Property Details

Flagstaff

Enjoy all four seasons in Northern Arizona’s largest city — located along historic Route 66 just 80 miles from the Grand Canyon. Immerse yourself in the college atmosphere of laid-back Flagstaff. Visiting Flagstaff is perfect for getting outside and exploring historic sites. The city is equally well-known for recharging at local festivals and breweries.

Abutting Northern Arizona University, Riordan Mansion State Historic Park features a 1904 Arts and Crafts home owned by the Riordan brothers, from a prominent Arizona logging family. Flagstaff is the world’s first international dark sky community — and home to Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered — which makes it ideal for exploring the night sky. Another otherworldly sight to see in Flagstaff is the cinder cone at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, which shook the earth around 1085. Before the volcano erupted, native Sinagua people lived there, but after their farmland was buried, some of them moved to nearby Walnut Canyon and Wupatki, where visitors can view cliff dwellings and ancient pueblos. Sinagua descendants, including Arizona’s Hopi and Zuni tribes, are represented at the Museum of Northern Arizona.

Arizona Snowbowl, a ski resort north of the city, offers both downhill and cross-country skiing and snowboarding in winter months and family-friendly activities in the summer. Closer to town, the Flagstaff Urban Trail System traverses more than 50 miles along nonmotorized shared-use pathways. Zipline, climb nets and balance on suspended bridges at Flagstaff Extreme Adventure Course, or meander around The Arboretum at Flagstaff, which sits on 200 acres within Coconino National Forest.

For music and tunes in autumn, join the fun at Pickin’ in the Pines for bluegrass music and Oktoberfest for beer, brats and polka. The monthly First Friday ArtWalk is when Flagstaff galleries, restaurants and businesses stay open late for special exhibits, performances and live music. In December, journey through Santa’s workshop at the North Pole Experience and ring in the New Year at the historic Weatherford Hotel’s Great Pinecone Drop.In Flagstaff, February is officially known as “Craft Beer Month.” Look for new flavors and events around town, but of course you can sample the suds from local brew pubs any time of year. Download the Flagstaff Brewery Trail passport, and once it’s filled with stamps, receive a free pint glass. Come summer, enjoy Flag’s 80-degree weather and the annual Blues & Brews event, with live music and kegs of the good stuff.

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon, one of the world’s seven natural wonders, should be a must-see in everyone’s lifetime. It is characterized as a steep-sided canyon formation carved by the Colorado River. Nearly two billion years of geological history have been revealed in cross-section as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. Vast in scale, the canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and attains a depth of over a mile. Much of the Grand Canyon and its adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon National Park. It offers an excellent record of three of the fours eras of geological time through a vast array of rock types, caves, a rich fossil record, and significant archeological resources.

However, the significance of the Grand Canyon is not just limited to its geology. The park contains several ecosystems. Its great biological diversity can be attributed to the presence of five of the seven life zones. This is equivalent to traveling from Mexico to Canada! The canyon also serves as an ecological refuge. It is home to numerous rare, endemic (found only at the Grand Canyon), and threatened or endangered plant and animal species. For thousands of years, it has also been continuously home to Native Americans who have built settlements within the canyons and its many caves.

Grand Canyon National Park is understandably one of the world’s premier natural destinations, attracting five million visitors per year. Aside from casual sightseeing from the South Rim, rafting, hiking, running, and helicopter tours are also widely popular. The floor of the valley is accessible by foot, muleback, or by boat or raft from upriver. Experienced hikers often make the trek from rim-to river-to rim in one day. However, if you’re wanting to slow down and soak in the views, many permits are given for camping as well. Tourists wishing for a more vertical perspective can go skydiving, board helicopters and small airplanes for canyon flyovers. In 2007, the Hualapai Indian Tribe opened the glass-bottomed Grand Canyon Skywalk on their property, Grand Canyon West. The Skywalk is about 250 miles by road from Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim.

Arizona Snowbowl Winter Resort

Perfect corduroy on bluebird days, untracked powder in the upper bowl, drinks on the deck of Agassiz Lodge, and epic views of the Grand Canyon. This is what you love about skiing and riding at Snowbowl. Home to Arizona’s longest ski season, over 260 inches of annual snowfall on average, and a state-of-the-art snowmaking system, Snowbowl offers the premier winter experience from mid-November through the end of April. The resort continues to undergo impressive capital improvements, including three new chairlifts in the past three years, an expanded rental shop, a new restaurant, and a pedestrian overpass. With the best learning terrain in the west and certified, bilingual instructors, Snowbowl is the perfect place for first-timers learning how to ski or snowboard. Plus, avid winter enthusiasts enjoy the 2,300 ft vertical rise, a variety of trails, three terrain parks, and premier tree skiing.