much louder and verbally excited about seeing each other than Christina's friend Deanna, who accompanied her to Starbucks, was prepared for. I'm rather sure we scared her with our sudden squeals of excitement, expressing our joy us reuniting, the two most mischievous fun-loving cousins on earth.

Christina and Me

I made up for scaring Deanna with my squeals by offering her and Christina a ride to South Campus, where their dorm room was. We piled into my car and headed down to McConnel Hall, where we unloaded many handfuls of items brought up from Phoenix--a down comforter for Christina, my sleeping bag, a warm coat, a pair of slippers, my suitcase, my purse, my iced tea. It took a whole trip with six arms to carry it up to her room. After we were settled, we sat and talked for a bit before venturing to The Düb to get dinner. The Düb is like the undesirable little brother of the Student Union. It is small, and does not offer much variety. I believe our options were pizza, pasta, questionable looking chicken, and a wilted salad bar. Not much in the way of delicious desserts. So, in the name of college, Christina and Deanna enjoyed some frozen yogurt and cookies, while I ate pizza. Lots and lots of pizza.
We returned to her room, visited with her hall mates, and checked out the unrefined yet hilarious movie, Pineapple Express. If you don't already know the premise, then save yourself the brain cells and don't even bother looking it up. It's geared toward the college burn-outs, but the humor will appeal to most any college student. Christina and I found the beginning to be rather funny, but not so hilarious or enthralling that we had to pay attention to it once her friend from the art club walked in her room.
The movie ended sometime while we were talking about chalking up the area near the union (all the way up on North Campus) as a promotion for the upcoming student art show. It was nearly midnight by the time we bundled up to leave McConnel Hall and the comfort of South Campus, for the 20 minute walk in freezing air up to North Campus. We made the walk with a few minutes to spare, then got started chalking up an area outside the union.

My handwriting, my cousin, and lyrics to a song by GROUPLOVE.

Under the direction of a few art students, Christina and I decorated a heart, lyric'd up a wall, and took lots of photographs. We signed our artwork with outlines of our hands and headed back to McConnel, where a comfortable bed was awaiting me (Deanna spent the night in another room), as were many hours of glorious sleep.
Sometime that night, before we fell asleep, we decided to eat lunch at Bigfoot Barbecue the next day. Bigfoot was discovered by my dad and me sometime a few years back, while nosing our way around the Flagstaff eating scene. Since then it has been a must-stop restaurant for me, Christina, Becca, and Daniel, whenever I am with one of them in Flagstaff. This time, Christina and I were meeting one of her cousins (we're related through our fathers, who are brothers. This cousin is related to Christina through her mother's side) and his wife for lunch. Little did we know, they brought a few friends from NAU admissions and such.
We had a delicious lunch of chicken strips, french fries, and a peach berry cobbler. Her cousin was in much more of a rush than us, so we spent extra time at Bigfoot shooting the breeze and enjoying life...and waiting for our peach berry cobbler to arrive! Eventually it came, and we conquered it with two silver spoons.
After lunch, the time flew quicker than it had the rest of the weekend. We stopped by a record store, where Christina bought a vinyl album (Mumford and Sons, Sigh No More) and I purchased an Iron & Wine cd. Sometime between the record store and when I left, we stopped in to say hello to Hannah once more before I left. Hugs were had, and I said "Adios!" to my sister until next time.
Goodbyes were soon said to Christina, after we each ate a Twix ice cream bar (it's a  wonder I didn't gain any weight either of these weekends) and enjoyed her neighbor's Halloween decorations and the many ghost stories of McConnel hall. Then it was to the car, and then a long drive back to Phoenix where the ever avid Daniel was already preparing dinner for me.