This trip is something I have been wanting to do for years and I’m extremely happy I was finally able to do it.  Chrissy was a pretty great travel partner. We didn’t kill each other! While this blog was mainly for our friends and family to follow our adventures, it has come in handy for us as well because we did and saw so much cool stuff in a short period of time that it’s almost difficult to remember it all! This will be our last post, but we’ll keep it up indefinitely.

Okay, now time for some stats and facts.

Days: 17
States driven through: 16
Miles driven: 6539
Gallons of gas used: 254 (we started with 3/4 tank)
Average MPG: 25.5
Top speed: Ton up!
State license plates observed: 46 (missing DE, ME, RI, and WV)

Casualties:

One $3 flashlight (broken in a fit of anger when it refused to work)
One pillow (accidentally left in the Blue Swallow in Tucumcari)
One tire (wore down to the cords in Arizona, swapped on the full size spare)
One million insects

Despite staying out late the night before, we ended up getting up earlier than we planned because the alarm on Chrissy’s cell phone went off. We were hoping to maybe have breakfast or something with Scott and Summer to thank them for letting us stay with them. But Scott had to go to work, and Summer was still asleep, so we decided to just go get breakfast and hit the road.

We ate at the Omelet House, which had huge portions and very tasty food. I would definitely go back there again next time I visit Vegas.

Back on the road, we first had to go back into Arizona so Chrissy could cash in a couple of winning lotto scratcher tickets. That was fine by me, because I wanted to finish travelling as much of Route 66 as possible. We had to skip one of the coolest portions of the route, from Kingman to Oatman, AZ, in order to go to Vegas, but we had already driven it before on a previous trip so I don’t feel too bad. So we headed south to Needles and crossed into California.

There’s not much notable on Route 66 through the California desert other than miles and miles of desolate original road, some of which is pretty rough, but is certainly capable of stretching the legs of most cars. We passed lots of old ruins on the way to Amboy, CA, which is the site of Roy’s cafe and motel, a major stop on Route 66 in its heyday. The old sign has been photographed many times, and in recent years the business has been reopened as a gas station and souvenir store. Near Amboy there is a lot of “rock graffiti” on the side of the road, with peoples’ names spelled out in rocks for miles and miles, plus a “shoe tree.”

We drove along old 66 in the desert for miles, passing through Barstow before rejoining I-15 in Victorville. Heading towards Hesperia, there was an ominous cloud of smoke directly ahead of us. We got off the interstate in the Cajon Pass area to follow old 66 and found the source of the smoke — there was a fairly large fire on the mountains just to the south of the road. We saw a couple of water drop helicopters and a plane scooping up water. The fire looked pretty serious and we kept driving, unlike lots of spectators parked on the road. I, being the road nerd, was more interested in the old original stretch of Route 66, which used to be a 4 lane divided highway, but one side of the road had been closed off yet remained completely intact.

We followed 66 into San Bernardino, where it makes a sharp right and then starts to head directly west to the ocean. We passed by the other remaining Wigwam motel along the way, which appeared to be much bigger and nicer than the one in Holbrook, AZ.

66 follows surface streets all the way from San Bernardino to the ocean, and as much as I would have liked to have followed it all the way, that would have taken hours and we were getting the itch to go home. So we hopped on the freeway to Pasadena, then took 110 (the oldest freeway in California and part of 66 at one point) to Sunset Blvd and then Santa Monica Blvd. We followed Santa Monica Blvd all the way to the ocean. I have to admit that I hate L.A. for the most part, but it was fascinating to me how many different neighborhoods and social classes we passed on the one street. Finally, at about 6pm, we reached Ocean Blvd in Santa Monica which marks the end of Route 66. Supposedly there is a plaque on the corner which marks the end of the route. I wanted to get out and take a photo with it, but we couldn’t find it and we didn’t want to deal with parking and traffic nightmare in the area, so you’ll have to be satisfied with a photo of the Santa Monica pier. Hooray, we officially drove Route 66 from Chicago to L.A.!

We then headed south to Orange County to drop off some presents and things with Chrissy’s family and grab a bite to eat. After that, our only destination was home, and boy were we glad to get there!

We started the day by exploring the Petrified Forest we didn’t have a chance to see last night.  I am in awe of petrified wood.  The fact that nature took its course over the last 3 million years and turned trees into beautiful stone?  How crazy is that? We walked around for 45 minutes and I realized that this is one of nature’s wonders I’m happy I didn’t miss!

Back on Route 66, we saw more treasures of the mother road.  Perhaps the thing I love most about the tourist stops along Route 66 are the old, rusty cars parked outside. Our first tourist destination was in Holbrook, at one of the two  wigwam motels left. A wigwam is a giant teepee and they used to be very popular across the US.  It looked pretty darn cool and i wish we’d had a chance to stay in one.

Another stop was at the Jackrabbit Trading Post, known widely for its “Here It Is!” sign.

Then we stopped in Winslow Arizona, a city made popular by the Eagles in their song Take it Easy. “Well, I’m a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see…”

We left the desert and entered the beautiful wooded high desert of Flagstaff, AZ. Here proved to be a good stopping point for some great Thai food and is a very nice town. We then stopped briefly in Williams, AZ to get gas and drive through the town. Williams was the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed by the interstate in 1984 after years of lawsuits made by the town. It retains much of its old charm and is clearly proud of it’s Route 66 heritage. It is also home of the Grand Canyon Railroad. There was a prescribed brush fire not far from the town which looked ominous but seemed to be under control.

We decided to take one of the largest detours off the interstate onto old 66 into the Hualapai Indian reservation. We first found ourselves in Seligman, AZ — home of Angel’s Barber Shop.  Angel Delgadillo is considered the Guardian Angel of Route 66 as he’s famous for fighting to keep towns alive along the mother road and in 1987, successfully lobbied the Arizona legislature to designate and preserve Route 66 in Arizona as a historic highway.   Seligman is practically a Mecca for Route 66 fans, and people from all around the world visit the barber shop. A large group of Japanese and German tourists were there when we stopped by.

We wanted to stop at the Grand Canyon Caverns, but unfortunately we didn’t have time, as our final destination was Las Vegas.  Scott and I decided to splurge and bought ourselves a couple of tickets to see O at the Bellagio.  It was a fabulous Cirque du Soleil show but I have to say the stage itself was almost more intriguining then the actual performers. It features a huge indoor pool with moving pieces everywhere you look. The show had synchronized swimmers, crazy divers, and the usual impossible acrobats of the Cirque du Soleil crew.  It was an awesome show and one I’d highly recommend to others.  Scott’s friends Scott and Summer were nice enough to let us stay at their place. We were hoping to have dinner or a few drinks with them but unfortunately the timing just didn’t work out.

Tomorrow we arrive back in San Diego and while I’m sad vacation is almost over, it’ll be nice to have the comforts of home.

We headed out of the historic town, Tucumcari, NM for another interesting day on the mother road.

The original version of Route 66 made a big loop north to Santa Fe, NM which was bypassed in later years.  We’ve always wanted to check out Santa Fe, however, so we made the 100 mile detour. As expected, Santa Fe was overflowing with adobe style buildings and Indian jewelry & pottery stores.  We walked around a bit and then drove to another recommendation by Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, called Tune-up Cafe.  It turned out to be a cute, hipster cafe, serving fresh Mexican food like mole enchiladas and huevos rancheros — which were both very tasty!

After Santa Fe, we followed Route 66 south of Interstate 40, another old alignment of the highway through some very picturesque desert scenery.  Then we stopped in Gallup, another route 66 boom town.  If you ever need some Indian jewelry, look no further!  In Gallup, we pulled over at the historical El Rancho Hotel, which in it’s heyday was a popular destinaton for Hollywood stars.  The lobby looked like a big lodge and the upstairs walls were covered in signed pictures of classic Hollywood stars.

We drove another couple of hours with the hope of seeing the Petrified Forest & Painted Desert before the park closed. We arrived around 5:45pm and the park closed at 6pm, but we decided to try our luck anyway — even if to only drive the 5 of the 28 miles through the park.  When we pulled up to the gate (expected to be turned away) we were pleasantly surprised to find we had forgotten that Arizona is not on daylight savings time, so it was only 5pm!

Just as our experiences in the other National Parks, the Painted Desert was absolutely breathtaking — especially at sunset. The red, pink, purple, white and yellow rock coloring is actually very similiar to the Badlands in South Dakota. The air here is claimed to be the purest in America and you could see landmarks 120 miles away. We also saw some ruins of an Indian Pueblo, 1200 A.D. with petroglyphs.  Very cool!

Getting there at sunset was probably the best time we could’ve arrived and we happily drove through the colorful desert. Even though we’d gained an hour, we still weren’t able to hike and explore much of the petrified forest as we wanted.  So we camped at the local KOA in Holbrook, about 20 miles away and decided we’d come back the following morning and explore!

Today would find us visiting a lot of the roadside Americana that most people would miss taking the interstate. Route 66 through Oklahoma is very complete and well signed. We started by leaving Miami at the crack of dawn by first driving a short distance on the “Sidewalk Highway” which is a one lane wide stretch of one of the oldest remaining sections of 66.

66 bypasses Interstate 44 all the way through Tulsa and into Oklahoma City. I-44 is a toll road through here, so it was a win-win to see more scenic roads and save a few bucks. We passed through several small towns and saw enough grazing cows and tributes to Will Rogers to last a lifetime. On the outskirts of Tulsa in Catoosa we stopped to look at “The Blue Whale,” site of an old amusement/water park. The park is no longer open, but the giant blue whale on the pond has been restored and can be explored. Cool stuff.

We quickly stopped by the Rock Cafe in Stroud, OK. It served as inspiration for the Pixar movie “Cars” and there is graffiti in the bathroom from one of the creators of the movie. We then wanted to take a look inside the Round Barn in Arcadia, OK, but it was closed for repairs.

We grabbed lunch in Oklahoma City and lamented the fact that we *didn’t* have to get gas, as the suburbs of OKC is where we saw our lowest price gas of the trip – $2.00 a gallon, which is a full dollar less than it was in San Diego when we left. Next stop was the Oklahoma Route 66 museum, which was full of interesting exhibits tracing the history of the road, especially in Oklahoma. We were dismayed to find out that not much further up the highway was the official National Route 66 Museum, but we figured one museum was enough.

Our final stop in Oklahoma was the “Sand Hills Curiosity Shop” in Erick, OK that we had seen on our Route 66 map. Chrissy enjoys spending time looking around junk shops, and I’m happy to oblige, although most of the time the shops want way too much. This shop looked pretty cool but unfortunately it was closed, despite the giant “Open” sign outside. Chrissy was bummed, but we kept going. We left Erick on a “late model” stretch of Route 66 that was a divided four lane expressway. It essentially looked like an abandoned freeway, a contrast to most of the small two lane roads that we had previously traversed.

In Texas, we made a quick stop to see the “U-Drop-Inn” in Shamrock, a beautifully restored 1930s art-deco service station and cafe, which was duplicated almost identically as Ramone’s paint shop in “Cars.”

We had two stops in Amarillo. The first was the famous Cadillac Ranch, which is simply a row of  ’40s through ’60s Cadillacs buried nose-first into the ground in the middle of a field. It’s been there for over 30 years, and has turned into a constantly changing folk art site where graffiti is accepted if not allowed. There’s so much paint on them that it’s almost like they have been shellacked. Our second stop, the Big Texan Steakhouse, is world famous for challenging visitors to finish a 72 oz steak with fixins where the reward would be a free dinner.  We weren’t up for the challenge but I did have one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. Chrissy had the ribeye and I had top sirloin and days later I still dream about it at night.

We stayed the night in Tucumcari, NM at the Blue Swallow Motel.  Tucumcari used to be a major stopping point on Route 66, advertising for miles its 2000 air conditioned rooms. The Blue Swallow Motel is one of the best restored Route 66 era motels on the entire route.  It’s in the original building with the original amenities, including a garage next to the room.  It was built in the 1940′s but has since been modernized, yet it’s charm remains intact.

Driving Route 66 may not be as scenic as our trips through the National Parks, but it certainly has it’s own charm!  I’ve enjoyed seeing Main Street America but have also been saddened by the numerous ghost towns along the way. I find myself reflecting how different life is in San Diego — what would it be like to live in these small towns? Better yet, what would it be like to live in these small towns when Route 66 was booming, as it was in the 1940′s, 50′s & 60′s?

Unfortunately, the morning started with a load of laundry at the local laundromat.  Fortunately, I bought a lottery scratcher to waste away the time and won $50!  Isn’t that exciting? (It says the prize is $25 but I won double because of the double Queens.)  We also saw the worlds biggest ketchup bottle.

Scott and I started our sightseeing in St. Louis, visiting the Gateway Arch.  To be honest, I had no idea the Gateway Arch existed until Scott mentioned it.  It’s a very cool structure — 630 ft of stainless steel. (I was trying to be an arch below, but it didn’t work out..at all!)

You can take a ride to the top of the Arch in what is best described as a pod. The pods were specifically made for the Arch as they have to compensate for the curves and diagonal motion on the way to the top.  Each pod seats five people very cozily and is not meant for those who are claustraphobic. As the stainless steel doors locked us in, with only a concrete wall to stare at (since we’re on the inside of the arch), I found myself purposely breathing and counting to 10. Was I crazy? Did I really agree to this?  After four minutes, we made it to the top and obviously I survived (barely, sheesh).

Now being at the top of the arch was equally crazy.  Scott pointed out that we had been at the top of Willis Tower — but this was different.  When you’re standing in the middle of an arch, there are no supporting beams beneath you.  This kind of architecture has always fascinated me and while nervous, I was also in awe. The windows were at a slant so you could basically lean your body over and stare straight down. I’m not normally afraid of heights, but this made my whole body tingle.  It was definitely an experience unlike any I’ve ever had before.

After the Arch, we met up with one of Scott’s friends for lunch.  We went to a place called Sweetie Pies, which is a local joint that was showcased on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  We enjoyed big servings of Mama’s southern cooking including fried chicken, pork chops smothered in gravy, stuffing, baked macaroni and cheese, corn, sweet potatoes and corn bread.  It was nothing healthy, but everything that tasted wonderful.

Next up was the famous tourist destination Meramec Caverns, hideout of Jesse James.  It’s one of those places along Route 66 that has advertising signs for miles and miles — kind of like Wall Drug.

I’m going to be honest here and say I had low expectations because I don’t think anything can beat Carlsbad Caverns.  However, this ended up being a worthwhile stop! Meramac had some pretty crazy stalagmites and stalactites — and in combination with the cheesy jokes by our tour guide, I had a great time.  Scott managed to get a few good pictures, as seen below.

These formations you see below were my favorite.  They call this their theater room, as the formations go from the floor to the ceiling and almost look like a curtain.  It’s here that they play a few songs (to show off the natural acoustics) and they end with “God Bless America” accompanied by a light show displayed on the rock formations.

By the time we left the caverns, it was getting late and became obvious to us that we wouldn’t be able to camp as hoped.  So we decided to push on and drive a few more hours than expected.  Let me just say that driving the old Route 66 through Kansas at night is just plain spooky.  The half lit neon signs, old buildings and empty streets looked like something out of a horror film.  To make it worse, one town was already decorating for Halloween and I looked up to see big cat eyes staring back at me from a second story window. I definitely jumped!

One more mention before I close…gas is finally cheap!  And, we have an array of choices…

Tomorrow we’ll drive Route 66 through Oklahoma and Texas…Yeehaa!  We have 4 more days of adventure before we have to get back to reality.  If we don’t, how else will we fund our next trip???

Monday morning called for our departure from Chicago. While we wished we had more time to explore the city, we were anxious to get back on the road and see more of the country. Before leaving town, Chrissy wanted to pick up a few donuts from a place called “Old Fashioned Donuts” that she had read about online. The address was on Michigan Ave, so we figured it must not be too far from where our hotel was. We first drove down Lakeshore Drive for a while and then plugged in the address of the donut shop into the GPS — it was 12 miles away! I first protested going this far out of the way, but then gave in after Chrissy pointed out I was lacking sense of adventure. I should have maintained my protest, because the shop turned out to be in the infamous South Side of Chicago. We quickly ducked in and grabbed a chocolate donut and an apple fritter. No photos here unfortunately, because we wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible.

On the way back to the freeway, I ran a yellow light and then passed by a local Sheriff’s deputy who apparently thought the light was red. As we passed him standing outside his patrol car, he sarcastically laughed at us and said “Oh, you’re going to run the red light, huh?” I’m guessing he had much bigger crimes to worry about.

With Chicagoland behind us, we headed towards St. Louis. But since this vacation is supposed to be an adventure, we couldn’t just take the interstate. I’m a highway history buff, and a sucker for kitschy roadside Americana, so it was a no brainer to take Route 66 home. We decided to take as much of the old highway as time and practicality allowed (a lot of the road is broken into non-connecting pieces which can be a nightmare to follow). So not long outside Chicago, we traded 70 mph interstates for 55 mph two lane roads, small towns, and remnants of a bygone era. Hey look, I guess I can be as poetic as Chrissy! Some notable things we saw were the Gemini Giant in Pontiac, IL, the Rabbit Ranch near Funk’s Grove, IL (obviously inspired by the more famous Cadillac Ranch which we will see in a few days), and countless picturesque downtown areas in small towns.

We stopped in Springfield, the capital of Illinois, first to grab a bite to eat at the Cozy Dog Drive-In (self proclaimed inventors of the modern corn dog), and then to visit Abraham Lincoln’s tomb and house. We first stopped at the tomb, which unfortunately was closed for close-up viewing, but it was still very impressive and its grand size was fitting the stature and significance of its occupant. We then went to Lincoln’s home, which was the only home he ever owned before being elected as President. His home and the surrounding neighborhood have been preserved as a national park. We had a guided tour through the home. Looking at home life back then, even for a President, reminds me that life is pretty damn easy nowadays.

We had originally planned to finish the day in St. Louis, MO by visiting the Gateway Arch, and staying overnight somewhere nearby. But we ran out of time so we decided to stay in Collinsville, IL, just about 15 miles outside St. Louis, since it looked nice enough (some areas of St. Louis aren’t so great), which has the added bonus of having a laundromat nearby since we desperately needed to do some laundry the next day.

Before calling it a night, I had to check one more thing off my list of things to do: eat at White Castle. There are no White Castles on the west coast, and I’ve never come across one in my travels before. There seemed to be some hype surrounding their slider burgers, so I had to give them a try. My verdict: meh. They weren’t bad, and I can understand the possible craving for them while drunk, but overall they were unremarkable. Chrissy thought they were “gross.” There ya go.

I reluctantly left my trip down memory lane and Scott and I jumped on the First Lady of Chicago for a tour given by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. We lucked out with perfect weather, sunny and warm, and we motored down the Chicago River as our docent (who stongly resembled Joan Cusack) gave us an in-depth history of Chicago Architecture.  The tour was awesome!  We learned about Art Deco and Modernism vs. Post-Modernism — which was particularly interesting to me because I took three classes on Post-Modernism in college.  The tour helped us notice how unique each building Is and it gave us a new appreciation of the city. I highly recommend this tour if you ever make it to Chicago.

On the subject of cool architecture, the Chicago Tribune building (located across from our hotel) has incorporated into it’s exterior dozens of stones/bricks from various famous and historical landmarks around the world.

Next, we walked to the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and took an elevator up to the Chicago Skydeck on the 103rd floor.  The Willis Tower is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and at the top, they have a glass walkway that juts out the side of the building.  Yikes!  It gave me goose bumps as I looked straight down, however it didn’t phase Scott at all.   From that vantage point, it was cool to see some of the landmarks we had previously visited, including neighboring states.

As it was our last night in Chicago, we designated it as our romantic date night and headed to the Lincoln Park area.  Scott and I made reservations at a place called Geja Cafe, which is a fondue restaurant similar to the Melting Pot. We arrived a little early so we first found ourselves in a rowdy Bears sports bar across the street. We then proceeded to waste the night away eating cheese, steak, lobster, fruit and chocolate with a bottle of Pinot Grigio.  And to make it even more perfect, a lightening storm and heavy rain rolled through as we watched from candlelight. It was fabulous!

Tomorrow we leave the Windy City and start our trek down Route 66.  We have six days left to just drive and continue our escape from reality…

Chicago – Day One

Anyway, Saturday was our first full day in Chicago and we spent the morning… asleep. After a week of waking up too early for a vacation, we decided to make full use of the wonderful bed and sleep in. We motivated ourselves just in time for lunch. We had to try some famous Chicago deep dish pizza, and we had recommendations to try either Gino’s East, or Lou Malnati’s. Lou’s was closer and had better reviews online, so it won out. We had a sausage and mushroom pie — it really is like a pie, with a deep crust and toppings that fall off quite easily, so a knife and fork were needed. It was damn good, although I have to say I think I prefer New York style pizza better. Don’t kill me, Tony!

We then hit the town on foot to work off all the calories we had consumed. It was drizzling the night before so we were happy to see cloudy but pleasant weather. We walked over to Millenium Park and Grant Park, which combined make up a very nice open space in the middle of town a la Central Park in NY. There was a gourmet food event going on, and Chrissy wistfully stared at people consuming expensive food and wine, but alas we had other things to do. We first saw the “Cloud Gate,” a giant chrome sculpture nicknamed the “Big Bean” for obvious reasons.

We then crossed the crazy looking pedestrian bridge into Grant Park, where we rested our feet while watching Buckingham Fountain, which to me is most famous for being featured in the opening credits of “Married With Children.” Sinatra’s “Love and Marriage” kept looping through my head. Apparently I look like a decent photographer because a man randomly walked up to me and asked me to photograph his marriage proposal. She said yes, and hopefully the photos turned out well!

We then walked along the shore of Lake Michigan for a while before heading back to Michigan Ave where our hotel was. On the way back we saw these really interesting fountain… things. Not sure what to call them, but they were moving digital “videos” of faces which periodically would spit and formed fountains. Pretty cool.

I got roped into becoming part of a street performer act – three guys put on a great show with dancing and acrobatics.  We stopped and got a Chicago hot dog, which was pretty damn good, and checked out the Lego store before heading back to the hotel.

Before going to our room, we decided to check out the hotel’s pool. The hotel started out as an athletic club in the 1920s, and included an indoor pool which was famous for its use by Olympian and actor Johnny Weismuller. We were hoping to take a refreshing dip later in the evening but were disappointed to find the pool room was nearly as hot as a sauna – not what we were looking for. At least it looked cool. We then retired to the room for a little rest.

Later that night we decided to go to Navy Pier. It’s Chicago’s biggest tourist attraction and they have a fireworks display every weekend. Unfortunately the fireworks malfunctioned half way through the show, but chilling out with a few beers made the best out of the situation. We then decided to end our time at Navy Pier with a fun ride on the Ferris Wheel.

We finished off the night with a great Indian dinner and short walk. We thought about hitting up a bar for a few more drinks but the idea of adding booze to already full stomachs wasn’t that appealing, so we called it a night.