05/07/2026
I love my hometown, the work I get to do, and the team I get to do it with — so having Flagstaff chosen for our annual TeamKelly Retreat felt like the universe circling back on itself, placing us exactly where we were meant to be.
For two days, the city moved around us like a story — pine‑scented, rain‑washed, a little wild, small-town urban.
We began on the historic Southside at the Annex, warm light spilling onto the sidewalk, voices rising like a toast to the place and people that raised me. We ended at NiMarco’s, then drifted to the Monte V for one last goodbye, and finally to Late for the Train — hands wrapped around hot cups, morning steam curling into the cool Flagstaff air like a quiet blessing that was felt with gratitude.
And in those 48‑ish hours, the high country showed off.
We stood at the rim of the Grand Canyon, learning the stories of the Indigenous peoples who have called that sacred expanse home since time immemorial — a reminder that this land holds memory deeper than stone.
We visited the Museum of Northern Arizona, following the lines of the Colorado Plateau and learned about the B612 Foundation and their work centered on asteroids — science braided with starlight.
We touched the telescope at Lowell that first found Pluto, a moment that felt like placing a hand on the pulse of the cosmos.
We learned Route 66 history at MotherRoad, the hum of the old highway still alive in the walls of JD’s Speakeasy. And we walked with Nick from Flagstaff Freaky Foot Tours, the city shimmering under a soft drizzle, stories of architecture, history, and ghosts following along with us.
Some of us saw these places for the first time. All of us carried something new away — a spark, a story, a sense of belonging. The DC team, the Arizona team — all of us together, rooted in purpose, grounded in this place.
I am grateful to be a daughter of Arizona. Proud of my hometown. And so deeply, fiercely thrilled that TeamKelly landed here — in the place that raised me.
There is no place like home.
