Our flight out of Fresno had been rescheduled by the airline and we were due to fly out at 6.10am. This meant a 2.30.am wake up call as we had a way to drive in the dark from Three Rivers to the airport. Kirsty had a few scary moments, one of them a raccoon that scurried across the road in front of the car!
Our flight to Flagstaff was uneventful with an hour layover in Phoenix. We arrived mid morning and went straight to the Holiday Inn where we were staying and also due to have a debriefing with the river rafting company, the Canyoneers later that evening. I enjoyed Flagstaff, it looks to be a lovely town and very close to all the attractions. We had the afternoon to ourselves so we first of all had lunch at Al Burros - a Mexican restaurant where I had my first ever frozen Margarita which was the standard US size……very large! ( note the photo bomb!) We did a bit of last minute shopping for the trip - again I was impressed with the huge selection of fresh produce in the stores, and then it was back to the hotel to organise our gear for the river the following day. We got to meet our fellow river companions at the meeting and were really fortunate as we were a smallish group of 13. These trips are usually full at 20 - 22 people on the boat. We left the meeting feeling a little concerned and not as well prepared as we had thought - the rapids by all accounts sounded a lot bigger than I was expecting! Some of the group went and did some more frantic last minute shopping. As it turned out though, we were all fine in the end.
