West Coast Day 7

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Route 66

Up very early today and its still bloody hot! Grand Canyon here we come! We travel along Route 66, the roads are old and windy and it's not helping my anxiety, but I push on. We are just about to pull into the old gold mining town of Oatman and we can't get through because the road is blocked by Donkeys, we stop the car and next thing we know a donkey has his head in the driver's side window wanting a pat, they're so cute...... ok donkeys go away now we need to get through, no seriously, enough donkeys! Next thing we know we have a few other cars behind us a man gets out and says he needs to get through and starts to shoo them away, we drive about 400 metres up the road and it's a most amazing site, it looks like a scene out of a western and there are donkeys everywhere! We arrive at Oatman and have a look around the town, I wander into one of the shops where they have a lot of locally made leather products and what do a see, a ladies leather bag made especially for ladies pistols! Again, Steve, where did you find these places? After taking some snaps, we leave Oatman and were on a very steep and windy part of Route 66, oh I'm so glad when we hit a normal Highway!

Our next stop is Seligman, we have a drink at the famous Black Cat Bar where everyone stops as they travel through route 66. This town is amazing,memorabilia, old cars and Harley's everywhere. We stop and have lunch at this great cafe (The Westside Lilos Cafe)recommended by a couple of locals and you would not be out of place if you were wearing a 10 gallon cowboy hat. We wander around the main street, take lots of snaps and do a bit of route 66 memorabilia shopping before hitting the road again. As we're travelling the scenery changes from a dry arid desert to green pastures with Cedar Trees everywhere, oh, now here's a funny tale, we are travelling along, and there are pine trees either side, Steve says, “It smells so fresh out here, mmm, kinda Piney”, really Steve, probably from all the Pine Trees! He is a funny one!(edit by Steve: "Mandy...they were Cedar trees" :-) ) We arrive at the Best Western at the Grand Canyon and the room is beautiful, the Sheets are soft and luxurious and we can't wait until we hit the hay tonight.

It's about 4pm and we decide to go and have a look at the Canyon and as we drive through the park we see a moose on the side of the road, we miss the photo opportunity, but never mind I'm sure there will be more. We park the car at the Southern rim car park and walk about 200 meters, and there she is in all her beauty and colour, you cannot describe the magnitude of this canyon, how mother nature has formed this glorious wonderment, you have to see it with your own eyes to understand the beauty. The sun is dancing around the canyon and as you walk along the track, each view is different, the clouds create a different dimension, there is an amazing peacefulness, it's hard to describe, I can only suggest that you come and see it for yourself! I am taking photos and a squirrel appears from nowhere, how cute he is, I snap away, he is tooo cute. As the sun starts to set over the Canyon we head back to our Motel. We decide on Mexican for dinner and walk to a Mexican restaurant across and up the road a bit, it's quite chilly, we enjoy the meal and walk back to our room and envelope ourselves in this amazing bed. Weather ….. Hot to cool and loving it.

Accommodation:

Best Western Grand Canyon Squire
74 Highway 64
Grand Canyon, Arizona

Thoughts: Fantastic bed and clean room. We nearly didn't book here because of reports on trip adviser about the noise because it's close to the airport, we didn't have problem, would stay again.

Tried the Mexican place up the road one night, was too busy and not that great, the meals were huge and the complimentary pre meal corn chips could have been the meal....Huge. Chanced a meal at Wendy's....Not Nice.

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Photos

No Water
This boat was sitting in a small wash in the middle of the desert

Comments

[amy and steve]

wow
Hi guys, wow what an adventure so far, so good to be able to hear about your adventures, the landscape looks so diverse and amazing. Keep up the great blogging. Lots love amy and steve xxxx