Advertisement
Published: February 22nd 2007
A 5 day vacation from Bay Area to Northern Arizona. So much we saw in 5 days is all very overwhelming. So, this time, I am going to split the whole vacation into relevant bits. So much to say & so many photos to show too 😊
When: Fri, 16th Feb 2007 through Wed, 21st Feb 2007
Where: Northern Arizona
What: London Bridge, The Mother Road, Route 66; Winslow, Holbrook & Petrified Forest National Park.
Inspiration: the movie "CARS"
Highlights: London Bridge, Lake havasu city & The Mother Road itself. Well, we did I-40 all the way & took detours into the actual 'route 66' into the towns of Winslow & Holbrook.
I felt the adrenaline rush when I got a free upgrade to a Chevy Malibu from a compact car 😊 Truly a pleasant surprise.
Our vacation started off on Friday afternoon. Plans never work to the dot, do they? We planned 2.00 pm, but could not leave until 3.00 pm.
The peak traffic on 101 kept us there for 30 minutes. Hwy 152 was not too bad. Soon enough, we were on I 5. Just before 10.00 pm we started
the trip on time machine when we entered I 40.
I really did miss out on the time difference in Arizona.
Our first stop:
London Bridge, Lake Havasu city.
It was almost midnight when we reached the bridge. Ran off to take some night shots. There was practically no one on the streets. We decided to get some dawn pictures too. So, we slept over at the local Walmart's parking lot 😊 Slept like babies.
Saturday, 17th Feb: Got up at 6.30 am with sunrise & ran to take some more pictures until our camera shouted, "enough with the bridge now". All worth it!
We headed back to I 40. At the next rest area, we refreshed ourselves & had breakfast. I could sense the desert. At 9.30 am, the Sun was scorching but it was windy & cold! Funny.
In 3 hours we reached Flagstaff. I could not help notice the gas prices. From $3.39 a gallon in Needles, CA to $2.15 a gallon in Flagstaff😞 What a rip-off!!!
We were on the interstate mostly. At Winslow, we detoured to route 66 into town to see "standing at the corner". Winslow was
Love the rain
'cos it brings neat reflection; this is a reflection of the wigwams on a puddle near the officeput on the map after this song sung by the Eagles. We crossed it & did not notice it the first time. We parked & then walked. It was just around the corner. What an irony!
Picked up a souvenir & headed straight to Petrified Forest National Park through hwy 180, 22 miles from Holbrook. We got into town & saw the wigwam motel right away. 'So cute!' was my first reaction. With no time to stop, we compromised on coming later that day.
Petrified Forest closes by 5.00 pm. And that is from preventing people from taking the wood! Sounded funny to me, but looks like a lot of people do that. There were signs everywhere.
There was this short trail near the museum. Giant logs trail. Wow! All the logs resembled trees, but they were all turned to stone. Story from a fairy tale? Not at all!
Here is the history and mystery behind it.
Map This is a
must-see if you are in the area. At least half a day!
A local informed me that we were lucky being there today, as it was raining like crazy for the past 2 days!
Did the trail & going back up!
Petrified Forest national park The sky was so clear that I found it hard to believe. Getting my facts straight, Holbrook is at 5,700 ft elevation & does receive snow.
We had enough time to rush through crystal forest trail(badlands, giant logs & colorful canyons). We really did not have time to do Blue mesa canyon, but did not want to miss it. It is a 1 mile trail into blue mesa canyon. If we did it in 15 minutes & yet saw everything, you can imagine how we did it. Running!!!!
We did not have much time for anything else on the way. Missing Pueblo ruins was not that big of a deal as we were going into Pueblo country in the next couple of days. We had enough time to catch sunset at Painted desert overlooks. There are 3 overlooks in the upper part of the park, but the first one was the best. Got an overall view!
It got cold & we were soon finding our way to Holbrook.
We stopped at
Wigwam motel. Too bad we could not stay there, in the Teepee's(that's what they call their rooms). They were all booked that day & we could
not reschedule our plans😞 But we could still stop by & take some pictures.
As I'd heard, their parking lot was filled with old classic cars. It really gives you a picture of how life would've been then in the olden days.
Arizona's route 66 As of now, Holbrook is one of the lovely little towns I've ever stayed. (I love small towns basically) 😊
Day's end @ America's Best Value Inn, owned by a Gujarathi family. Had a small chat with a fellow Indian!
Tomorrow, off to Canyon de Chelly.
Until then, adieus.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 32; dbt: 0.0399s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
vividvoyagers
non-member comment
Nice narration and nice pix
Hey I enjoyed reading this one...The dawn and dusk pictures are very good...:-) We are planning a trip to Grand Canyon next month..I shall keep all these places in mind for our travel:-)