Day 8: Holbrook to Kingman, AZ by way of Grand Canyon

Just when you think you've "seen it all," the Route throws you something unexpectedly delightful. Today was that day. We knew we were going through Grand Canyon on this trip, since it's just 2 hours off of the Mother Road. What we didn't know, was that there was a ton of other stuff to see before reaching Grand Canyon National Park. One of those stops was the quirky Jack Rabbit Trading Post. The Jack Rabbit is famous for it's billboard with a simple picture of a jack rabbit and the words, "Here it Is" painted on the sign. Originally, pictures of the jack rabbit started over 80 miles away from the destination. The marketing strategy of these early trading posts were all about build up. But once you arrive at the Jack Rabbit Trading Post, there's a giant cement jack rabbit, and a bunch of touristy gifts. We loved it. I would call the Jack Rabbit Trading Post the Wall Drug of the Southwest, just on a smaller scale. 

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last several decades, or your musical diet contains a steady dose of "not cool" music, you've heard of Winslow, Arizona via "The Eagles" song, "Take it Easy." If you haven't heard of it, stop reading this right now, go to YouTube and search for the song and listen to it, then you can resume reading this blog. In the song, there's the famous line, "Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and such a fine sight to see. It's a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me..." Well...today we stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona next to a flatbed Ford. I must say, it was a fine sight indeed. Winslow is a cool little town that has done an excellent job taking advantage of their Route 66 heritage. Their marketing is working, as we had to stand in line at the corner to get our picture taken. It was well worth it!

After passing through Winslow, we headed west and made a stop at Meteor Crater. I have driven past this for many years on road trips and never made the stop. Today, I understood why, as this place is the greatest tourist trap of all...luring people in to see the crater with "science and geology." It is truly fascinating to see the scope of the crater, it's huge. But..."Meteor Enterprises" and a local cattle ranch are making bank, with a gas station, a Subway, gift shops and admission to the Crater. The property, while a National Historic Site, is privately owned and operated. Originally, it cost 25 cents to get in...all I can say is inflation has had its way at Meteor Crater, and while worth seeing, get ready to break out the cash.

We left Meteor City and passed through Two Guns, Twin Arrows and headed on to Flagstaff. However, we had to remember Chuck Berry's tribute to the Route and didn't want to "forget Winona," so we stopped there to take a picture next to the trestle bridge that the original route passed over and we listened to "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" for about the 200th time on this trip!

We left Winona for Flagstaff and exited to take the historic route into town and then veered off toward Grand Canyon. Did I mention that today was very hot? We stopped several times to refill ice cups and water bottles and give the Dart a chance to rest. Even with the now functional cooling fan, we limped our way over the passes into the South Rim area of Grand Canyon National Park. Even though there are wildfires in the area, the Grand Canyon was as stunning as ever. I chuckled to myself when my son said he was looking forward to trying to throw a rock across the canyon. After laying eyes on it, he just looked at me and said, "Never mind about the rock." Grand Canyon is so breathtaking and in my estimation, puts the glory and majesty of Creator God on display. However God chose to form that canyon, whether over time or through rapid catastrophic events, it's spectacular. I was so glad to get to enjoy it with my family. 

We left the 7000 foot elevation of Grand Canyon and dropped down, down, down to Williams, Arizona. Out of all the towns we have visited, Williams has capitalized the most on its Route 66 roots. Billing themselves as "the last town to get passed by I-40," they have drawn huge crowds of people to the neon laced Main Street filled with soda shops, gift shops, restaurants, restored gas stations and even a Route 66 zip line. We opted to stop for a quick dinner at "Cruisers Cafe." The food was tasty, the live music on the patio was good and the decor was awesome! 

We left Willams at dark and jumped on Superslab to head toward Saligman. This little town also has a lot to offer fellow "Roadies" with several hotels and cafes that are Route 66 themed. When we arrived, most of the town was closed down, so we snapped a few photos and made tracks again to I-40 and are in Kingman for the night. We are now just over 300 miles away from Santa Monia pier! We hope to arrive tomorrow...but for now enjoy pictures from day 8. I look forward to blogging tomorrow....adventure awaits!