Got up early to format this blog and ended up crashing it (WARNING: Internal Server Error – please contact your server administrator). ACK….I’M the server administrator! Anyway, with the help of my awesome tech guru got that resolved, got the banner to show up, and the posting began in earnest once Emily woke up.
We headed out of Kingman, AZ by way of the old RT 66 which wound around the mountains and by a few scattered towns with no stop-lights. Wide open plains – could see a trains coming for miles and could see the entire train all at once. Lots of desert squirrels making their mad dash across the road. Seriously, sometimes we were the only car on the road and they wait until just the last minute to run in front of you – there has to be some underground “I dare you!” social norm in the squirrel world that we’re just not privy to. The temp was a chilly 89 degrees, down almost 20 degrees from yesterday!
First stop was The Road Kill Cafe – “You Kill It, We Grill It.” Didn’t run over any of those squirrels so we had to order off the menu. Sign when we entered said, “No Firearms Allowed.” Yep, we’re in the west. Menu items included “Covered in Bugs, Bunny” “Rocky the Low Flying Squirrel””Tire Tread Skunk” “Poached Bambi Burger” “Barney Con Carne” “Little Fender Tenders” and “Paws and Claws.” Great atmosphere, great food, and lots of RT 66 memorabilia.
Next stop was Williams, AZ for gasoline, fresh beef jerky, applesauce, and saline nose spray. Seriously.
Headed north to The Grand Canyon. The heat was high. The views were breathtaking although a little muted because of the high sun and thick air. I remember pulling up to the rim in 1993 and standing there all alone, wishing I had someone there with me to share it all with.
My second visit was with John and Emily when Em was only 6. We RV’d there and got up well before dawn, freezing in April (missed the first morning because of sleet) and saw the shadows lengthen into the canyon.
Today’s visit was equally as fabulous and unique. I’d like to come again some day and stay at the El Tovar lodge right on the rim in order to see both sunrise and sunset. It’s now on the bucket list (and man, is that thing ever getting long!)
Took RT 180 down to Flagstaff and drove through this beautiful grove of Birch trees. I remember seeing them in 1983 and was hoping it was on that route – was delighted that Emily liked them as much as I did and I commented that it must be genetic as I remember my mom always loved them too. She used to have cut birch logs in our fireplace in one of our homes – nice touch. Stopped by the side of the road as Em wanted to tromp around in the woods a bit – got lapped by a bicyclist so we didn’t stay long, just enough to smell the pine needles and hear…..nothing. Well, I take that back, we heard the wind in the trees that sounded like the ocean, and an eagle or a hawk. And lots of wonderful silence.
Flagstaff is beautiful and filled with pine trees. Emily remembers it as “Pirate Town” for some reason – we stopped at the Barnes and Noble here on our drive back from Tucumcari, NM right after New Year’s two and a half years ago. Snow was on the ground then and that may have contributed to the “pirate” theme but I’m not sure how.
Dinner was across at Red Lobster. Those cheese rolls are killer and we did pretty good polishing off the crab alfredo linguini and coconut crunchy shrimp. Em managed to stay alive in a hotel pool filled with rowdy kids and eat dessert in the room. A great day!
– Ann
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