Holbrook --> Flagstaff: Jackrabbits, Winslow, and Space Aliens

Flagstaff post to come tomorrow. Apologies for any errors in this post - Joe insisted on editing it aloud in an Elmer Fudd voice. Might be a hilarious adventure to read it to yourself in similar fashion.

Jackrabbit Trading Post: Lindsey Tries to Adopt a Life Size, Plastic Bunny
We began our morning at the Jackrabbit Trading Post, which - like Henry's Rabbit Ranch - advertises itself miles in advance with yellow "Here It Is" signs. With an embarrassing amount of excitement, I scampered from Elvis to climb atop the giant, plastic Jackrabbit outside the store with no success in convincing Joe to do the same.




Inside the Trading Post, we met Cindy Jaquez (3rd generation owner) and her daughter - an endearing teenager just learning how to greet customers and use the cash register. After purchasing a few more Route 66 coozies and magnets, Cindy handed us two passport booklets. "If you're traveling west," she said, "you can get this stamped at different stops along the way and turn it in for a prize." We left, in equal glee as we arrived, wondering what such a prize could be.

Winslow, AZ: "Another Tough Town that Refuses to Die"
We stopped next on a corner in Winslow, Arizona (and had to wait all day to write that sentence). Lost in a town with less than three thousand households, we found our way to the corner by following other erratic, out-of-state drivers and the faint sounds of Eagles' music. Surrounded by neglected front yards and businesses barely surviving, the "corner in Winslow, Arizona" is out of place with its spotless memorial and high-end souvenir shop. But no less than a dozen tourists were ambling about, taking photos of one another and singing the famous lyric over and over again. Multiply a dozen tourists for every hour of every day in the year, and that song may have single-handedly saved Winslow.

Eagles' 79 tour to Pittsburgh. Fitting.

 Winslow's heyday is best immortalized in the newly restored La Posada Hotel, which famed architect Mary Jane Colter designed and Fred Harvey financed in 1929 as "the finest resting place in the Southwest." In the 1960s, Winslow was the second largest city in northern Arizona and many folks expected it to become another boom town for the West. But in the '70s, Interstate 40 bypassed Winslow - the effects of which persist today.

The Eagles released their first album in 1972, including Take It Easy, and unknowingly threw a life-line to forsaken Winslow. In 1994, a year after Travis Tritt remade the song and shot it to the top of the charts, the Standin' on a Corner Foundation - an amalgamation of local Route 66, La Posada, and "corner" enthusiasts - embarked on an ambitious plan to save the town. It rescued La Posada the same year and the hotel is thriving with business today.

La Posada Hotel.

La Posada's beautiful gardens.

Driving into Winslow, we also saw something unexpected - a 9-11 Remembrance Garden honoring those killed. It includes two beams from Ground Zero, which the town worked hard to secure and transport before the first anniversary of the tragedy.

Meteor City: The Home of Eduardo the Space Alien
About halfway through our journey, we realized that I'm really on this trip for the people (hence, our blog title). Joe is equally passionate about places - and rocks. Old ones. And holes in the ground. Big ones. So, we had to stop at the giant meteor crater in the middle of nowhere, Arizona and I'm ghost writing the remainder of this post out of love for him.

Also known as the Barringer Crater, this (500+ foot deep and 2 1/2 mile round) crater was formed over 10,000 years ago when a meteor (approximately 150 feet across) hurtled to the earth's surface. After a short video, informing us about how meteors will probably kill the human race in the near-distant future, we walked to the crater as guided by the resident "hole-in-the-ground" expert and self-described space alien, Eduardo (who told us he was traded by the aliens for Jeff Bridges in Starman).

Eduardo - Best Tour Guide Ever

Big piece of the rock that Eduardo told us to rub for good luck.

Joe, lookin' for John Glenn.

Seated on wooden benches overlooking the hole, Eduardo asked where the audience came from. "Fred's Tavern?" he asked Joe, looking at his t-shirt. "I wanna go there." For the next 15 minutes, Eduardo the Space Alien described the crater, drawing upon his experience as a drama major at UTEP and writer in Los Angeles. "When Barringer saw the canyon," Eduardo said, turning his back to us to peer over the crater. "He said "AYE-CHIHUAHUA." The audience laughed and he continued, "Okay, maybe not. But he was bilingual."

Petrified Forest & Holbrook, AZ: Beautiful Badlands and the Wigwam Village

We passed through a number of towns on the journey from Albuquerque to Holbrook (although none quite as interesting as Villa De Cubero, purportedly the place where Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea), and only stopped once to buy a 75 cent snow cone. 



Backdrop for The Old Man & The Sea?

Good Vibes from the Badlands

We crossed into Arizona, where our first stop was the Petrified Forest National Park.  The Park was created in 1906 under President Roosevelt, after local residents expressed concern about the number of tourists removing fossilized artifacts (brought into the region by Route 66 as well as the Atchison/Topeka/Santa Fe Railroad).   More than just petrified wood, the PFNP also contains the Painted Desert, as well as a collection of petroglyphs (ancient rock carvings) between 600-2,000 years old.

God’s Paintbrush

The first stop within the park is the Painted Desert, so named for the multi-colored layers of rock strata that form an endless expanse of highly eroded hills and canyons.  Vibrant reds, purples and browns punctuate these so-called ‘badlands’, named by both the indigenous peoples and Spanish trappers because of the difficulty in traveling across the loose sediment that forms the landscape.  After a long walk across the rim of the formation, we couldn’t tell if the view had taken our breath away, or if it was our inexperience with elevations close to 6,000 feet.

  

Ancient Graffiti

Our next stop in the Park was Newspaper Rock, known for its numerous petroglyphs. Upwards of 600 years old (and possibly thousands), the rock carvings contain a number of human and animal-like figures, along with complex designs and patterns.  Walking back towards Elvis, we talked about how strange it was to see something so obviously human, and yet so primitive. 

The Crystal Forest

The last part of our journey through the PFNP brought us to the park’s namesake.  We happened to arrive just as a park ranger was guiding a group of children into the protected area.  “How old do you think these logs are?” he asked the munchkins, who gregariously argued over relatively low numbers. The ranger chuckled, and then replied, “In fact, these logs in front of you are 225 million years old.”

Wood ‘petrifies’ after being buried for hundreds, thousands or - in this case - hundreds of millions of years.  Rather than decay, the wood is buried under mineral-rich sediment, which slowly replaces the plant’s cells with stone.  The result today is large chunks of richly-colored stone that shimmers in the desert sun with a brilliance rarely seen in nature. 

After wandering about the park observing these preserved chunks of history, we retreated to Elvis, and made our way into Holbrook. 

Brought to You from a Concrete Wigwam

When we started planning for this trip many months ago, we knew we would stay at the Wigwam Motel – one of the most renowned Route 66 attractions and the inspiration for the Cozy Cone Motel in Cars.  Owned and operated by the Lewis family for over 60 years, the Wigwam Village #6 in Holbrook, AZ is a collection of 15 concrete teepees (or, wigwams), of which Wigwam #9 would be our home for the evening.  Throughout the parking lot are a number of classic cars, including some that served as inspiration for Cars' characters.

Chief Joe and his horse, Elvis.

Closing the Evening at “The Hottest Restaurant on the Route”

For dinner, we traveled less than a mile from our Wigwam to Joe and Aggie’s, known by enthusiasts for the “hottest food on the route” (i.e. the plates used to burn holes through plastic tablecloths). Christopher, our cheerful waiter, introduced himself as the token white guy, “you need one in every Mexican family,” he said, continuing to spend some time sharing Route 66 stories with us. 

Today, the restaurant is managed by Joe and Aggie’s daughter and grandchildren, who “have one way or another” all found their way back to the diner. We spoke to one of the grandsons, who said “there’s lots to see here” in Holbrook, referencing the location of Geronimo’s surrender and an annual dance festival that we just missed. We signed the guest book and browsed memorabilia and Cars trinkets before heading back to our Wigwam.



3rd generation owner of Joe and Aggie's

 

Aggie & Joe

Great Quotes from the Road

“Look, it’s the cliff from the Lion King!” - J

“I’m pretty sure that was filmed in Africa.” - L

“I’m pretty sure that was animated.” - J

“How many animals do you think have gone into the tee-pee since you left the door open?” - J

“Look at those horses!” - L

“There are wild horses everywhere in Arizona.” - J

“They must be born with those bridles then.” - L

Santa Fe & Albuquerque: Land of Enchantment

Santa Fe: The Royal Town of the Holy Faith

As we coasted the last few miles along the route into Santa Fe, I kept saying to Lindsey, “Where is it?”  Because of Santa Fe’s reputation as a cultural and artistic mecca (not to mention it is New Mexico’s state capital), I expected the city to be similar in size to the other cities we had passed through on the Route.  But, Santa Fe’s population is only 75k and, because of strict building standards, most homes and businesses are squat adobe structures.  


Just outside of Santa Fe.



 In downtown Santa Fe, we stayed right on the Route at El Rey Inn, an adobe-style motor court built in 1936. Terrel and Hanneke White bought the Inn in 1973 and added a two-story, Spanish-style courtyard. Today, the Inn is known for its winding paths through immaculate gardens and received a "Backyard Habitat Award" in 2003 (complete with the same breed of "momo" birds we first encountered in Mexico last year when one of them dive-bombed me, repeatedly, to Lindsey's great amusement). Our room was clean and basic, with a southwestern decor and pool view. We we're really paying for the location and courtyards at El Rey, not uber-luxurious rooms.


Street view of El Rey Inn.



El Rey's Spanish inspired courtyard.

We spent the first part of our only evening in Santa Fe at Restaurant Martín, where the chefs are more artists than cooks and the clientele more wealthy than not (Elvis felt a little intimidated in the parking lot). Despite our frustration with the spoiled, bourgeois couple next to us ("your reputation is riding on this dish," the man told our flawless waitress), we enjoyed our delicate food and the outdoor ambiance - and appreciated that a generous portion of the restaurant's wine profits go to a horse rescue.

At Restaurant Martín. Snooty couple not pictured.

 

Joe ordered the BBQ chicken with orzo mac & cheese.

Grateful to rejoin a more diverse crowd of nomadic hipsters, we spent the rest of our evening (and a good part of the morning) in and around the resort-like downtown plaza, ducking into quirky, knick-knack shops and watching street performers. In the morning, we browsed jewelery and art for sale among street vendors and at the more formal and high-end Native American Arts Festival, until Lindsey settled upon a pair of small, silver feather earrings.

Santa Fe main square at night.

Street vendors at the Palace of the Governors.

Joe did not learn his lesson after poking a cactus.

Before leaving for Albuquerque, we toured the Cathedral dedicated to St. Francis de Assisi, for whom Santa Fe is named (The Royal Town of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi). Assisi is also the patron saint of animals, so Lindsey was thrilled.

Albuquerque: Hispanic Influence & The Sandia Peak Inn

We drove through the majority of Albuquerque because the Sandia Peak Inn, our motel, sits on the westernmost edge. In contrast to Santa Fe, Albuquerque is a large, diverse city of growing Hispanic population (a plurality today). To us, it felt a bit more authentic than Santa Fe, with development based less on strict building codes and more on need and changing demographics. Albuquerque is framed by the Sandia Mountains, named after the Spanish word for watermelon because of their bright pink and green coloring.

The view on the way into Albuquerque.

The Sandia Peak Inn is an historic motor court on Route 66 now under the ownership of Kay (pictured with me below) and her husband since 2001. The couple is upgrading each unit one-by-one, to include flat screen TVs and jacuzzi tubs. Every time we left the room, a bubbly, smiling Kay asked if everything was to our liking. When we asked if we could take her picture next to the motel's sign, she joked, "My husband's gonna wonder who my new boyfriend is." Just like many of the owner-operated motels we've seen, Kay and her husband have incredible pride for their business and their place on the Route.

Joe and Kay on Sunday morning.

Sandia Peak Inn.

With limited time to spend in Albuquerque, we chose La Placitas (est. 1935) on the main square in old town - a restaurant famed for the tree growing through its main dining room and for the centuries-old building it occupies. Compared to Santa Fe, the square was rather quiet - save for the dozen or so couples trying to find an open table on a late Sunday night.

La Placitas Dining Rooms in downtown Albuquerque.

Famous tree still growing through the dining room.



Main plaza in downtown Albuquerque.