3000+ miles in 3 weeks, Route 66 & all that. Episode 13

[Sue]

Friday 2nd April (Good Friday)

Well the day dawned chilly but sunny in Flagstaff - before we came here, J's sister said that we would love Flagstaff, I'm not too sure tbh but this morning we plan to have a good look round and make our minds up. Coffees from nearby Starbucks in hand we set off:









As you can see - not too busy, but nothing jumps out to say "Wow". We found the old town bit:



A nice old motel sign - the motel at it's base is now an office, good to see that they kept the sign though:



And we found a store selling "Western" gear - I fancied a lumberjack style shirt but could not find one. The girls all pounced on the racks of cowboy boots:



Sally fell in love with these and after much persuasion (really - she hates to spend money!) bought them. From now on, she would hardly have them off her feet. I have to say that they did look really cool on her:



We did not find much to interest us tbh - I imagine that in the height of the ski season it is a buzzing place and there was some evidence of nice cafe culture going on. The main road and the railway line run parallel right through the middle of town. This old train is next to the railroad:



Heading back to the motel to pick up the car we recreated 'Abbey Road' on the railway line:



Within a minute of us taking this shot, the barriers came down and a train came through, it was another huge one. Sal videoed it on her iPod and it lasted over two minutes!

We had made the decision to call at Safeway to get some supplies and some sandwiches for the walkers tomorrow. We did not know what may be available at the Grand Canyon and they would be setting off at 5am and walking all day. This small task took nearly an hour as the server on the sandwich counter was new and the slowest person any of us had ever seen!

Eventually all supplied up, we set off for our Grand Canyon base.
The road out of Flagstaff was very picturesque:



Our guide book advised us that the hard road ended in places and we could either get on the interstate or take the gravel road option. We obviously decided to take the gravel roads! I would imagine that at certain times of year, this is not possible unless you are in a 4x4.

[Sue]

Continued:



(please not the 'fence posts')



It was up here that we saw our first "Arizona 66" sign - all the previous ones had just had the works "Historic Route 66" on, whereas in the states we had been in so far, it had the state name on.



There were quite a lot of houses up here and many of them very luxurious looking. It must be some kind of exclusive suburb of Flagstaff - we did wonder if people lived in them year round though as they must get cut off in the winter?



The postman has a nice easy job and does not have to call at all the houses individually. We saw these at the one gas station/convenience store we came across on this road:



Nice views up here though:



To our left, we could see the interstate looking like the cars and trucks were on the water:



Actually this 'lake' is only temporary because of snow melt, it is not there for much of the year, the road does rise above it though.
And then we were in Williams:



We were not actually going into Williams today and turned right not far ahead of this sign, thus leaving Route 66 again and going off on a detour to the Grand Canyon.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express around 3pm and found that we had been upgraded to suites - very nice. The only difference was that we had a small office area with a tv and sofa just inside the room:





The wifi was good and they also did really good hot breakfasts (well bacon, omelette 'things', biscuits and gravy) plus all the usual cold things. It did cost us $171 per night per room though! Captive audience I suppose, limited number of places to stay here, we booked in advance - this was as much as the Intercontinental in Chicago.

J needed to check out the start point for the walk in the morning - we set off intending to walk to the visitors centre (he could not remember how far it was from the hotels to there!) - we got to the entrance plaza - a good 1.5 mile walk, to be told that it was another 5 miles away Back to the hotel to pick up the car

Here was my first view of the Grand Canyon:

[Sue]

Continued:



And - just to prove that I was there:



It took longer than expected to find the start of the walk as J simply could not remember where it was - it had been 5 years and there had been lots of development since he was last here. We found it in the end and firmed up arrangements for the following day.

We gathered back at the hotel for an early dinner, bearing in mind the early start in the morning. We were in the annex bit and on the top floor:



The choice of places to eat is not huge here - there are a few hotel/motels only. We decided to eat at the Steakhouse that J and family had eaten at last time and said was good.
Well... it was mega busy. service was slow and surly, honestly - we saw not one smile from ANY server in the place. Our server took our orders and made no note when people said no salad, or no baked potato (but said that he had when we questioned this). When the food arrived - he said that he had put the orders in but the cook had ignored them - we got exactly what was on the menu (not a problem really, but a big waste as food was uneaten) and he forgot Phil's order altogether! My steak was not cooked right - I like it medium well and it was very bloody; the bits that I could eat were tasteless.
Not a great experience for us all - the girls said that their kebabs were good and J's steak was fine but none of us liked the atmosphere or the attitude in the place. It cost $133 and not worth it - we actually left no tip as it was clear we had not received anything like good service.
People were waiting for tables throughout our meal and we were cleared out quickly - we were dying to tell them all not to bother.
I post the picture only to advise you to avoid the place like the plague if you are ever there!



Early night for a 5.30am meet up in the morning.

Mileage today = a paltry 98

Total so far = 2768

[Guest]

Great day, thanks for sharing. Photo's are fab

[Nicksgirl]

'bloomin eck'... about time... nearly slipped into a coma.

Back to brilliant as usual, looks really great. x

[Guest]

Boy! Did you bring back memories for me with Flagstaff? That train that took two minutes to go past must have been a SHORT one. We sat at the railroad crossing in the car and waited 20 minutes for the mile long freight train to go by pulled by four locos. I kid you not.
You are experiencing the most amazing trip and I'm grateful to you for the glorious photos. Memories to treasure.

[Guest]

Lovely scenery today. Shame the meal wasn't up to scratch.

[Guest]

Yay! A new day is up!

Gorgeous photos. I think we are going to drive to the Grand Canyon from Vegas - a trial run for when we do our road trip, lol!

[sue.o]

Another lovely day! Looking forward to more!

[kissimmee girl]

OMg was having withdrawl symptoms, looking forward to the next instalment.