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Published: July 27th 2009
Petrified Forest
We made a quick stop at this National Park before arriving in Winslow.Vincenzo was both interested about being on the original Route 66 and mystified about standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. He knew about Route 66 because American tv programs are very popular in Italy. When we lived there, I used to watch "House" regularly. Naturally it was dubbed. This is also the reason that we went to the UFO museum in Roswell. He was familiar with the long running series "The X Files." We have a running joke about the "chupacabra", a subject that was covered in one of the episodes. The "chupacabra" is supposed to be some kind of vampire blood sucker, sort of the same lines along the cattle mutilations that occurred in the late '70s. But instead of cows, this creature is supposed to feast on goats.
As for the business of standing on the corner, he was a bit mystified. He was familiar with some Eagle songs just not "Take it Easy." After some explanation, he got it.
So, anyhooo...we drove into Winslow just in time for a passing thunderstorm to provide some shade and headed to Standing on A Corner Park. Yep, the town of Winslow has capitalized on the song and created a park
Route 66
I'm living the adventure...minus the Corvette. by that name. When we pulled up a guy was taking some photos. It turned out that this guy was travelling on a Harley. Vincenzo loves Harleys! I 'splained to guy about Vincenzo and our mission and he was cool about Vincenzo sitting on the Harley. That made Vincenzo's day.
We shot our photos and then sat on a bench on the opposite side of the street and had lunch. As we sat there (in the shade!) we watched a steady stream of people come by and take photos. It was mostly Boomer generation folks...in other words...old people! Ha ha ha ha...
After Winslow we headed on down the road to the Grand Canyon. The landscape changed from clorful desert to mountain pine forests. This was the first time I had been to the town of Flagstaff. It reminded me a lot of Bend, Oregon. It is a very nice looking community. The weather was beautiful and the temps were in the 80's.
The Grand Canyon was of course grand. Did you know that the park is situated at 6,000 feet in elevation? Somehow that little factoid never registered in my brain. Even though it was about 3PM, temps were
America's highway
Route 66 is considered the original "America's Highway." moderate and we went for a hike along the rim. It was a beautiful day. The only thing I would have done differently is to have come from the east entrance. The drive from Flagstaff is pine forest and you don't see the Canyon until you drive up to the rim. It is also very crowded and developed.
The east entrance is more solitary and the Little Colorado River Gorge is spectacular! This river is a tributary to the main Colorado River and it a amazing. I wish I had photos but we only got to see it in the dusk as we left the park. If you are going to the Grand Canyon I recommend that you drive in through the east entrance of the South Rim. You won't regret it.
We spent the night at a place called Cameron. It was so hot that Beth and I stayed in the hotel instead of the tent. The next morning we headed for Utah and Zion National Park.
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