Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon more 66 and Las Vegas.

Flagstaff, seems to be a cool little hip town up there in Arizona, a little historic downtown with an Amtrak station, and some roadside attractions, such as the giant Muffler Man Lumberjack.It seems like a cool place to spend a weekend, a week, or a few years. But for us, on our westward journey, it’s only a one night stop over. It also is our access point to the Grandcanyon. Because we were again pressed for time after another late start, a decision was made to only do the south rim, and approach it from the east and head west along the park road.
The canyon itself can only be described in hyperbole, and has been done a million times better by someone else. It is an unbelievable natural feature, as Dawn kept saying, you can take as many pictures as you want, try and describe it to everyone you meet, compare it to your local ditches. (You listening Tallulah?) The only way to really experience it is to actually go there. See it yourself.
The rest of the trip was punctuated with stretches of 66 nostalgia and includes one of the longest continuous stretches of the road from just outside Flagstaff to Kingman.
We saw old steel bridges, Burma Shave signs, (although these replicas were fun to see, apparently the real Burma Shave signs were never placed along 66.)

We also saw a lot of burnt out towns that have seem better days. Dawn also took one of my favorite pictures of the trip. At least of the road trip style pictures.

We did intended to see some other roadside sights in Arizona, but we were in the Dark by Kingman, and had yet to get to Vegas.

Holy Cow how did I forget this?

Welcome to HolBrook!  I don't know what it is either.

We went to Holbrook and Winslow, AZ.  Two more stops, along Route 66 famous for different things.

First, was Holbrook.  Now, what Holbrook, is famous for is the famous Wigwam Motel with it's Tee-pee motor court rooms.

We got there at 5:30pm, and all the rooms were booked up for the night.  Well, if you do want to stay there, I'd make recommend you book your room in advance.  There are many classic cars parked in the parking lot, not that they take up too much room, but your stuff in the room might take up all the free space in the room.  One nice couple was nice enough to let us peak inside their room.  Tiny!  I mean really small.  There is a bathroom attached, but again, tiny!  So, it may be fun for the novelty of it, but it does not seem like it has all the comforts of a modern hotel.  The owner seemed like a nice guy too.  We overheard him talking to a couple checking in, and he had some stories to tell.

Also:  Dinosaurs:

Finally, there's this song by The Eagles, "Take it Easy."  One of the lines is "Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona...."  Well, Winslow has taken advantage of this and created a "Standing on the corner" park.  There's even a statue of skinny guy and an acoustic guitar, (the song was written by Jackson Browne) and a flat bed Ford.  Though, for picture taking purposes, there's a girl (My Lord!) in a flat bed ford painted in reflection in the mural.  Otherwise, Winslow as well looks as if it's seen better days.  A few souvenir shops, a few gas stations, and Historic 66.  Not much to it.

Then we went to Flagstaff.

Albuquerque to Flagstaff

This was a day where the pictures tell a lot of the story.  I mean, how much can words add to a day when you see a Chevy on Stilts:

Paul Bunyan outside of a Vietnamese restaurant:

Cool roadside signage:

The continental divide:

(Honestly, not that impressive.  If not for the sign, we might not have known.  But it is a milepost in the journey.  I leave the river the basin I've spent most of my life for the west coast.)

Some new to me geology:

A giant Indian, and arrows:

Since Route 66 was decommissioned, there have been various efforts to preserve it in sections.  And since the route itself was altered a number of times in it's history, efforts to drive much of 66 can be met with much frustration.  Sometimes I-40 is where 66 used to be.  Sometimes 66 is a frontage road for I-40, even being marked with Historical 66 signs.  Follow that frontage road to long though, and you might get into a road closed/dead end, but see a decaying pavent reeling out in front of you.  Other times, a look at a map shows a road branching off from the interstate, and winding away from it, only to intersect it again later, leaving one to wonder, was that 66?  The myth of 66, what it means to some in this country, is longer and wider then the road ever was itself.  Part of the mystery of the road is compounded in the Historic 66 designation.  Historic by who?  The last years of 66?  66 itself was re-routed in small and big ways throughout it's history.  Trying to drive it today would be impossible, even with the aid of a library of maps and reference points.  There is some "americana" sights to see on it, including the "Tee-pee" on the border of NM and AZ.

Keep going westard, and you come to another national landmark.  A pair of them really.  The Painted Desert:

And the Petrified Forest:

There used to be a lot more petrified wood in the petrified forest.  People use to take it away by the cart load full.  Train car load full.  Can you imagine how much was lost?

These are two places, that like other grand national monuments, do not translate well into photos.  I would say though, like Carlsbad this is something worth seeing in a life time.  I know it may be hard, the era of family car vacations may be over.  Honestly, if we had not moved to California, I would not have taken the time so see these things either.  But honestly, they are worth seeing.

One more comment about 66 here:

This photo depicts where 66 used to run through the Petrified Forest national monument.  Notice what's missing?  All the road.  It might seem weird to some that I'll decry the lack of a man made structure in a natural monument, but I think it's weird that the decommissioning of 66 in this area meant completely obliterating any trace of the trail rather than saving what some consider a historical landmark.