On our way to Boston, Day Three

Hard to believe that we were in California only 60 hours ago, and now, some 1000+ miles later, we're in Santa Fe.

Here's the story so far: We've taken up permanent residence in a concrete wigwam village located on "historic" Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona. We traded our Corolla for something a little more classic.

OK, so that's a bit of a stretch. We have seen an awful lot of Route 66, however, which was once a thriving tourist corridor across the southwest. Today, highway 40 has replaced most of it -- much more efficient, but less lively. Large parts of Route 66 still exist, but they are fairly run-down and only occasionally do you come across something as entertaining as a concrete wigwam village. Most of it consists of stores selling trinkets (Indian jewelry, petrified wood, etc).

We also managed to get to one of the few truly awesome sights in the US: The Grand Canyon.

Describing the Grand Canyon is not easy. It reminds me of how I felt when I first saw Venice (in Italy, not LA): You can't believe that a place like this truly exists, even when you see it with your own eyes. It's gargantuan, endless, breath-taking, etc. It takes hours and hours just to drive around, much less hike it (which we didn't have time for, but I would love to do some day -- is my brother reading this?). Not surprisingly, even a century ago entrepreneurial Americans were finding ways to capitalize on the canyon as a tourist attraction.

Here's another view to give you some idea of the scale of the place:


Apparently, April is a slow tourist time at the canyon. The drive up was easy, but even on a "slow" day, parking took some time, and there were decent-sized crowds milling around.

Two people commented on D's "Red Sox" cap -- one positively, one negatively. It's like being back on the East Coast already.

One of our first stops on our trip (telling our story a bit backwards here) was at the famous Baghdad Cafe in Newberry Springs, California. They made a movie about this place, although neither of us have ever seen it. The cafe is also on Route 66. Other sites in Newberry Springs include... well, not much.

We met this guy at the Baghdad Cafe. He was the only employee there when we were there. Here are three things we learned about him during our brief visit:

1. He attended MIT.

2. He spends most of the year working as a repo man making $1,000 per day. The rest of the year, he's apparently a short-order cook in Newberry Springs.

3. He goes by the names "Keystone", "Philip (with one "L") Andrew", and (wait for it), "Shaggy".

4. He flies private planes, landing at some of the most difficult airstrips in the world.

Sorry, that's four things.

[D's edit: I have no idea if this guy was for real, but he was incredibly entertaining and he made a mean buffalo burger.]

We've seen more amazing scenery along the way than we can do justice in words. More pictures later. Unfortunately, we've also seen more depressing Indian reservations than we ever knew existed -- a seemingly endless supply of trailer parks and run-down or nonoperative cars by the side of the highway, mixed with signs for casinos, signs for "REAL INDIAN JEWELRY! NEXT EXIT", and "Navajo Travel Centers", which look exactly like Howard Johnson's highway stops everywhere else in the US, except signs outside the "Travel Center" state that they have "Certificate of Authenticity" so you know they are run by real Navajos (I think).

That's all for now -- we've got a full day in Santa Fe planned for tomorrow.

[D: I'll add just a few notes here. We left Reedley in a whirlwind and are missing folks already (T-man, the vintage car photo - plus more to come - is for you!!!). 24-hours after leaving we were on our way up 180 to the Grand Canyon, stopping to take pictures in front of Mt. Humphrey's and cursing the RV going 10-miles under the speed limit in front of us. As P mentioned above, the Grand Canyon was simply awesome. As were the buildings built throughout the park in the early 20th century by Mary Colter (see link for her work). We walked a huge chunk of the Rim Trail - 15,000+ steps! - and then, completely bushed, took the free shuttle bus back to the Visitor's Center. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at some Indian ruins that were very cool, and particularly striking as the sun set. The next morning we headed out of Flagstaff for Santa Fe, but not before 1) purchasing a GPS system that has since become P's favorite new toy; and 2) taking a detour to view ancient cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon. On our way to Sante Fe we stopped to take pictures of giant cartoon dinosaurs by the highway, marveled at both the breathtaking scenery and heart-breaking poverty of Northern Arizona and Eastern New Mexico, and ate authentic Mexican food at a Taco Bell on the outskirts of Gallup, NM (yeah, we're not proud). Now I am THRILLED to be in Santa Fe... more on that later.]