In this post: Flagstaff has so many things to offer your family. I will outline some of our family’s favorite things to do in Flagstaff so you can have a great time with your family too!

Flagstaff, AZ is just a couple hours North of Phoenix (although AMAZINGLY cooler, thank goodness).  It’s often a place to stop as people are on their way to/from Vegas, Southern California or even Utah – right along historic route 66.  It is a BEAUTIFUL town and our family is really falling in love with it.  This time we went to get out of the oven that is Phoenix in the summers.  We found SO many gems!

The first time we visited Flagstaff, AZ was in the winter, to enjoy some snow around the holidays (I miss snow during that specific time of year, although not really during any other time of the year).  You can see Princess P here after she fell in the snow after about 30 seconds.  Yes, snow is obviously fun. 🙂

When you’re booking your family travel, be SURE to check TripAdvisor — I love their reviews, it always helps us make the right choice for our family!

Both times we stayed at Little America*.  I love this hotel.  I get happy just thinking about them.  The rooms are really large, and well appointed, they are right next to a large forest area so you can enjoy the great outdoors but also sleep in a cozy bed.  The staff is friendly, at Christmas it lives and BREATHES Christmas.  Love it.  Drew and I even took their 2 mile walk on their property one morninh.  Delicious.  We’ll be back.

**Jan 2018 we stayed again at the Little America — they have re-done the rooms and it is truly AMAZING inside!  So classy and tons of storage.  We always stay at the Little American when we are in Flag!**

Bearizona

Our first stop near Flagstaff was Bearizona*.

I was really excited for this after reading the reviews on Trip Advisor. People said it was pricey but totally worth it and I would agree.  There is a 2 mile maze of enclosures that you can drive through and then park to see other, smaller, animals.  The enclosures are really cool!  We saw mountain goats/sheep, bison, wolves, bears, deer and Elk.  The enclosures are nice and large but aren’t so deep that the animals get lost in the back.  Plus they feed them close to the road, so that helps bring them to the front as well.

You can see a Raptor show that is REALLY cool.  The person who gave the show was entertaining, and the birds were just beautiful.  Ever since Harry Potter, Mr Middle has had an obsession with owls.  There were a couple of REALLY beautiful specimens that flew nice and close to our heads.  I certainly felt some flapping inches above me.  Super enjoyable.

You can also go on the “Wild Ride” where they use busses with all the windows out to drive through the drive-throug portion.  The drivers also jump out and feed a few of the animals, or throw food from their window at them.  They get SO close! Very cool!  MUCH closer than I’d ever do in yellowstone or a national park (which is the other times I’ve seen these animals).

There’s also a walk through portion. There’s a lot of smaller woodland animals like skunks, badgers, bevers.  The true star of THAT portion is the baby bears.  Holy. Crap.  Just SO dang cute. The little girl was up the tree and the boys kept fighting.  Kind of reminded me of home. 🙂

Anyway, the overall consensus by EVERYONE was 5 out of 5.  That means kids from 6 to adults really loved it, and I’m fairly sure it would go down to the youngest of kids . It’s just REALLY neat.  The tour guides were great, it wasn’t overly crowded (we went on a Friday during peak tourist time).  For a car it’s going to be $100 or less, but I think that would totally be worth it. I would go back undiscounted (it looks like they frequently do a groupon though).  It’s even close enough to do a day trip from Phoenix, if you don’t want to stay overnight.

Go.  So fun.

 The Lowell Observatory

We had been to the Lowell Observatory  during the winter, but wanted to go again and found a great deal on a Groupon.  We actually got a membership because for about 30 bucks it allows us into ALL these cool science museums around the country.  BONUS!!!!

The New Horizons probe was flying by Pluto the week that we were there and they had a “Plutopalooza” and tons of cool college kids who LOVE astronomy.  My kids were thrilled to soak it all up.  The big telescopes are open at night and we saw Saturn (amazing!) and it just makes you realize that you’re really small in a big, big place.

Super fun, super educational.  I’d give it a million stars {get it, an observatory, a million stars… haha}

Walnut Canyon

We did Walnut Canyon on a whim on our way out of town, because Trip Advisor ranked it so high.  Adults are 5 bucks each (kids under 16 are free).  Boy oh BOY are we glad we did it!

First off, there are a lot of stairs.

But totally worth it (as long as you can do 300 stairs, down and back up).

you can see that the canyon is TOTALLY beautiful! {the visitor’s center is the building at the top — you can sort of see the stairs zig-zagging down the cliffs).

And if you look closely you can see some of the Native American dwellings amongst the cliffs.  SO amazing how people lived like that.  But, you can see, because of the deep overhangs, why it would make sense.

Very fun, go there.  Great place to get out kid energy (and we went to “the place” below afterwards to enjoy some vittles to fill our tired tummies).

 The Grand Canyon

It’s impossible to talk about great things to do in Flagstaff without talking about the Grand Canyon, but it was such a great trip it deserved its own post about our Grand Canyon Adventures.  Check it out!

 Great places to eat in Flagstaff

Eating is a HUGE part of vacationing for me. The first time we came here, we found that Black Bart’s* is across the street from our hotel and it seemed convenient. It’s a gem of a place.

First off, ask yourself if you love showtunes? If you don’t love showtunes it may be uncomfortable for you. I love hearing showtunes and guessing where it came from and singing along. You’re also paying a premium for the good singing (I think they probably use students from NAU). If you don’t like singing, then it wouldn’t be worth it. The waiters, and bus boys all sing. They sang a couple of group numbers while we were there (with some small choreography), but most of the time is solos the kids pick. They have an AMAZING piano player who is totally on his game.  We sat too close to the kitchen where we go to hear a little too much banter between the staff instead of music (I heard another family ask to not be seated there, and I quickly realized why).

If you love showtunes, Black Bart’s is the spot for you. Tasty homemade steakhouse vittles to the backdrop of songs from your favorite shows makes for a fun night. My favorite is the look on Paige’s face whenever they start a song from Frozen. #blackbarts #erickson2015Flagstaff #yum

A photo posted by Pulling Curls Blog (@pulling_curls) on Jul 14, 2015 at 6:21am PDT

If you said yes to #1 then let’s move on. Black Bart’s is the type of restaurant where everything is homemade. Be it the sauteed mushrooms, or steak fries, the cobbler or the potato skins, it’s all done in house. The menu isn’t extensive, but they have several different kinds of meats. Drew chose to get the New York Strip with a side of mushrooms (which he planned to share with me, because he’a a great guy), I got the prime rib, my 14 year old got a (huge) burger. The children’s menu is basic children’s fare, PLUS steakhouse options (which my kids were too chicken to try). I love that they had other options besides chicken tenders and grilled cheese. I wish my kids had gotten steak or ribs. Which, is probably why they didn’t.

They also serve these tasty biscuits with cinnamon butter. Yum. Just the touch of sweet such a savory meal needs.

Black Bart’s is certainly not a place you’d want to eat at nightly. In fact, they suggest reservations (we went early on a Friday night and certainly didn’t need them, but by 6 pm I’d recommend them too. But, as a special treat it is so much fun. I think if we went again, Drew and I would split a steak and not have to be rolled out. 🙂 Super tasty, give it a try next time you’re in Flagstaff!

Other places we loved Beaver Street Brewery.  If you’re looking for good sized portions with REALLY tasty food I’d totally recommend this place.  The giant pretzles are AMAZING.  I also got shrimp tacos that were delicious, Drew got the chicken pot pie and we also shared some chocolate bread pudding that was really tasty.  Totally recommend.

Rhonda and Mike’s The Place.  If you’re looking for large breakfast portions, with great food I’d totally eat here daily.  The biscuits and gravy are AMAZING and HUGE.  One biscuit is enough for anyone.  Beware. 🙂

Flagstaff has just the right balance of outdoorsy-fun plus great food, and nice places to stay.  I’d recommend a visit!