My favorite semester is fall, not just because I’m coming back to school and my friends but because there’s some great adventures I’ve made into a yearly tradition. and I want to tell you about them. I hope you try these out when you get here!

Snowbowl Ski Lift, Flagstaff, AZ. One of my favorite off campus events I enjoy doing in the Fall is driving an hour and a half north to the city of Flagstaff driving around downtown and towards the San Francisco Peaks. Here in Prescott we get a fair share of fall foliage around town and even more closely here on campus. However, one of the best places to view fall foliage is in the city of Flagstaff. As a guy that was born and raised in New Orleans there is no such thing as fall foliage. The seasons down south are a lot less defined as it is in most states around the country. I still to this day get very excited when the Fall season starts because of the impeccable beauty it shares throughout Northern Arizona. I try to make time to take a trip up to Snowbowl every year in late September. At Snowbowl you can ride the lifts up to the very top peak of Mount Humphries and get a chance to look out and see miles and miles of crisp beautiful yellow, red, and orange leaves surrounding the San Francisco Peaks and throughout the town of Flagstaff, smelling the fresh aspen trees as you ride the lift up to 11,500 ft. the highest mountain peak in the state of Arizona.  It is honestly one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had while living here in Northern Arizona. It is one of the most relaxing and de-stressing day events that really help keep you leveled when the fall semester workload is beginning to pick up. Another really cool thing that you get a chance to take advantage is that they have amazing sales at the ski shop located at the bottom of the lift. You can take advantage of the exceptional deals and pick up some great snow and ski gear to impress skiiers and snowboarders once the winter season gets into full swing.

Off Campus: Go Kart Racing, Scottsdale, AZ Whenever I have the need for speed I love to drive down an hour and a half south and visit Octane Raceway and go Go Kart Racing with my friends and fraternity brothers to take a break from studying. Octane is located in Scottsdale, AZ which is a city located to the east of Phoenix. Scottsdale has great shopping and some amazing restaurants so there’s a lot to check out while you’re down there. Octane Raceway has a very challenging course that takes you from the inside of the facility to an outdoors patio lounge area where you get a chance to feel the very dry hot air from the Phoenix dessert. The Karts go up to 45 miles per hour so there’s a lot of power for you to get your urge for speeding and racing out of your system. Its so much fun taking a break and coming down to race with my friends because it gives us a chance to hang out get a little competitive and just have an incredible time with each other.

On Campus: Halloween Haunted House sponsored by the Safety Center If you are like me and enjoy your occasional scream here and there around the Halloween season you don’t have to look too far. Our Robertson Safety Center puts on a zombie-themed haunted house that utilizes their crash site as the backdrop. There’s nothing more exciting than the eerie feeling of wrecked planes surrounding you while zombies pop out at every corner crouching over bent propellers and behind crushed fuselages. It was so much fun being able to have a moment where my friends and I could laugh at each others facial expressions as the suspense of not knowing what was behind each corner or even next to our feet etched the most amusing look of fear on our faces. I honestly hadn’t laughed so hard in so long. It helped make that Halloween season one I will forever remember here at Embry Riddle with some of the most amazing people I have been so lucky to have met during my years here.

Here’s an update: Just went to Flagstaff this past weekend for the fall colors again!