In the morning, I photographed the outside of Route 66 Motel in Seligman, Arizona, and we crossed the street for breakfast at the German Westside Lilo’s Cafe. … Only forty-two miles separated Seligman from our next destination for the night, Williams. On the way out of Seligman, we drove past a handful of sets of […]
Just one block down from the Angel & Vilma’s Route 66 Visitors Center Gift Shop and Barber Shop in Seligman, Arizona, you can find the brightly colorful and wacky Route 66 historical landmark Delgadillo’s Snow Cap Drive-In, built by Angela’s older brother Juan in 1953. … Juan, who passed away in 2004, was known as […]
About 35 miles past the Hackberry General Store and a mile off Route 66 lies the roadside attraction Grand Canyon Caverns (not to be confused with the Grand Canyon). Now this is a place that requires little imagination to experience what a Route 66 roadside attraction felt like in the highway’s heyday! Save the incorporation […]
Though driving only about five miles down the road from Giganticus Headicus and Antares Point, I felt as if I had just been jettisoned through a time portal, transported from the future (perhaps by the alien grey in his flying saucer?) back to the past. What a study in contrast the Kozy Corner and the […]
At the intersection of Route 66 and Antares Road, just past a string of mailboxes, a humungous blocky green head incongruently juts up 14 feet from the ground. A few other- worldly, metal-sculpted creatures accompanied it. A colorful, free-standing, futuristic Googie sign indicated this humongous, green Easter-Island-style head is named Giganticus Headicus and that it […]
Roughly 90 miles separated Kingman from our next destination for the night, Seligman. Our day began with breakfast at the Hot Rod Cafe in Kingman. The countless car-related photos, and all the “hot rod” memorabilia bedecking the cafe certainly set the mood to continue on our road trip. On top of that, the food was […]
I spent the evening photographing the El Trovatore Motel, both in daylight and, in order to catch the neon of the signs, during the blue hour before the sky turned black. After I had captured several images, Monica, the proprietress, happened […]
Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner added frosting to this Route 66 experience in Kingman, Arizona. (Photographing the grounds of the El Trovatore Motel were put on hold until after dinner.) The bright pink and turquoise color scheme inside and outside Mr. D’z cheerfully greeted us: Deceptively, this spotless building dates back to 1938, when […]
We finally arrived at our lodging in Kingman, the El Trovatore Motel. The towering, free- standing roadside sign advertises the El Trovatore’s Hollywood-icon-themed rooms. I had reserved Room 105, John Wayne’s room. When my husband and I entered the office, we were greeted by the owner, Sam Frisher, who was sitting at his desk cadenza […]
The sinuous ride on Historic Route 66 resumed, descending the mountains from Oatman and then climbing again to Sitgreaves Pass. We stopped for the breathtaking view, especially looking back toward Oatman, where I could really visually appreciate the switchbacks in the narrow road just traversed. While we were standing at the pass, a young man […]
We crossed the Colorado River into Arizona via a bridge at Topock, Arizona. The Old Trails Arch Bridge spans the river slightly to the north. The 1940 movie version of Steinbeck’s Depression-era novel The Grapes of Wrath features this bridge as the place the Joad family crosses the river from Arizona into the land of […]
Before heading to Arizona the following morning, I stopped to shoot the Needles Welcome Wagon, the 66 Motel, the Palms Apartments, and the Old Trails Inn. The 66 Motel was built in the mid-1940s and now rents its units as apartments: The situation is similar with the Palms Apartments, which were part of the Palms […]
Shy of two and a half miles east of the Cadiz Summit, informational plaques stand in one of the original former rest stops on Route 66 in the Mojave Desert: For easy reading, I quote the two plaques regarding Route 66: The Story of Route 66 Commissioned in 1926 and soon dubbed “The Mother Road,” […]
Halfway through this day’s leg of our road trip, that is between Barstow and Needles, the 250- foot high black dome of the extinct Amboy Volcano Crater broke the desolate landscape of the Mojave Desert. Its lava field stretched toward the road. The dome’s location […]
Thirty-one miles east of Newberry Springs lies the town of Ludlow. I photographed the exterior of the mid-twentieth-century Googie-style Ludlow Cafe and Coffee Shop with its angled stained-glass window and the signs and old mining carts in front. The interior pictures here are actually from April 15th on our return trip home. […]
When I was prepared to check out of the Route 66 Motel in Barstow, California, the next morning, Mridu was in the office. I had the opportunity to talk with her at length about many topics, including her family and the business. I told her about our planned trip down Route 66 and thanked her […]
After photographing Oro Grande, we continued westward on Old Route 66/I-15. However, we turned around at Victorville without stopping, deciding instead to take a side trip to Calico Ghost Town, only about 10 miles past and northeast of Barstow off I-15. Calico was an “Old West” silver mining town, active for about a dozen years […]
After exploring The Bottle Tree Ranch, my husband and I continued toward Victorville, briefly pausing to photograph the Iron Hog Restaurant and Saloon before entering the historic business district of Oro Grande: We passed the cement plant on our left on the other side of the railroad tracks. (The image below is looking back […]
Since we had an extra night at the Route 66 Motel, we had an extra day to cover some of Route 66 that we originally would have missed. When we were checking in, I told Ved (the Route 66 Motel proprietor) we were thinking of traveling the next day to Victorville, 36 miles back to […]
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