Flagstaff to Winslow and Back

The above picture is of the mountain range just outside Flagstaff.  Notice the snow on the peak!  Beautiful, isn't it? 

Today I decided to go East, back the way I came yesterday, and take a closer look at some of the sites that interested me.  My first stop was Walnut Canyon National Monument.

The pictures below don't do it justice.  It was so peaceful; I can see why the Native Americans lived in the canyon.  What looks like holes in the rocks were actual homes that were lived in.  Amazing.  I didn't hike the trails very far due to the elevation (6,900 feet).  I have been more out of breath than usual due to the thin air and it's taken awhile to adjust.  I expect to be fully adjusted by the time I leave.  :0)

My next stop was the Meteor Crater Natural Landmark.  As you can see, this is in the middle of nowhere.  This crater was created over 50,000 years ago and is considered the best preserved meteor crater in the world.  The meteorite created a 550 foot deep hole in the ground that is almost 2 1/2 miles wide.  Eugene Shoemaker, a man who desperately wanted to become an astronaut but couldn't due to Addison's disease, instead trained the NASA astronauts for their missions at the crater.  He loved the space program so much that, when he died in a car accident in Australia, NASA put his ashes in a capsule, sent it into space and purposely crashed the capsule into the moon.  Awesome, huh? :0)

I took pictures from the top of the crater looking down and attempted a panoramic shot with my camera.  I think it came out pretty well and gives you an idea of the size of the crater.  At the bottom of the crater is a fence with a pump that was used by Daniel Barringer who, in 1902, convinced investors to give him money to dig at the bottom of the crater to find a meteorite, which he thought was buried underground, that never existed as it had disintegrated on impact.  He spent 26 years looking for the meteorite until he died.

The above picture was the gas station just off the Interstate that led to the crater.  I thought it was a cool looking building in the middle of nowhere. 



Next, I HAD to stop in Winslow, Arizona. 

If you're a fan of the Eagles rock band, you will remember the lyrics to the song "Take It Easy" sung by the Eagles.  While the song was sung by the Eagles, it was actually written by Jackson Brown.  The song's lyrics pertinent to Winslow, for those of you with foggy memories is as follows:

Well, I'm a standing on a corner
in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowin' down to take a look at me

Below is the statue of a man with a guitar, on the corner, in downtown Winslow.  And, of course, next to him is a picture painted to look like a store window with a woman in a flatbed Ford looking at him.  Notice in one of the pictures a couple making out in one of the upstairs windows.

Across the street is a store with everything Route 66 called, appropriately, "Take It Easy."  It has one of the world's largest guitars and the store plays non-stop Eagles music, all day, every day.  It rocks.

My next stop in Winslow was the La Posada Hotel which was a Hollywood star hang out back in the day.  (I can't remember who stayed there.)  It has been recently remodeled and is still a functioning hotel to this day.  It was so peaceful on the beautiful grounds, and it was not unusual to find guests sitting in the shade on the quiet grounds reading a book.

The inside is just as beautiful and peaceful.

The picture below was in the large public room up the stairs from the hallway and really fascinated me the more I looked at it.  Also included below is more artwork by the same artist, Tina Mion, who has a gallery on the grounds of the La Posada Hotel.  The artwork that fascinated me the most were the pictures of President Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Condi Rice depicted as characters of the Wizard of Oz.  Note that Cheney is the big bad guy.  Also, if you look at the portrait of Nancy Reagan, you will notice that her eyes contain the face of Ronald Reagan.  I believe the piece was titled, "I only have eyes for you."

Finally, leaving Winslow, was a 911 memorial with actual steel beams from the World Trade Center.  It was in a strange place and hard to get a picture of, but I was told they plan to move it closer to town in a public space in the near future for easier access. 

My final stop for the day was along Interstate 40 at Canyon Diablo, a town that existed in the late 1800's and was known for its gambling parlors, saloons, houses of ill-repute, and lawlessnes.  There were 6 sheriff's that governed the town; the shortest term for one sheriff was 6 hours.  The Army finally came in and cleaned up the town, but the city, once larger than Flagstaff, died once the bridge you see in the picture below was built.