September 15 – Winslow, Arizona
Nothing says “Albuquerque in the morning” better than to step out of your room and see two balloons in the sky and a peacock on your front porch.
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| Albuquerque morning balloon |
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| A friend visits our room and admires our 'Stang |
We got up early, packed our bags and showed up for breakfast at about 8. There were only three sets of guests and they had us sit separately at linen-covered tables around a courtyard with a small fountain. Martha had cracked oatmeal and cinnamon. David had huevos rancheros with sweet but not spicy green chiles.
We made a few decisions about our trip today based on a conversation that David had the night before. While Martha was bargain hunting, David talked to one of the clerks in the store. He told her about their Route 66 trip. She replied that she was a photographer and Route 66 was one of her most prevalent subjects. David then told her that he and Martha planned to leave Albuquerque and get to Winslow the next day. The clerk/photographer replied, “You’ll never make it that far in a day. When we go shooting, we barely get to Gallup.” With that warning and given the already ambitious agenda, we made two calls in the interest of making sure that we could see the road all the way to Winslow in one day.
First, although we took the pre-1937 route up to Santa Fe and then to Albuquerque, we decided not to follow the pre-1937 route west and south from Albuquerque. We took the more direct western route instead.
Second, we nixed a side trip to the Bandera volcano and ice cave. Although the guide books promised interesting rock formations and cool (literally – 31 degrees F) sights, the trip would take us 60 miles out of our way.
Unlike with OKC and Santa Fe, we got ourselves out of Albuquerque with little trouble. We drove west on Central Avenue from Rio Grande Blvd. (We had traveled east on Central the night before.) We saw some remnants of the Route 66 commerce and a few 50’s style motels – some open, some closed. Towards the outskirts of Albuquerque, past Unser Drive (named after the car racing family and the same road that the Indian Petroglyph National Monument is located on several miles to the north), we traveled up the aptly named Nine Mile Hill. Once on top of the hill and now outside of Albuquerque, a spectacular panorama of desert stretched out before us.
The road west to the Arizona border featured pink colored mesas mostly to our north.
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| Mesas north of Route 66 from Albuquerque to Arizona |
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| "Church Rock" |
The road to Arizona was roughly split between patches of I 40 and two and four lane roads. Almost all of the road was in good shape and we made very good time. There were some particularly interesting parts. Between the towns of Budville (a wide spot in the road) and Mesita, the road turned far away from I 40. In one part, the road curved sharply around the base of a mesa and between the mesa base and a forty foot rock called Owl Rock. That stretch was called, per our EZ Guide, “Deadman’s Curve.” Appropriately so. Also along that stretch was a town called Cubreo. Cubreo is best known as the place where Ernest Hemingway wrote parts of “The Old Man and the Sea.” The hotel where Hemingway stayed is now a ruin on the right side of the road going north. Part of that property is now a stable.
After Mesita, came San Fidel, another wide spot in the road. Along the left side of the road past San Fidel, we found the remnants of a Whiting Brothers sign. Whiting Brothers was a chain of discount gas stations.
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| Whiting Bros. sign west of San Fidel |
Around McCarty's, the next town, in contrast to the pink rock of the mesas that we had seen almost since we left Albuquerque, we found black lava – known in these parts as malpais rock.
Grants was the next town, and a relatively big one at that. Grants had a number of old hotels and cafes. One of our favorites was the Uranium Cafe, which, in its day, was known for its Uranium Yellowcake Pancakes. These pancakes were so big, if a customer ate two, the meal was free.
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| Tomahawk Bar in Prewitt, New Mexico |
From Prewitt, we went to Thoreau (pronounced “Threw") and then Continental Divide, the location of the geographic
landmark of the same name.
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| Marker at the Continental Divide (not shown trading post next to sign) |
Gallup followed.
This is the crossroads of several highways and train routes.
Therefore, much of its road commerce has remained intact.
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| The Hotel El Rancho in Gallup offered "the charm of yesterday" and the "convenience of tomorrow" |
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| Lariat Lodge ropin' 'em in at Gallup |
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| Arrowhead Lodge straight ahead in Gallup |
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| Blue Spruce Lodge standing tall in Gallup |
We had only a few glitches on the road.
One came towards the end of the road in New Mexico.
Parallel to Exit 8 on I 40, we were supposed to follow the side road into Arizona.
It was closed for roadwork.
Because there was no western exit to I 40, we had to back track about 8 miles east on I 40 before we could go west on I 40 into Arizona.
Once in Arizona, the geography changed.
Large rock formations almost immediately gave way to flat rolling desert.
At the border, we found a trading post with bizarre portrayals of animals randomly living on a cliff.
This was one of several Indian businesses along the side road, including one with a giant teepee and another ramshackle establishment advertising blankets for $4.99.
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| Fake cliff dwelling with bizarre array of plastic animals (see center right) attract the curious at the Arizona border |
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| Giant Tee Pee at Tomahawk Indian Store on the Arizona border |
In fact, once we were a good deal west of Albuquerque, it seemed that Indian trading posts and other “tourist traps” were never content to erect just one sign, when six or seven would do.
Our favorite was the trading post that advertised "50 state souvenir spoons" and "moccasins for the whole family."
We were originally planning to go to the Fort Courage Trading Post, supposedly related to the fort portrayed in the old TV comedy show “F Troop.” When we learned that this was not the location of the actual set used in the show, we passed by without stopping.
We stopped for lunch in Sanders, Arizona at a place called “Route 66 Diner.” It had been written up in several guide books. One described it as “charming.” Another described it as “cute.” Once we got there, if we hadn’t been so hungry and if we had known for sure where we might eat before we hit the Petrified Forest National Park, we would have hit the gas and got out of town. The diner has a small front space which is white and pink on the outside and serves as a lunch counter on the inside. This part was originally used as a diner in nearby Holbrook and then moved to this location. Affixed to the rear of this little diner stand, however, was a trailer of corrugated metal. The only decorations in the building were four yellowed newpaper advertisements of 50’s era automobiles. (At least they played 50's music with Serius XM Radio.) Notwithstanding the decor, the waitress was nice and took our order, delivered our food and gave us our check promptly. She even gave us free drinks to go. We had hamburgers and chips and considered ourselves fortunate to have gotten through lunch (and the hours afterward) without incident.
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| The 66 Diner in Sanders, Arizona (not well seen is the rear trailer attached) |
After lunch, we took our major side trip and activity of the day:
a visit to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.
We arrived there around 1:15 Arizona time (which, because Arizona does not recognize daylight savings time, was the same as Pacific daylight savings time).
The park features a 28 mile north-south road with a number of overlooks and some modest hiking trails.
Going south, we first stopped at several overlooks to see the beauty of the Painted Desert.
It looked like a combination of features that we've seen at the Badlands and Bryce National Parks as well as Monument Valley.
We particularly liked one area called, “The Tee Pees.”
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| The Painted Desert Inn in the Petrified Forest National Park |
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| Overlook view of the Painted Desert |
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| The "Tee Pees" |
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| Route 66 marker in the center of the park (old Model T in the left background) |
The southern end of the park featured the Petrified Forest, with a collection of short trails that provided excellent access to the petrified specimens.
We stopped at the Blue Mesa Trail, a 3 mile driving loop off of the main road.
Later, at the very southern end of the park, we hiked the relatively short Long Log Trail and the even shorter Great Log Trail.
The Long Log Trail was interesting, if for no other reason than that the trail had once been a road.
(Indeed, the trail heads still had all the features of a car turnoff.
) A decision had clearly been made to eliminate automobile traffic and thus reduce the number of people who could easily see this part of the park. Pocket size specimens abounded, and over the years many have disappeared despite many prohibitions against taking pieces from the trails.
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| David stands next to and behind giant logs on Giant Log Trail |
We left the park at around 3:15 and headed north and west of the park, to Holbrook.
At Holbrook, we found the famous Wigwam Motel, where guests could stay the night in a concrete wigwam.
The owners of the property had also decorated the grounds with vintage automobiles.
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| The Wigwam Hotel in Holbrook, Arizona |
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| Tempting teepees |
Between Holbrook and Winslow, we encountered two trading posts:
the Geronimo Trading Post, with its advertisements for the world’s largest petrified log, and the Jackrabbit Trading Post, which was renowned for its numerous signs and its large jackrabbit on the premises.
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| Jackrabbit Trading Post sign in Jackrabbit, Arizona |
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| And here it really is |
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| A handy photo op sits outside the Jackrabbit Trading Post (David refused to sit on this) |
We made our way to Winslow, AZ. Here, we have yet to stand on the corner, be a fine sight to see, or have a girl, my lord, in a flat bed Ford slow down to take a look at us.
We did, however, find our hotel, La Posada, which is quite an establishment.
Built originally as a so-called Harvey House Hotel for the Santa Fe Railroad tourist trade, it was designed by Mary Coulter, who also designed several buildings in the Grand Canyon National Park.
It was built to resemble a great hacienda.
In 1957, the hotel, after years of losses, closed, its furnishings were sold and its fixtures destroyed.
Until 1997 the building was used to house offices for the Santa Fe Railroad Co.
In 1997, Allan Affeldt purchased the property and renovated it to its original design.
The halls of the hotel are lined with unusual art with a Southwest flair.
Each guestroom is named after a famous person.
Our room is the Howard Hughes Room -- "the best room in the house," according to the man who checked us in.
(Across the hall is the Roddy McDowall room; we're glad we didn't get that room.) Our room is very comfortable with a hand carved four poster bed, two large upholstered chairs, and a large leather couch.
There is a bookshelf filled with books.
The bathroom has a shower and a Jacuzzi.
For dinner, we ate at the Turquoise Room downstairs at the hotel. Martha had prime rib. David had a bison steak. The meal got top-ratings for both plates.
After dinner, we walked around the hotel and looked at the art and the public spaces. At dinner, and afterwards in our room, we became aware of the hotel’s heritage, i.e., being connected to the railroad. We noticed there were quite a number of trains that passed right behind the hotel and that the trains can be heard throughout the hotel, including in our room. Luckily, the folks at Los Poblanos had given us earplugs (because sometimes the peacocks like to crow in the early morning). Something tells us that they will serve us in good stead tonight.
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