TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
The wife and I have planned a vacation to the Los Angeles valley later this year. We will be driving. As we've begun making specific plans for specific days, I have realized that we won't be in a hurry to drive back home--instead of blitzing back in one day, we can easily stop and smell the roses and turn this into a two-day drive home. Bonus time? Great! Now, what to do???
Other than when we flew into and out of Disneyland last fall, my wife has never seen any of the western US . Now seems like a perfect time to change that. She is big into 50s-era stuff in general, and has told me she dreams of driving Route 66 some day... so I've decided we will drive some of Route 66 on our way home.
On our way down into LA, we will be spending a couple days in Hollywood--she wants to see the sign, the Walk of Fame, hit a few clubs on the Sunset Strip, etc. With Route 66 on the mind, we will probably cruise through Santa Monica so she can see the official End of the Road. After that, we'll head down to Disneyland for a few days, and finally we' hit the road to return to Utah.
Highlights of my return drive so far:
Day 1:
1: head north on I-15 just past Barstow to Yermo, where we will stop and eat at Peggy Sue's 50s Diner.
2: head east on I-40 to AZ where we'll jump onto Rte 66 (the Oatman Hwy) to Kingman.
3: drive Rte 66 from Kingman to Ash Fork, where it joins I-40.
4: keep heading east on I-40, perhaps detouring on 'old Rte 66' through the towns of Williams and (definitely) Flagstaff.
5: continue east all the way to Winslow. Visit the Standin' On A Corner site, see other things. Bed down for the night.
EDIT: For time reasons, I eliminated the idea of seeing Hoover Dam and moved the Meteor Crater stop to Day 2.
Day 2:
1: backtrack west on I-40 toward Flagstaff.
2: halfway to Flagstaff, peel off the interstate and take in the Meteor Crater site.
3. at Flagstaff, take Hwy 89 north.
4: at Bitter Springs, ignore the Hwy 89A turnoff and instead remain on Hwy 89.
5: admire the Glen Canyon and its dam. Maybe stop at its visitor's center? Maybe not.
6: pass through Kanab, but don't eat anything! Keep heading north.
7: do stop at Mt Carmel Junction, specifically at the Thunderbird Restaurant. Eat lunch, making sure to have some ho-made pie.
8: continue north through Panguitch, then take route 20 over to I-15.
9: north to Beaver, where we will stop for ice cream at the Creamery. (I am personally tempted to stop at Beaver Taco, even if just for a photo.)
10: back on I-15 north, next stop home.
By making it to Winslow, we will have seen 70% of Route 66 in Arizona. Not all of it, but that's a significant chunk and a good start IMO. We will plan future road trips to see more of the route as we can.
Any of you guys driven this section of the Mother Road? Any highlights I didn't mention that you would recommend?
Other than when we flew into and out of Disneyland last fall, my wife has never seen any of the western US . Now seems like a perfect time to change that. She is big into 50s-era stuff in general, and has told me she dreams of driving Route 66 some day... so I've decided we will drive some of Route 66 on our way home.
On our way down into LA, we will be spending a couple days in Hollywood--she wants to see the sign, the Walk of Fame, hit a few clubs on the Sunset Strip, etc. With Route 66 on the mind, we will probably cruise through Santa Monica so she can see the official End of the Road. After that, we'll head down to Disneyland for a few days, and finally we' hit the road to return to Utah.
Highlights of my return drive so far:
Day 1:
1: head north on I-15 just past Barstow to Yermo, where we will stop and eat at Peggy Sue's 50s Diner.
2: head east on I-40 to AZ where we'll jump onto Rte 66 (the Oatman Hwy) to Kingman.
3: drive Rte 66 from Kingman to Ash Fork, where it joins I-40.
4: keep heading east on I-40, perhaps detouring on 'old Rte 66' through the towns of Williams and (definitely) Flagstaff.
5: continue east all the way to Winslow. Visit the Standin' On A Corner site, see other things. Bed down for the night.
EDIT: For time reasons, I eliminated the idea of seeing Hoover Dam and moved the Meteor Crater stop to Day 2.
Day 2:
1: backtrack west on I-40 toward Flagstaff.
2: halfway to Flagstaff, peel off the interstate and take in the Meteor Crater site.
3. at Flagstaff, take Hwy 89 north.
4: at Bitter Springs, ignore the Hwy 89A turnoff and instead remain on Hwy 89.
5: admire the Glen Canyon and its dam. Maybe stop at its visitor's center? Maybe not.
6: pass through Kanab, but don't eat anything! Keep heading north.
7: do stop at Mt Carmel Junction, specifically at the Thunderbird Restaurant. Eat lunch, making sure to have some ho-made pie.
8: continue north through Panguitch, then take route 20 over to I-15.
9: north to Beaver, where we will stop for ice cream at the Creamery. (I am personally tempted to stop at Beaver Taco, even if just for a photo.)
10: back on I-15 north, next stop home.
By making it to Winslow, we will have seen 70% of Route 66 in Arizona. Not all of it, but that's a significant chunk and a good start IMO. We will plan future road trips to see more of the route as we can.
Any of you guys driven this section of the Mother Road? Any highlights I didn't mention that you would recommend?
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