Tuesday morning I woke up again in Sedona. I had previously decided to stay another day in Sedona in hopes of getting the best weather for a 4×4 Jeep tour that I booked. I really lucked out – the sky was a much brighter blue, and there were some really wonderful cloud formations on display.
One of my friends in Charlotte suggested that I go for a Pink Jeep Tour. There are several outfits in town, each with their own schtick. I settled on Pink Jeep because, well, what is there not to like about a hot pink jeep? I signed up for the “three hour tour, three hour tour” which was a combo of Broken Arrow and Scenic Rim. It was fabulous, and I understand now how they came to be so highly recommended. Pink Jeep picked me up at my B&B, and we were off to enjoy the scenery.
Pink Jeep, pink shirt…
Another Jeep caught up to us and we watched them navigate an obstacle that we had just passed through ourselves….it was so funny. I was sitting shotgun and so the driver Paul would hear my comments…mostly…”we’re going THAT WAY?”
After finishing up in Sedona around 1:30 pm, it was time to head to Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, since I decided to spend an extra day in Sedona, I did not get a lot of time around Grand Canyon, so I will admit that I totally did it Clark-Griswold-style (not really, I did spend 3 hours there, not 3 minutes). There was a lot of construction going on there, so it looks like things around there are improving. Thanks again to National Park Free Week, I did not have to pay to get in. 
No matter what, the Grand Canyon is Grand (much Grander than the Great Wall was Great) and pictures cannot even begin to do it justice. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the first people to happen upon this canyon – how they must have felt as they emerged from the woods and looked out on this great expanse, 15 miles across in some parts. Breathtaking.
(I think I was mistaken for a German tourist)
Cougar alert!!
As the sun was going down, it was time to make the hour long drive back to Williams, Arizona. I elected to stay in this old Route 66 town so that I could visit Rod’s Steakhouse. I’ve had better steaks, but the service was great, and it was a neat piece of history – it’s been around for 64 years.
Finally, Wednesday morning I woke up to a hail storm! There were ice pellets all over the ground outside! I waited it out for a little while and then set off to get out of the mountains and down in the valley to get my kicks on Route 66.
There’s not much on the stretch between Seligman and Kingman. It was still cool to listen to the 50s on 5 station on satellite radio and imagine what it must have been like to drive it back in the 50s. My dad made just such a trip when he was a kid.
There is one nice little oasis called Hackberry that had an adorable old store with lots of “artifacts” from the heyday of the Mother Road.
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