A Trip Recap - Top 5's

Top 5 Foods:
1) Chicago deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's
2) Kurt's homemade chicken/rice/avocado/goat cheese meal
3) New Mexican food at Garduno's with Jon and Jess
4) Cozy Drive In's "Cozy Dogs"
5) Ted Drewes concrete shakes

Top 5 Songs of the Trip:
1) "Confidence" - Charlie "Tremendous" Jones
2) "Route 66" - we listened to 3 different versions (thanks, Stubby and Mishi)
3) "I am 16, Going on 17" - Sound of Music
4) "I Have Confidence" - Sound of Music
5) Ashlee Simpson's bitter single girl music

Top 5 Quirky Roadside Attractions:
1) Cadillac Ranch
2) Tinkertown
3) our wigwam
4) Venice Cafe in St. Louis
5) Totem Poles and Blue Hole are tied

Top 5 Moments We Thought We Might Die:
1) Silver Creek Road in the Mojave Desert (11 miles of "Primitive Road")
2) the Navajo at the Conoco
3) checking in at The Wigwam Motel
4) Marcia's spill down Walnut Canyon's steps
5) the drugged up, coked out, drunk pickup truck driver with no lights on that Emmy beeped at when he cut her off and almost collided head-on with the on-coming car (he did, not Emmy)

Top 5 Favorite New People of the Mother Road:
1) Jess Beistline
2) the security guard at Ted Drewes
3) the woman who insisted on taking our picture at the Blue Front Cafe
4) the 2 women at Naiya's Pottery in Paraje
5) Mallory, our waitress at Earl's in Gallup, NM

Top 5 Marcia Moments, According to Emmy and Zoe (Kristina):
1) "Pam, I've gotta go!" as she falls down the canyon steps
2) "Howard, I'm sitting on a rock in the middle of the desert," as she sits atop a huge cliff in El Malpais
3) her panic attack on Silver Creek Road in the Mojave Desert
4) shaking rocks out of her jellies walking around Lincoln's neighborhood
5) her affinity for the song, "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hoochie Mama"

Top 5 Recommendations for Taking a Trip on Route 66:
1) In remote areas, it may be necessary to disregard GPS and stick to paved roads that appear on standard maps.
2) Bring along a recording of "Route 66." Great for singing along to as you pass through each mentioned town.
3) Trendy shoes (i.e. jellies) may be cute but not functional for most roadside attractions.
4) Take time to talk to the locals. While some may be scary, most have great information about sights and sustenance.
5) Do it. And take your friends with you.

Day 7 - Caution... Rough Road Ahead

We got up early this morning (7:30 am) because we wanted to check out Oatman, AZ before heading out to L.A. Oatman is an old mining-town-turned-ghost-town that is now a tourist attraction.

We pulled out of the River Palms Casino & Hotel's parking lot and Marcia plugged our destination into her GPS navigator, which has been affectionately named 'Beverly'. "Head straight onto Silver Creek Road for 11 miles," Beverly told us. Silver Creek Road ended up being a remote unpaved gravel road through the Mojave Desert and surrounding mountains. 11 miles of unpaved sometimes rocky road until we met up with the main paved road into Oatman. Needless to say, we were a little freaked out at the situation because of the possibility of losing a tire or encountering a group of rogue bandits. Emily kept her eyes on the road while Kristina kept watch on the front and sides of the car and Marcia kept lookout in the back when her head wasn't hidden under her pillow because of panic attacks (probably a side effect of Marcia's newfound obsession with "Lost"). The sword was at arms distance at all times for protection. Thanks, Jim!






Along the road we saw several shot-up road signs, lots of rusted out appliances and cars, and a 6-ft-long suspiciously wrapped bundle secured with a rock. We were too freaked out to stop and see if this confirmed our worst suspicions. But at this point, we were too far to turn back. We made it to Oatman just fine, and the drive was surprisingly beautiful given the situation.

11 miles and 45 minutes later, we arrived in Oatman. Oatman is a one-horse town, or more appropriately, a 20-donkey / 20-person town. Burros wandered the main street and men dressed up like miners and cowboys (complete with hats, chaps, and spurs) sat in front of the old buildings. It looked like a place out of an old western movie. Seriously, the whole town was a sixteenth of amile long on one road. It was kind of cool, though we're not sure it was worth risking our lives to get to it.







We left Oatman and stopped for a quick lunch in Needles, CA, and then headed in to L.A. We arrived mid-afternoon and headed straight to the Santa Monica Pier, the official end of the Mother Road.







We dipped our toes in the Pacific and walked around a bit, and then Em & Marcia gave Kristina the grand tour of L.A. We picked up a hot pizza and chilled our 12-pack of Corona and proceeded to eat a celebratory dinner in the new pad in Hollywood Hills. A great end to a fantastic trip!!

Day 6 - Having a "Nice Trip!"

We woke up at 7:30 am PST this morning to the soft red glow of light through our teepee's very red curtains- which we all agreed was a bit of a twilight zone affect (especially during middle-of-the-night pee breaks). Our teepee, although a little small, was very cozy. The beds were comfortable, the temperature was just right, and the showers were, well, short and slanted following the roofline of the structure.





After grabbing some breakfast at the supermarket across the street, we headed into the south end of the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. This area of northeast Arizona is a mixture of desert areas mixed with lava beds. Apparently this area was once a lush forest much like Colorado... water came in and covered some of the area while volcanic lava covered other parts. The trees in the forest died quickly but were preserved by the pressure of the substances (water and lava) that covered them and the lack of present air. The water seeped into the logs and deposited silica, replacing the space taken up by the tree's natural matter. This turned to stone after thousands of years. The land proceeded to dry up and winds and sun wore away the outer layers of the petrified logs, exposing the gorgeous petrified wood underneath. It was a beautiful beautiful place.







We left the park and drove on to Meteor Crater, the gigantic hole left by the meteor that killed the dinosaurs... we opted out of this one because of outrageous admission charges. We were disappointed, but thought our dollars would be better spent later in the trip.

Next on the list of tourist attractions today was Winslow, Arizona. First we stopped at the legendary Jack Rabbit Trading Post for a little shopping.





Then we navigated to the actual "corner" and got our pictures taken with the Don Henley statue and the sign that says, "Standin' on a Corner." For all you non-Classic Rock listeners, this is a spot mentioned in the Eagles' song, "Take It Easy" (Standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see... etc.). It was a cool stop.





We left Winslow and headed on towards Flagstaff, AZ... next destination being Walnut Canyon National Park. WCNP is a big canyon (not as big as the Grand Canyon, but still very steep and rocky and full of beautiful southwest vegetation and wildlife.) It is most well known for its preserved cliff dwellings that are a thousand years old. We bit the bullet in the 100 degree heat and decided to hike down to see the ruins.

The hike was a series of winding trails and steps and quite strenuous in the heat of the day. Marcia and Kristina opted to change shoes (from jellies and Kinos to actual sneakers), but this didn't help like it should have - Marcia still bit it at one section, falling down two stairs and scraping up her knees and elbows. She was on her cell phone with her mom at this point and shouted, "Pam, I've gotta go!" as she hit the bottom of the path. Luckily she fell at one of the few places where there were guard rails or this threesome would have quickly become a twosome. The cell phone was also spared a certain untimely death because she managed to hold onto it and not drop it over the ravine. That's a first.







We checked out the ruins (very cool) and learned about the environment in the canyon. Because of the way the sun hits the canyon, the south side is lush and green like a forest in Canada (so the trail guides say) and the opposite side of the canyon is like a desert landscape. Pretty remarkable to see all this variation in one small place.





After a butt-kicking hike, we loaded back into Sammy and went into Flagstaff to eat lunch. After lunch (Chick-Fil-A and pizza), we drove northwest to the Grand Canyon. It was breathtaking and powerful and larger than life. Words cannot describe this place.





We left the Canyon (minus scrapes and bruises, thankfully) and headed to Laughlin, NV to our little casino town. This place was a weird rip-off of Las Vegas. We arrived around 10:30 pm PST and sacked out early. L.A. tomorrow!




Love,
Emily, Marcia & Kristina

Day 5 - "They Thought We Were Savages!"

Today was most definitely the most bizarre day of the trip. We got up around 9:30 am, checked out of the Nativo Lodge, and grabbed breakfast on the go. The first stop of the day was Tinkertown, a funny roadside attraction nestled in the mountains north of Albuquerque. How do we describe this place to anyone who hasn't seen it? It was an open-air log complex of which several walls were constructed with glass bottles and mortar. Inside the maze of the buildings were thousands of hand-carved wooden figurines all set up in elaborate motorized scenes. A bunch of the scenes played music (requiring quarters). One scene in particular made us think of Kristina's dad... the wild west saloon exhibit cycled through Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" concept album. Much love, Mr. B.!! We laughed a lot at the quirkiness of this place overall... it reminded us a lot of Charles "Tremendous" Jones' estate (Marcia's grandfather and a legendary motivational speaker) and his funny collections.







We left Tinkertown and traveled west into central New Mexico, next stop slated to be the Acoma (AC-o-ma, not a-CO-ma as we Gringos had been pronouncing it) Pueblo Indian Reservation and Ruins. We were denied at the entrance because apparently there was a religious ceremony going on and no one except members of the tribe could enter. Bummer. We thought about turning and trying to play on the fact that Marcia and Kristina are each 1/16 Native American, but that still didn't qualify us as members of the tribe. On the way back to the interstate, Emily and Kristina chatted with Martha, an employee at the gas station (apparently much of New Mexico is technically still considered tribal land, so the gas station and all the employees were Native Americans). When she found out we were from PA, she wondered if we knew where Carlisle was... we said we did, and we lived near it. She proceeded to tell us that people from Carlisle came and took kids from their reservation back in the early 1900s to put them in school and keep them from the reservation because "they thought we were savages" and wanted to teach the kids "a trade." It was a slightly uncomfortable conversation. From this point forward in our trip, 90% of the people we encountered were Native Americans... pretty crazy.

We decided we wanted to buy some local pottery so we drove across the bridge over the highway and stopped in the very small town of Paraje (par-A-hee). We bought some nice hand-made stuff from a mom and pops store and had a conversation with the workers in the shop. The owner pours the ceramic and comes up with the designs and she sponsors a program for reservation high-schoolers to be her apprentices. They fill in and finish her designs and work in the store selling the pottery. Nice nice people with good dinner suggestions (as you will see shortly!).

From Paraje, we drove to the first section of El Malpais National Park, better known as the Badlands. It was GORGEOUS. It's a mixture of red sandstone rocky outcroppings and flat desert land. There are volcanic mountains that surround the area that deposited a huge amount of lava thousands of years ago. The place is truly breathtaking.









After checking out section one, we headed on to section two. On the way, we passed the Continental Divide, 7,882 feet above sea level. We got out of the car to take a quick picture, but upon approaching the car to leave, Emmy noticed some white smoke sneaking out from under the front of the car. She shut the car off, did a fluids survey, and called Denny P to get a second opinion. After a few minutes of conversation and three people stopping to see if we were okay, we got back on the road towards El Morro. We attempted to see El Morro (known as Inscription Rock) which is also pretty famous, but it had just closed when we got there.





We drove on to Gallup, NM for dinner and ate at a legendary restaurant along Route 66 called Earl's Family Restaurant, a recommendation from our friends in Paraje. It was kind of strange... they sell permits to local tribes to come in and sell wares outside of the restaurant and table-to-table inside. But we did buy some great local stuff. People have been trying to hawk merchandise on us all day, including a guy trying to sell us a medicine bag at a gas station...

We arrived in Holbrook, AZ at 9:30 pm PST (changing time zones one final time) and checked into our TEE PEE!!! Said the slightly creepy proprietor upon our arrival, "Oh, good. I don't have to worry. All my little lambs are in for the night."



Love,
The Girls

Day 4 - Authentic Diners, Painted Cadillacs, Blue Water & Jon Beistline

After a grueling day of driving yesterday (15 hours of traveling) we decided to sleep in. It was some much-needed rest. Today was a lot easier on the team (only 4 hours of driving). We got up around 10 am and took a quick morning dip in the Texas-shaped swimming pool (note that we're "standing" in Amarillo in the photos) and then went in search of food.



We ended up eating at the Blue Front Cafe, an original Rt. 66 diner. Food was decent and cheap, and we had a nice photo op with their neon Rt. 66 sign. It seems all the people we talk to along the road are really excited about our trip and the fact that we came all the way from Pennsylvania. They are more than eager to take our photo for us and give us some interesting little tid-bit about the Mother Road.





After breakfast, we left Amarillo and headed west in search of Cadillac Ranch. It is a giant piece of modern art that features 10 half-buried Cadillacs representing the car's phases from the mid 1940s through the mid 1960s. There are lots of explanations as to what the purpose of it is, but we're not quite sure here. We had read about this one beforehand and came fully prepared to participate in the ritual of spraypainting messages on the cars (it is encouraged by the owner). Lots of fun! Check out our work...









Our next stop was 100 miles west in Tucumcari, the land of 2,000 rooms and lots of rt. 66 folklore. We checked out perhaps the most famous motel on the Mother Road, the Blue Swallow Motel, and bought some souvenirs across the street at the Tee Pee Curio Shop (another notable stop along the road). Emily again expressed her love of the VW minibus when we saw this throwback retro scene...





Another 100 miles down the road is Santa Rosa. We stopped to check out an attraction called the "Blue Hole." It's an out-of-place small swimming hole in the middle of this arid land. It was caused by a sinkhole that was apparently over top of an underground spring - so the water is always perfectly blue, clear, and 60 degrees. Emily and I swam for a few minutes and froze our butts off, although it was a great counter-maneuver to the 107 degree heat and sunshine we were experiencing all day.



Our final destination of the day was Albuquerque, NM. It was a lovely drive from Santa Rosa into Albuquerque.... lots of southwest mountains and rich colors. We are staying at a place called the Nativo Lodge which is Native American themed and very nice.



A highlight of our evening was meeting up with our old high school friend, Jon, and his wife, Jess, for dinner. We got the grand tour of their house and then they took us to a local New Mexican restaurant that served delicious food (very similar to Mexican food). This was the first time any of us had met Jess and we thought she was just delightful! Way to go, Jon!

We turned in around 10, very tired from our busy day.... but very excited that tomorrow we'll be sleeping in TEE PEES!!!!

Love,
Us