Arizona Route66

Morning was cold but sunny, low of 32F and high of 54F.  Canada keeps sending cold air masses south trying to recapture me, perhaps. 

We got off to a rough start.  I'd left the car fridge plugged in overnight, so the battery on the Ford was flat.  Luckily, the hotel maintenance guy had cables and a pickup handy.  Meanwhile, poor Terry had gone out for a walk and tripped on the curb, doing a face-plant, and scraped his nose and bruised his upper lip.  Looks kinda like he'd been in a fistfight.

Elfrida took a few more shots of the El Rancho:

Fireplace at back of lobby.

View from mezzanine

Another view from mezzanine.

Eventually, we got the truck going, found an ATM, gassed up, and were on the road again.

Terry's favourite American beer brand...

... and its alleged effect.

The pass from New Mexico into Arizona

Same spot, looking backwards

We spent a lot of time and pixels at the Painted Desert:

From here, we dropped down into Petrified Forest National Park:

The Teepees formation

A largish Teepee mound

The horizontal petrified log forms the Agate bridge; I think the real tree behind it is almost as interesting.

Petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock

Every pullout had a [large] resident raven looking for handouts

Petrified log segments in gully of Jasper Forest

Petrified log protruding from eroding cliff face; when exposed segment gets too long, it will break off.

We returned to Route66 and headed into Holbrook, AZ to see the famous Wigwam Motel:

We found the Jackrabbit Trading Post:

And we went to the corner of 2nd & Kinsey in Winslow:

The painted mural looks like a reflection in a shop window.  I love the details on the second floor too.

Terry and Don Healey statue, hanging out.

We managed to make it to Meteor Crater before it closed for the day.  The crater was formed 50,000 years ago by a 150ft-wide iron-nickel meteorite impacting at 26,000 mph.  The resulting crater is 550 feet deep and4000 feet across.

Arizona's second-most famous hole in the ground.