Can I just say something about road trips in the Southwest? I totally become a different person. I don't worry about what I am eating. I don't worry about how much money we are spending. I get lost in a book like I did when I was 10. (I read 700 pages in 2 books in the first 2 days of driving! I was wishing I would have packed more!) I, get this, even love country music. Something about steel guitar and violin just matches the scenery and the feeling of being on the road. The title of this blog came from a cd that John bought from Cracker Barrel by Zac Brown Band. It is called "Free" and it became the soundtrack to this trip. It is about taking off and being free, and it just really clicked with me. (Can I also point out that I got sad when my interest in the song and the music John was picking on Sirius starting grating on my nerves the second we crossed back over the CA state line? The magic had worn off, and I needed something louder and edgier immediately...)
Anyway, it was a lovely time, and we came back rested and relaxed.
I went all out with the snacks on this trip. I got one of everything from Target, and my favorite snack was Cheez-its and string cheese enjoyed together. And, I should mention, I started this trip not drinking soda, and ended it back on it. :/ I enjoyed myself! (It's back to the gym and off soda on Monday!)
Our first stop was Cracker Barrel in Goodyear, AZ. It just makes me think of every road trip I have been on with fondness, so even just walking inside makes me happy. Before the restaurant is the super cute little gift shop where I always find something fun to buy. (This time it was Tammy's Birthday Present!)
The best score I could get on this game was 2 left standing. I know there is a way to win every time, but I would rather try to figure it out myself. Also, John took this pic by accident, and I think it came out kind of cool and artsy.
Surprise, surprise, John got a burger...
I had never been to Williams, Az, but it was a logical stop on Saturday night. It turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip! It is about a mile long strip of a town on historic Route 66 that has modern hotels, but still has the old school, Mother Road feel. There are enough tourists there to keep it alive, but not so many that it was crowded or too modern and fake. I loved being there! John and I agreed that someday when we have kids old enough we will spend more days in Williams and take the train to the Grand Canyon (which leaves from there) and a day trip to Sedona.
Our hotel in Williams. It had continental breakfast and everything!
Walking into town.
Pete's Gas Station Museum had a bunch of old cars and gas station equipment. This car reminded me of Doc Hudson from "Cars."
I like this Bronco, and whenever I see one I tell John that I want him to build me one.
The best score I could get on this game was 2 left standing. I know there is a way to win every time, but I would rather try to figure it out myself. Also, John took this pic by accident, and I think it came out kind of cool and artsy.
Surprise, surprise, John got a burger...
I had never been to Williams, Az, but it was a logical stop on Saturday night. It turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip! It is about a mile long strip of a town on historic Route 66 that has modern hotels, but still has the old school, Mother Road feel. There are enough tourists there to keep it alive, but not so many that it was crowded or too modern and fake. I loved being there! John and I agreed that someday when we have kids old enough we will spend more days in Williams and take the train to the Grand Canyon (which leaves from there) and a day trip to Sedona.
Our hotel in Williams. It had continental breakfast and everything!
Walking into town.
Pete's Gas Station Museum had a bunch of old cars and gas station equipment. This car reminded me of Doc Hudson from "Cars."
I like this Bronco, and whenever I see one I tell John that I want him to build me one.
A view of the town.
A large part of the town is devoted to the train station that goes back and forth to the Grand Canyon.
Every night at 7:00 there is a shoot out on one of the street corners. It was funny and entertaining, and the funniest part was the amount of tourists from very far away (like who didn't speak English or Spanish) reacting to the "American Humor."
We checked out of our hotel Sunday morning and made it to church in Sedona. On our way in, we enjoyed the views of the rocks from the road. It is crazy how you are in the middle of dirt and nothing, and then all of a sudden an amazing valley pops up with beautiful colors.
Our hotel in Sedona, called the Sedona Rouge. I found it online for a really good deal. It was nice and quiet, and is a resort with a spa. I really wanted a massage or a facial or something, but couldn't bring myself to pay for it. As beautiful as Sedona is, and this hotel was wonderful but we agreed that the next time we go, we could be just as happy taking a drive to Sedona for the day from Williams.
The view from our balcony.
I just love the town of Sedona. I liked just walking around, and taking pictures.
Portrait of the Artist in the Rearview Mirror
I was probably in high school the first time I went to Sedona on a family vacation. Even then I remember noticing all of the Pink Jeeps driving around town. This was the first time I actually got to go on a Pink Jeep Tour! We chose the scenic tour, that was 2 hours and did an off road tour of the red rocks. It ended up being the best thing: we left at 8 am, were the only ones in our jeep (they can seat 9 people) and we really enjoyed our tour guide. We got to go off the beaten path, and since it was so early, it was quiet and deserted and we were really able to appreciate how beautiful it was.
A large part of the town is devoted to the train station that goes back and forth to the Grand Canyon.
Every night at 7:00 there is a shoot out on one of the street corners. It was funny and entertaining, and the funniest part was the amount of tourists from very far away (like who didn't speak English or Spanish) reacting to the "American Humor."
We checked out of our hotel Sunday morning and made it to church in Sedona. On our way in, we enjoyed the views of the rocks from the road. It is crazy how you are in the middle of dirt and nothing, and then all of a sudden an amazing valley pops up with beautiful colors.
Our hotel in Sedona, called the Sedona Rouge. I found it online for a really good deal. It was nice and quiet, and is a resort with a spa. I really wanted a massage or a facial or something, but couldn't bring myself to pay for it. As beautiful as Sedona is, and this hotel was wonderful but we agreed that the next time we go, we could be just as happy taking a drive to Sedona for the day from Williams.
The view from our balcony.
I just love the town of Sedona. I liked just walking around, and taking pictures.
Portrait of the Artist in the Rearview Mirror
I was probably in high school the first time I went to Sedona on a family vacation. Even then I remember noticing all of the Pink Jeeps driving around town. This was the first time I actually got to go on a Pink Jeep Tour! We chose the scenic tour, that was 2 hours and did an off road tour of the red rocks. It ended up being the best thing: we left at 8 am, were the only ones in our jeep (they can seat 9 people) and we really enjoyed our tour guide. We got to go off the beaten path, and since it was so early, it was quiet and deserted and we were really able to appreciate how beautiful it was.
The views from the jeep as we went up.
After an hour drive, we stopped at the top of Schnebly Vista, at 7000 feet. In the middle of the next picture is the town I was walking around and taking pictures of just a few pictures up. That shows how high and far away we were!
Christmas card picture?
Our tour guide pointed out that we could see the town of Jerome from where we were. It is right in the middle of the black range of mountains seen furthest away in this picture. That will be interesting later, I promise.
This is the view from where we were when we were at 7000 feet. The picture of me and John while on top was taken standing on the black ridge seen in the picture below, taken from town at 4500 feet.
In the pink jeep!
After the tour we went to TlaquePaque (pronounced t-lacky-packy, which means "The Best of the Best" in Spanish, I think!) Village which is an arts and crafts village. Most of the stores there were too ritzy for us, but it was a beautiful place to walk around.
We had the most awesome Mexican Fast Food after, at a build your own burrito place called Tacos Del Mar. John was happy to spend some time in the pool that afternoon.
After an hour drive, we stopped at the top of Schnebly Vista, at 7000 feet. In the middle of the next picture is the town I was walking around and taking pictures of just a few pictures up. That shows how high and far away we were!
Christmas card picture?
Our tour guide pointed out that we could see the town of Jerome from where we were. It is right in the middle of the black range of mountains seen furthest away in this picture. That will be interesting later, I promise.
This is the view from where we were when we were at 7000 feet. The picture of me and John while on top was taken standing on the black ridge seen in the picture below, taken from town at 4500 feet.
In the pink jeep!
After the tour we went to TlaquePaque (pronounced t-lacky-packy, which means "The Best of the Best" in Spanish, I think!) Village which is an arts and crafts village. Most of the stores there were too ritzy for us, but it was a beautiful place to walk around.
We had the most awesome Mexican Fast Food after, at a build your own burrito place called Tacos Del Mar. John was happy to spend some time in the pool that afternoon. The next day we checked out of Sedona and went for a drive to the place our tour guide had mentioned, called Jerome. This was another unexpected high light to the trip. Jerome was a miners town built into the side of a mountain in the early 1900's. It has burned down and been rebuilt due to earthquakes several times but is still standing. After the 1950's it became a ghost town when the mine was finally closed. We got really interested in the history after reading about it, and the history came to life walking around the town. Being from Southern CA where most of the buildings were built out of stucco in the 1970's and are torn down the second they look old, it was shocking to me to see pieces of buildings left standing after 100 years, and reading about how people lived all those years ago. I am glad we found it!
One of the original mineshafts. You can't see it through the plexiglass, but below my feet is a hole that goes down 1900 feet into the mine. John wouldn't stand on it and almost had a heart attack when I jumped up and down. :)
This was just one example of the remains that were left in town. This was the Bartlett Hotel that was built in 1899. It burned down sometime in the 1900's and the remains have been left there. It added a creepy, old kind of feel to it. John said it felt like we were walking in a horror or zombie movie compared to the super touristy places we had been previously.
We paid $2 to get into the Jerome Historical Society Museum and were not disappointed. The town swelled to 15000 people at the height of the mining boom, with an elementary, middle and high school, a car dealership, a hospital and a red light district. I was intrigued by all of it! It was so cool to walk around and see that all of these building were still there.
A view of the town. These buildings were originally a car dealership, a brothel, a bar and a hotel.
One of the original mineshafts. You can't see it through the plexiglass, but below my feet is a hole that goes down 1900 feet into the mine. John wouldn't stand on it and almost had a heart attack when I jumped up and down. :)
This was just one example of the remains that were left in town. This was the Bartlett Hotel that was built in 1899. It burned down sometime in the 1900's and the remains have been left there. It added a creepy, old kind of feel to it. John said it felt like we were walking in a horror or zombie movie compared to the super touristy places we had been previously.
We paid $2 to get into the Jerome Historical Society Museum and were not disappointed. The town swelled to 15000 people at the height of the mining boom, with an elementary, middle and high school, a car dealership, a hospital and a red light district. I was intrigued by all of it! It was so cool to walk around and see that all of these building were still there.
A view of the town. These buildings were originally a car dealership, a brothel, a bar and a hotel.
This picture is the same spot just looking down at it from the street above. As I said, the town is built into the side of a mountain, and it just feels like it goes straight up. Everything is built on stilts and looks like it is slanting, adding to the creepy horror movie feel.
Above the town is Gold King Ghost Mine, which had a replica of a Miner's town with a dentist (the old, spider web covered metal dental equipment made me cringe...) a cobbler, an auto repair shop, a working saw mill and a place to mine for gold. John's favorite part was the collection of old cars that covered what seemed like forever. I didn't take nearly as many pictures of that as he did. If you want to know more about this part of the day, you will have to ask him... :)
The Jerome Hotel was originally a hospital, and had one of the first Otis elevators in Arizona. It was bought in the 1960's and turned into a hotel. It was the highest point of the town, and was quite a climb to get there.
Another possible Christmas Card pic? I was playing with the self timer on my camera. Another point of interest is that just above John's right shoulder is Sedona, the part I mentioned before when our tour guide pointed out the view of Jerome. There are about 50 miles and several thousand feet above sea level between the 2. I kept saying that I needed a new word for "crazy" because I just kept saying "This view is crazy!" or "How crazy is this?!?"
Above the town is Gold King Ghost Mine, which had a replica of a Miner's town with a dentist (the old, spider web covered metal dental equipment made me cringe...) a cobbler, an auto repair shop, a working saw mill and a place to mine for gold. John's favorite part was the collection of old cars that covered what seemed like forever. I didn't take nearly as many pictures of that as he did. If you want to know more about this part of the day, you will have to ask him... :)
The Jerome Hotel was originally a hospital, and had one of the first Otis elevators in Arizona. It was bought in the 1960's and turned into a hotel. It was the highest point of the town, and was quite a climb to get there.
Another possible Christmas Card pic? I was playing with the self timer on my camera. Another point of interest is that just above John's right shoulder is Sedona, the part I mentioned before when our tour guide pointed out the view of Jerome. There are about 50 miles and several thousand feet above sea level between the 2. I kept saying that I needed a new word for "crazy" because I just kept saying "This view is crazy!" or "How crazy is this?!?"
Later that day we drove to Alice Cooper's Town in Phoenix. I didn't take any pictures, because they would have looked exactly the same as they did here. We spent the night in another small town in Arizona called Goodyear. We went for a walk from our hotel, but it was more like a big town than where we had been before. I didn't feel like taking pictures of our walk to Best Buy (we bought John's Birthday Present: a new stereo for his truck) and Ross (we bought him a replacement swim shorts and shirt since he had left them in Sedona). We did try dessert at Freddy's, which has all kinds of frozen custards. They were amazing! There is another location in Victorville that we will be trying soon.
The next morning we had Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then headed home. We both were so broken hearted to cross the state line and to face the drab, trafficky drive on the 10 west. :(
Overall, it was a great trip. Even though I am over country music again, "Free" by Zac Brown Band helps me go back there in my mind...
"We're free as we'll ever be
Just as free
Free as we'll ever be
So we live in our old van
Travel all across this land
Me and you"
1 comment:
I really enjoy several of Zac Brown Band's songs! Beautiful pictures!
Post a Comment