Option 1: Fly to Flagstaff (FLG). If you are coming from Los Angeles, you can take a nonstop 80-minute flight from LAX on Horizon Airlines. From other points, take US Airways, with which you can connect through Phoenix to Flagstaff via any of several daily commuter flights (~40 minutes from PHX to FLG). Flagstaff Pulliam Airport is three miles south of the city with car rentals available opposite the baggage claim area.
Option 2: Fly to Phoenix (PHX), rent a car, and drive Interstate 17 to Flagstaff. This gives you the flexibility of choosing almost any airline, and the drive to Flagstaff is quite interesting, taking you through a variety of ecosystems beginning with concrete/asphalt and then passing through areas of Saguaro cactus, chaparral, stubby pinyon/juniper trees, and finally reaching the tall Ponderosa pines of the high country.
If you choose to drive from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to the conference hotel (click map to enlarge):
The rental car center is west of the airport. From here, go right on Buckeye Road to Interstate 10. You can go either way to connect to Interstate 17 to Flagstaff. Easiest is the green route above: go right, merge briefly onto I-10 south and follow the right lane ramp onto I-17. Take I-17 145 miles (230 km) to Flagstaff. Go under the I-40 bridge stack and I-17 will end and turn into Milton Avenue. Continue north to the fifth stoplight at Route 66 (there will be a Barnes & Noble bookstore ahead and to your right). Go left on Route 66 and continue 0.5 miles (1 km). The Radisson will be on the left.
If you rent a car at Flagstaff Pulliam Airport, the directions above apply, except you will enter I-17 only 3 miles (5 km) south of the I-40 bridge stack.
Conference hotel: We have reserved a block of rooms at the Radisson Woodlands Hotel Flagstaff, which is approximately 2.5 miles from Lowell. Visit the accommodations page for details.
Hotel-Lowell shuttle: If you don't have your own transportation in town, we will provide shuttles to and from Lowell's campus and the conference hotel in the mornings and at the close of festivities each day.
Enjoy a fun afternoon on Sunday September 20 before the meeting. Your outdoorsy LOC will lead guided excursions to some of the very cool sights around the area. Look here for the options and sign up when you register!
We have scheduled the workshop for what is typically one of nicest times of year in Flagstaff. (This, of course, guarantees rain.)
The daily high temperatures average 75 F (23 C), and late September skies are usually clear with very low (often single digit) relative humidity. The diurnal temperature variation is large, and you can expect cool evenings around 40 F (5 C). Bear in mind, however, that for Solar Analogs I in October 1997, it was 75 and cloudless on Day 1, and 40 with windblown rain on Day 2. Arizona weather is highly variable, often on short notice.
We recommend you rent a car. Flagstaff is not compact (~250 km^2 within city limits) and you may want to do some exploring anyway. Here is a map of Flagstaff. For further information, you can visit the City of Flagstaff official site of the attractive site of our Convention and Visitors' Bureau.
Lowell Observatory hosts a workshop in a different subfield of astronomy each fall, and we do our very best to throw a fun, stimulating, and stress-free event. If we can help with your attendance plans in any way, please feel free to email the LOC with all requests great or small.
