Day -1: Route 66 and Grand Canyon Arizona

Established in 1926, Route 66 connected Chicago to Los Angeles and famed as Main Street of America. Steinbeck referred this as ‘Mother Road’ in his book ‘Grapes of Wrath ‘and this is the path the Joad family’s  converted Hudson truck  took in search for better prospects in California. Though replaced by I40 by 1960, the popularity of this road among road enthusiasts recently surged when the animation movie ‘Cars’ was released in 2006.   We started at Barstow and joined the Route 66 at Ludlow and then drove eastwards through Mojave Desert to Needles   and then to Kingman, Arizona.   

Old Ludlow Café, Bagdad, Roy’s Café at Amboy was some of the interesting spots along with the ghost towns that were created when the Route 66 was abandoned in favor of interstate 40. Giant Santa Fe Freight trains and Tank Cars rumbling across the Mojave desert was a real treat for Tara and we stopped at  two places to take a closer look.  Strange vegetations and peculiar landscapes in the desert were interesting and the road felt rough and rugged until we reached Needles. We stopped over at a downtown Oktoberfest hosted by Kingman Route 66 Rotary club and the fun included live music, pumpkin ale and brats with sauerkraut.   There was an old Santa Fe engine on public display so our little one had fun exploring it by going in out and around the engine.  Vintage cars and motorbikes were parked in front of Mr D’s Route 66 diner so we decided to try it for lunch. We ordered a Rueben sandwich to stay in harmony with Oktoberfest spirits and had a relaxed lunch topped with an ice-cream.   We also made a change in our plan to go directly to Grand Canyon National park to see the canyon during the sunset.

 
Our next stop, Grand Canyon, was about 200 miles far and we have decided to take I40 up to Williams and then take AZ-64 to the park. While on I40, it was tempting to detour to Route 66 every time we came across an exit sign but we stayed resolute and managed it with just one restroom/ coffee break in between at Williams where we also looked at some native Indian arts and handicrafts.

Millions of years ago mother earth pushed the Colorado River region upwards and the furious and relentless Colorado River ran steep cutting a mile though the rock bed forming the incredible etching on a grand scale. It was so inconceivable that the Ancient Pueblo Indians lived on the basin treated the site as sacred and trekked to the rims to worship it on special occasions. Pagan flavor to the story is out of favor but worship seems to endure when we arrived at Grand View point.  Continuing on Desert View drive, we stopped at a couple of vista points until it was really dark and then continued to Cameron, a small town in Navajo Indian Reservation, where we booked the night‘s stay in a historic lodge. It took an hour to drive 35 miles through the dense national park at night and by the time we checked in to the lodge, it was 8pm.

The town of Cameron has less than 1000 residents with 90 percent Native Indians. The trading post was established in 1911 and visited then only by Hopi and Navajo Indian Natives to barter wool and live stock for dry goods.  Now the trading post has been expanded to a tourist destination with a Native Indian theme. A fine restaurant with cozy interior, a large gift store that sells Indian artifacts  and a lodge with close to hundred rooms to cater to the tourists. Our room had a Navajo character and a balcony with a view of Little Colorado River and the Swayback suspension bridge that was built in 1911 to help travelers to get to the South Rim.  The restaurant had a stunning ambience with flamboyant ceiling and walls were full of real native Indian weavings and handicrafts. There was nothing too tempting on the menu but we ordered a stew with green chilies and Indian fry bread with honey and both tasted good.  At the gift store, there was so much stuff that it takes hours to just browse through the aisles. Price tag also looked quite steep for original Indian art works and we knew it’s a tourist trap. Exhausted by then, we have retired to our beautiful room for a good nigh sleep.