Woke up before my alarm again. Took advantage of the hotel breakfast, and then filled my coffee cup, and hit the road.
Williams, AZ was first on my list, since it was only 45 minutes or so. I got there well before most businesses opened… well… 8AM. I was going to visit the Poozeum, but it was closed. I walked the streets of Williams and took a few photos, and got my magnets and smashed pennies. Then I decided on a side quest.
Since it was only 50 miles out of the way, I made my way to the Grand Canyon – definitely worth the trip to see it! While there, I realized my flights were on the wrong days, so I logged in to American and got that fixed. Now I fly out at 9PM instead of 1145PM. I’ll still try and sleep on the plane.
From there, I went back to Williams, and picked up a couple things I thought about after I left the shop earlier (Poozeum was still closed), and then headed off towards Kingman.
One of the biggest attractions was Seligman, AZ. This city claims to be the “Birthplace of Historic Route 66” – not because of the road itself, but because they were the birthplace of the idea of Arizona celebrating Route 66 in the 80’s. Turns out, this city was the primary inspiration for the movie “Cars”, as well! That being said, the road cone motel HAD to be the Wig Wam motel in Holbrook, which I saw yesterday. Some of the mountain drive scenes and other attractions were straight off Route 66. They did everything they could to capitalize on this, by decorating cars to match the movie.
From there, I continued down the road to see a ton of stunning scenery. Mountain passes and long drives across the vast mountain prairie were amazing. Even saw a tumbleweed!
After stopping at several abandoned (and restored) roadside gas stations (including the Valentine station), I made my way into Kingman. There is a ton to take in – lots of photo-worthy spots. By the time I got into town, and got checked into my hotel, though, the visitor center was closed. I’ll have to hit that in the morning. I found some dinner and ran a few other errands. Did not get to see much of the night-life, as I was exhausted, and opted to call it a night before tomorrow’s trip to Barstow.