Her perspective –
I could not motivate myself to write in the lobby of the La Posada last night. This is the only place a wireless network was available. A nice hot bath and the Olympics were more my priority.
I have not read ‘his perspective’ from last night but I assume it has most of the adjectives I would use to describe our five or more hours in the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert. One of the most beautiful places I have ever had the good fortune to visit. What a country – so diverse…..so amazing. We have commented many times on the conversations we have had very recently with friends in Europe who have not visited America. When they think about coming here they mention they will ‘pop in’ to visit us. Of course they do not realize how large this country is….and to a certain extent neither do we. The diversity, the size, the open spaces are all amazing to me.
I was excited to be able to stay at La Posada last night. It was one of my ‘finds’ in our newly acquired places to stay on Route 66 book. The hotel had interesting artwork, sculptures, furniture and a cool ‘trading post’ to visit. The Turquoise Room where we ate dinner (also recommended in another book on places to eat on Route 66) was a nice dinner. I even enjoyed myself after the hostess commented on my ‘Texas’ accent.
We checked out of the La Posada at the crack of mid morning in search of at least coffee. A quick drive through Winslow did not produce coffee. A stop at the Flying J truck stop for gas & coffee (OK I think that’s what you call what I poured into the cup) was the best we could do. Back on I-40 for a few miles we saw some sign for food. The Mojo Café looked promising. A local coffee shop with good coffee and wifi. My Flying J coffee went into the trash & we sat down to enjoy our coffee & check in with real life before heading out.
Back on I-40 with Flagstaff about an hour away, the Grand Canyon signs started appearing. I can’t believe how excited I was to see the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon would have to wait just a bit longer because in Valle, Arizona at a gas stop, we happened to look across the street. The holy grail of aviation appeared before our eyes. A Constellation – THE airplane. I mean c’mon who wouldn’t want to see it, to walk in it, to see the museum and all of the airplanes. To explore the pieces & parts behind the hangar. Talk about a find! OK, I’m kind of being sarcastic but for Bob it was great and I know how much he enjoys it. And since OK I do enjoy it a little bit…..just don’t tell him because I still can’t tell a 777 from a 727 and that’s just sad.
From Valle we headed straight to the Grand Canyon. We followed a tour bus for a few miles in the park. At one point he slowed down and we realized he was probably pointing out the canyon to his passengers. It was my first glimpse – it just took my breath away. Nostalgic, because I really remember being here when I was a kid. Enormous, beautiful colors, incredibly big. For the next couple of nights we are at Thunderbird Lodge, a South Rim hotel. Our room has a view of the canyon. The temperatures are perfect – in the low 50’s.
We took a walk around the area we are staying, wandered into a lodge restaurant for dinner and then back out for a walk at sunset. The shadows on the canyon were gorgeous. As the sun went down, the temperatures dropped quickly and the wind picked up.
One of the nicest things about visiting this time of year is the lack of people. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty……but the cashier at a shop told me in the summer there are three times the people. Don’t think I want to visit then.
As the postcard says, ‘having a great time, wish you were here.’
His perspective
The Grand Canyon is today’s goal. No planned stops other than for gas. Our 1st unplanned stop was Winslow Airport. I had wanted to stop there, if I could find it, as TWA used Winslow as a stop for their Ford Tri-Motors and DC-3s flying from New York to Los Angeles in the ‘20’s, ‘30’s and early ‘40’s. My Mom flew this route while working as a TWA Air Hostess. The original adobe terminal was still present, along with an old hangar, with a logo for TAT, Transcontinental Air Transport, on the front. Lindbergh flew the 1st TAT flight into Winslow in 1929. TAT became TWA in the early ‘30’s. I’ll have to check with Mom and see if she remembers ever flying through Winslow. Our next unplanned stop was to get some real coffee at a small place called Mojo’s in Winslow. This followed a stop for gas and Nancy got a cup of coffee at the local Flying J Truck Stop. Truck stop coffee explains the need to find Mojo’s.
It was then off to Flagstaff and then Highway 180 to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
About 20 miles south of the park entrance, Highway 180 became Highway 64. At the intersection, Nancy noticed an airplane museum and asked if I wanted to go. It looked like an old quonset hut and I declined. But, when I looked left at the intersection, I noticed the distinctive triple tails of a Lockheed Constellation. There was no way I could pass up an opportunity to see a legendary and rare “Connie”. I mean this was the airplane my Dad and Mom flew across the Atlantic, she until they married, he until jets displaced the Connie. The airplane I had been weaned on as a child. This one belonged to Gen. Douglas McArthur and was named Bataan. Made in Burbank, it’s still flyable and I was able to go inside. Also present was a Western Airlines Convair 240, a Pacific Airlines Martin 404, a WW2 B-26, ME-109, an early Mig fighter, some old cars and a 1930’s vintage Eastern Airlines Stinson. All flyable, except the 1931 Packard, the 1940 Ford and the ’65 Buick Skylark.
We arrived at the Thunderbird Lodge at the South Rim in mid-afternoon. All the lod
ges are located in Grand Canyon Village. Our room looks over the Grand Canyon. We settled in, walked the path along the rim from lodge to lodge. The views are spectacular. We had an early dinner, and did the walk again at sunset.The Canyon is incredibly beautiful with patches of snow on the higher surfaces. The pinks and shadows changing as the sun began to set. I believe this is one of the 7(?) wonders of the world (no internet, so I can’t check!). If it isn’t, it should be.
Tomorrow, we’ll drive the 28(?) miles of road along the South Rim. About the same distance as we drove in the Painted Desert and that took us more than 6 hours. It’s a good thing we’re here at this time of year. Private cars are only allowed on the South Rim road till March 1. After that, it’s accessible by foot or shuttle only.
Oh…..I forgot to mention…..Click!
Maybe he was shamed by my earlier mileage post. Or maybe it was passing another milestone, as he turned 13K miles today. The Toaster has redeemed himself with respect to gas mileage. He turned in 27 this morning and 29 this afternoon. The better figures are after the Painted Desert stop, where we drove from vista point to vista point at no more than 35mph for 6 hours. Turning it on and off countless times. Go figure.
Entertainment updates. The IPOD was silenced yesterday, while we tuned in to AM talk radio. ‘Nuff said on that topic. And, it seems the shuffle routine on the IPOD is not a random shuffle. It’s alphabetical by song title. We spent most of today on the letter H, migrating into “I’ll” and “I’m” entitled songs.
Loading pics from the lobby is a pain in the butt....Will upload when we get to a place with connectivity.
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