We arrived in Albuquerque in the afternoon and luckily found a cheap/actually ok motel close to town. We had arranged to meet up with a new friend Mark who we had met in Marfa, along with his girlfriend and their 3 dogs that evening. First stop a visit to Old Town to see its Pueblo style houses. After a quick walk around we realised there was only a couple of restaurants and the one we chose had an outside for the dogs but served no alcohol… Crazy. From there it’s a short drive down to ‘historic route 66’. we had drive via downtown to get there, it was a Sunday evening and honestly it resembled something out of Fast and the Furious 6 (if I ever were to watch that film), lots of slutty girls and wannabe car gangsters, it was awesome but funny to watch. Final, we got through that awful bit and got onto the historic 66 through the town had lots of quirky boutiques, dinner, bars and neon signs which made me feel like it was the good old days. The next morning around 10am we drove back to the area to visit the boutiques but sadly most of them were closed, apparently even on the Saturday day time a lot often were closed, which is a shame/puzzling.
Just outside of town I found a great Goodwill, which had a pretty good hand picked vintage section that was reasonably priced. Unfortunately a lot of the things were either too big or I could not justify buying at that time (a fur coat in particular comes to mind). I settled for a navy polka dot dress which I cut shorter and a $2 white sun hat. It was Memorial Day so everything was 25% off. John was happy as there was a good CD collection to add to our car albums.
Hotel El Rancho
Zuni Tribal Dancing, Gallup NM
Hotel El Rancho Interior
The following day a 2 hour drive to Gallup through Indian reservations was very pleasant, although stick to the 40, the 66 turns into an awful unpaved potholed mess of a road. We stopped in red rock state park where we had planned to camp and went for a hike up and through the park. Driving into town I spotted a Goodwill and ran in, the first thing I saw saw a Biba dress for $5 bargain! A short drive past that and you arrive at Hotel El Rancho which just oozes with 66 history and glamour. The hotel was home to numerous starts including John Wayne, Katherine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and numerous others. We met up with our friend from Marfa again but unfortunately for the last time as our Paths were leading to different directions. We watched the Zuni tribal Native American dancing in the town square. This is every night from Memorial Day to Labour Day, definitely worth going to watch. Our dinner was a great Mexican place and a side of guacamole was literally 3 ice cream scoops worth, amazing. We stayed at Mark’s cousins place in town, had a few drinks and I got to learn about the different native america tribes and conflicts in the area, lets just say I would not be in the Navajo Tribe. Be warey in tribal areas, you cannot take photos of any tribes apart form the Navajo. If they see you taking a photo they will take your camera and destroy it later in a dance to protect their souls.
Aliens! Native American Petroglyphs
Petrified Wood
Collared Lizard
A short drive from Gallup will take you across the border into Arizona and towards the Petrified Forest. The Petrified Forest is a scenic drive with 300 million year old petrified trees. They are hard as stone and full of crystals and therefore beautiful. Before is was made a National Park in 1962, people literally took so much of the petrified wood that there was almost none left, but don’t worry there is still lots to see. The 600-100 year old native american petroglyphs look an awful lot like aliens… someone has even chipped a bit off (probably the government and probably a spaceship). We also got to see the most colourful lizards ever, Collared Lizards!
Jack Rabbit Trading Post Route 66, AZ
Wigwam Motel, Holbrook AZ
We continued down the 40 and jumped off when we saw the ‘historic route 66’ brown signs and went through the old towns including Chambers, Holbrook and Winslow. The towns didn’t have much to them and lots of the business were boarded up, long closed since the 66 era. It was pretty sad but I love looking at the original neon signs.
50’s Galaxy Diner, Flagstaff AZ
Galaxy Diner
Our last stop on the 66 was Flagstaff. I loved Flagstaff, it’s such a cute town and is super easy to walk around. We camped just at the edge of town, although due to being at over 6000ft it was freezing that evening and we had no sleep. Lots of cool neon signs for bars, diners and motels can be seen all along the 66 through town. There is a small Goodwill Outlet in town but unfortunately I found nothing inspirational to buy. In the morning we stopped a very cool 50’s Galaxy dinner for breakfast and coffee to warm up, we were in there by 6:30am (I am an early riser now).
Fleetwood Mac Live in Phoenix
A reasonably short south of takes you down 5000ft to Phoenix, so it’s definitely warmer there! We were only there for two nights and one of them was to see Fleetwood Mac. The downtown has a great arty vibe and wish we had more time to explore. We were slightly broken from our long drive from Texas so spent the two days eating Pho and then going to the cinema. Fleetwood Mac were absolutely amazing to watch on the last evening. The following day we made our drive back up through Flagstaff and up to the Grand Canyon.
lucys tea party 