My Mountain is Waiting

You're off to great places, 

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting, 

So...get on your way!

~ Dr. Suess

I am excited to share with everyone my next adventure. I will spend my next year in Flagstaff, Arizona as the Anthropology Collections Assistant at the Museum of Northern Arizona.

Flagstaff, Arizona
A few weeks ago I knew almost nothing about Flagstaff other than the fact that it is in Arizona. Everyone immediately thinks of the Arizona desert, the blistering heat and tall saguaro cactus. But Flagstaff is different. If in doubt, just take a look at these photos (which are not mine) from Flagstaff.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Flagstaff is 97, and it is apparently the only city Arizona that has never recorded a temperature of 100. With cool temperatures and a high elevation comes winter snow. In fact, Flagstaff averages 100 inches of snowfall a year, making it the fifth snowiest city (with a population of 50,000 or more) in the US. And yep, that's a ski lift right there. Just 7 miles outside of Flagstaff. Who knew?

Through my internet exploration I have discovered several random and interesting facts about Flagstaff:

• Pluto was discovered at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff
• Coconino County is the second largest county in the contiguous United States
• Flagstaff's elevation is just under 7,000 feet. That's high up there, folks!
• Flagstaff sits on the historic Route 66 (as does Yukon, OK, where I spent a lot of time this past summer)
• While Flagstaff is not a huge city (just over 68,000 residents), Northern Arizona University adds an additional 25,000 people to the population
• Because of its high altitude, olympic athletes like to train in Flagstaff
• Flagstaff is just a 90 minute drive from the Grand Canyon

Yes, I'm Terrified
Is it fair to say that I'm a little terrified? You bet. I'm about to drive over 800 miles across a barren wasteland to live in a city I've never been to. Yep, terrified would be one word for it.

But I'm also excited. I'm excited about this new adventure, the work I will do and the things I will learn. Per the job announcement, I will work on a variety of collections projects at the museum. The Museum of Northern Arizona serves as a repository for some National Park Service collections, so I will be working with archaeological artifacts, including Coconino National Forest collections, Bureau of Indian Affairs collections and other NAGPRA projects. For those of you not up to date on the lingo, NAGPRA is the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. This federal law was enacted in 1990 and involves human remains, funerary objects and religious artifacts.

Museum of Northern Arizona and the Colorado Plateau
The Museum of Northern Arizona collects, studies, preserves and interprets the natural and cultural heritage of the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is basically the four corners region of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. In this area are 10 national parks and 17 national monuments. In other words, the Colorado Plateau is filled with cultural, geological and paleontological treasures. MNA's ethnological collection includes significant Hopi and Navajo collections, Zuni and Apache objects, and smaller numbers of objects from a variety of Pueblo tribes.

The Colorado Plateau (In case you were wondering, I didn't take this picture either)

Later this week I will make the drive out to Flagstaff. I plan to update this blog on a more regular basis, but I will admit that I often don't post as often as I would like. I'm also more likely to post on

other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, where posts require little more that the push of a button - so follow me there!

It's hard to leave Texas behind. It's hard to leave my friends and family behind. But my mountain is waiting, and it's time to get on my way!