Freewheeling in Flagstaff

Is it weird that I did a 3 week house sit in a city and I barely saw it? I spent plenty of time with locals and no one could refer me to any specific must see sites. All the usual sources, suggestions, and round ups pointed to must see excursions outside of town. I got plenty of food and beer suggestions, but all roads let outside of town for the adventures. My eyeballs had the most fun in Sedona, Page, Grand Canyon, Phoenix, and Monument Valley, but there was plenty of fun for my tastebuds in town.

Walking around the cute little downtown yields a plethora of bars, restaurants, shops, and a handful of breweries. There are two great taprooms with interesting assortments of local beers. If I could have a Flagstaff Cheers, I’d have spent all of my time in Mountain Top Taps. It was a great place to work, the selection of suds was excellent, and the freshly graduated owner was really insightful with his recommendations. The clientele was fun and interesting, and it was my favorite stop of the trip. Hops on Birch got honorable mention, but the selection was a lot lighter.

Historic Brewing had my favorite house beers on tap. They had good choices in every major category, and the food was great. I liked it enough to go twice, and had a wonderful time working on their patio. Their branding is excellent, cheeky, and fun. Historic was my favorite brew pub in the Southwest.

Dark Sky Brewing has a solid selection, and the Pizzicletta pies are pretty terrific. There is always a line, and it’s kind of irritating that the food and drinks are on different systems. You have two different servers and checks. You order by turning on a battery operated light on your table, but they don’t know if it’s for you, the people next to you, or if it should be for food or beer. It’s kind of a cluster in a crowded room, but it’s fun.

If you name a brewery Wanderlust Brewing, you better believe I’m going to find my way there. They only had six beers on tap, but I was really impressed by the Toasted Jasmine Saison. Mother Road Brewery has the best hometown hang vibe. The crowds here are as young, fun, and as interesting as the beer. I don’t feel the need to go back to either, but I wasn’t disappointed. The Page location had a bigger selection and cooler taproom, but the Flagstaff Grand Canyon Brewery still offers a decent selection here. I would put Beaver Street and Lumberyard Brewing on the skip list, and every single person told me to avoid Flagstaff Brewing, so I did too. Seriously, don’t even bother with the breweries in Sedona. They both suck, though the food looked and smelled amazing at Sedona Beer Company. Both the f&b just made me sad at Oak Creek Brewery.

I haven’t been checking out many cocktail bars on this adventure of mine. I still find the most camaraderie and fun at local breweries, but the vibe was really cool and called to me at Rendezvous at Hotel Monte Vista one night, and I absolutely loved it. The Seniorita Slap was the best take on a spicy cucumber drink that I’ve had in a very very long time, and I was thoroughly impressed by the iteration I had at La Posta en route to Taos this spring. The Annex Cocktail Lounge absolutely blew me away. The brussels sprouts were a pretty standard flavor profile, but they were entirely next level in execution (and the portion was HUGE.)

I got a lot of recommendations to check out Macy’s Coffee shop. The San Francisco Cappuccino was pretty stellar, and this southern girl would approve those biscuits and gravy. But overall, it wasn’t something I couldn’t live without visiting next time. The only meal that I would be disappointed to miss back in Flagstaff was Pita Jungle. The fresh, flavorful, fantastic, healthy, and generous portions will haunt my dreams for a very long time. Cornish Pasty Co was a lot of fun too, and offered an even bigger assortment of pasties than I ever encountered in the UK. The Rosemary Steak and Brie Pasty got two thumbs up from me, and it was nice to finally get a British Pint despite my best efforts to hop the pond this year.

While not technically in Flagstaff, my favorite field trip was WILD. I had the BEST time visiting Out of Africa, an animal sanctuary and adventure park about an hour outside of town. Zoos usually make me sad, but this staff was so incredibly loving and passionate about their four legged friends, it felt like one big happy family. The enclosures were pretty decently sized, and the ride through the park was a pretty perfect way to spend an afternoon with Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My.

I only had an hour to explore Jerome, before I had to rush back to pick up the pup from doggy day camp. It is a great ghost town just a little past Cottonwood and the Out of Africa park. You get your usual assortment of junk shops and bars, but the vibe here is pretty special and well worth a more thorough explanation. The views of Camp Verde were stunning, and I didn’t need the plethora of local recommendations, just my nose to learn how special the Haunted Hamburger is.

Sorry I can’t offer up much more magic for the sites, but the flavors of Flagstaff are pretty interesting and worth exploring. Hope this helps! I just took the most epic week long road trip to San Francisco, so stay tuned for the fabulous fun.