Kit, JR, and Sunshine visit the Flagstaff Arboretum in Arizona to catch fall foliage. Quaking aspen trees at 7,000 feet deliver the best native autumn color, and they stop for a frozen pumpkin-spiced coffee on a winding mountain road before a leaf-collecting competition that earns a 5 out of 5 leaves rating.
We're Kit, JR, and Sunshine, and this is a fall foliage update from Flagstaff, Arizona with Pilot Flying J. Our first stop was the Flagstaff Arboretum, aka the local tree museum. We got our nerdy on, or at least I did, and discovered that our best bet for native fall foliage was the quaking aspen trees, which grow up at 7,000 feet. I could have geeked out all afternoon, but when JR saw the mountain peaks, he declared it was time to uproot and get on the road. We were thirsty and it was chilly, so we stopped on the way to top off. I got a toasty cup of coffee with a little pumpkin something inside. Somehow JR considers a frozen coffee a seasonal treat, but it looks more like a brain freeze to me. The road climbed up, up, up a curvy mountain to a hairpin bend where suddenly there they were— hundreds of quaking aspens with their leaves aglow. We added extra layers because our mamas taught us right, and it was time to play a leaf collecting Leaf picking competition was in order. JR might have won on volume, but I chose my leaves carefully till it was dark and time to make like a tree and leaf. Flagstaff fall foliage update: 5 out of 5 leaves.
