An Oktoberfest Friday: Flagstaff Called, Part 2- NAU and Downtown

After I had finished visiting the Fort Valley area, the next order of business was to check out the grounds of Riordan Mansion State Park, which meant walking trough my alma mater, Northern Arizona University, The school has grown exponentially since my days there- which were, of course, thirty one years ago. One place that hasn’t changed much, at least outwardly, is the laboratory school, South Beaver Elementary School.

I scooted over to Riordan Mansion, before the gate closed. The edifice was built in 1904, for the brothers Timothy and Michael Riordan, who were timber barons in the Flagstaff area, in the early Twentieth Century. It is preserved as an acknowledgement of the timber industry’s historical importance to Arizona.

It was getting towards evening, so I stopped by Macy’s and verified the time of the evening program, then enjoyed a marvelous artisan Margherita pizza, at Pizzicletta, one of those “best-kept secrets” that I would love to see get out of the bag. If you are in Flagstaff, go see the Schiffs, on Phoenix Avenue, across the street from the large train station parking lot. Amazing pizza and salads, with highly praised gelato for dessert, await the patron. You know you are in a college town, when the bill is presented on an i-pad!

Then, it was time to go across Santa Fe Avenue, to the north side of downtown. Weatherford Hotel, where Penny and I occasionally stayed in the mid-80’s, is decked out for the upcoming holidays.

The Monte Vista, also a timber-era hotel, hasn’t quite caught the holiday bug, as yet.

My main reason for coming here, though, was to see my friend, Emiliano, from Phoenix, do a hip-hop performance at Macy’s. This was a packed house and Emil was terrific. He does a fine job of incorporating the Baha’i message into a hip-hop framework.