Route 66

Route 66: By the Numbers

2010-08-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

Total Miles Traveled from Chicago to Santa Monica: 2,677
Total Travel Time: 80 hours, 21 minutes
Total Number of Pictures Taken: 1,042

Number of States Driven through: 10 (+2 more on the way to Chicago)

Number of State License Plates Seen: 46 (only missed Hawaii, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Washington D.C.)

Number of Native American Plates Seen: 2 (Miami Nation and numerous varieties of Cherokee Nation)

Number of non-USA Plates Seen: 5 (Canadian Provinces: British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec and Mexico State: Jolisco)

Number of Souvenir Pennies smashed and imprinted with a design: 5

Number of priceless memories: Too numerous to count

Final Day (Post-Route 66):

We made a surprise stop at the local Fry's Electronics - a store I've heard legendary stories about for years but have never been inside as the nearest one to me is a four hour drive. This particular Fry's was tricked out with a movie-set-like space alien theme - complete with 3-D UFO projecting out of the front of the building and a giant octopus inside (it's arms supported shelves). Very odd.

We then took a leisurely drive through Topenga Canyon out to Malibu for a delicious lunch on the beach at Paradise Cove. Everyone else was chilly - they'd even fired up the electric heaters on the beach dining area where we ate!) but I thought the weather was (finally!) PERFECT. The food was excellent (and large) even though the rice almost killed me. Who puts mango in RICE?? (Yes, I am allergic to mango, Yes I know that is weird.)

Spent some time walking on the beach and exploring the tide pools with their blue urchins, sea stars, and sea cucumbers.

The afternoon consisted of driving around the LA area and seeing the sights - Rodeo drive, Beverly Hills, etc... I had no real desire to get out of the car and actually walk around LA - not really my sort of town - I'd rather be on the beach with the sea life! But it was cool to see a lot of places I've only heard of.

We enjoyed a light dinner with a friend at the famed Canter's Deli - I swear the matzoh ball in the soup was the size of my head!

Then it was back to the hotel to pack for my flight home.

I haven't posted pictures I took today in this blog as they are not technically part of Route 66 (nor did I include any of today's numbers in the totals above). I will likely post a few in the coming days on my Project 365 blog.

It was a wonderful trip - one everyone should undertake at least once I think - it's a great way to see a great deal of the country!

Day 10: Victorville, CA to Santa Monica, CA

2010-08-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 108
Travel Time: 7 hours, 20 minutes
Pictures Taken: 74

While there aren't very many miles between Victorville and Santa Monica, traffic in the Los Angeles is indeed, legendary. Plus we took some time to walk on the beach and see some of the sights in the area. I did not take pictures of many of the cliche things most people take pictures of when in LA. I was more interested in the ocean!

However, one of the first things I saw was this sign on a building:

I was told there would be no math!

There WAS, however, a Starbucks on almost every corner! Yay! This one was the most ornate I saw:

We stopped to see the LaBrea Tar Pits at the Page Museum.

I was a bit disappointed that they don't allow you to watch an active dig site, but they did have one pit "open" for viewing behind glass. I am going to have to re-watch the Dirty Jobs episode they filmed there! There are statues of mastodons outside in a tar pit:

The grounds are quite prettily landscaped and the surrounding buildings have interesting architecture. None of which mitigates the overwhelming scent of tar. Pee-yew!

Inside the museum are lots of skeletons dredged up from the tar pits. This one is a bison:

"Rawr! I'm a Saber-Toothed Tiger!"

They also have a "fishbowl" where scientists and volunteers work behind sound-proof glass on cleaning and sorting bones that are found in the tar pits.

On the ledge of their workspace are several origami animals - my favorite is this mastodon:

After the Tar Pits we visited Farmer's Market. Which is also an outdoor mall with overblown architecture.

Beyond the mall is a more traditional market with vendors selling every imaginable comestible. Including a store that sells nothing but varieties of hot sauce, mustard, and marinade. From the level of the parking garage we parked in, I could see the CBS studios and one of their back lots. I'm not sure what show all the props are for.

Then we drove to the ocean! The unofficial end of Route 66 is where Santa Monica Blvd meets the Ocean (or at Ocean Blvd). There is a statue of Santa (Saint) Monica herself in a heart-shaped grassy area.

The ocean was pretty and the seagulls were huge!

The buildings in the area are also pretty cool:

The OFFICIAL end of Route 66 is the corner of Olympic and Lincoln, which is sadly not marked with any Route 66 signage, but does have a sign with a large penguin on it. Sigh.

At any rate, the ocean was pretty despite the haze obscuring much of the surrounding mountains. It's been a great trip! Tomorrow we stay in the LA area and see some more sights.

Day 9: Williams, AZ to Victorville, CA

2010-08-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 411
Travel Time: 8 hours, 58 minutes
Pictures Taken: 66

Today was a rainy day in the morning. We went back to Route 66 for a while and stopped at some small towns that try to capitalize on the Route 66 phenomenon. Case in point is Seligman,CA. There were a couple of incredibly cheesy stores with Route 66 memorabilia for sale and incredibly tacky displays.

We needed gas, so stopped at Kingman, AZ. The gas station with the best prices was a place called Terrible's. It must be a regional chain, but still. Who calls themselves Terrible's?

While in Kingman, we HAD to stop and try the famous Mr. D'Z Route 66 Root Beer. The diner was a bit full of itself and also full of not-quite-sane people. At $2.50 a bottle, however, one would have to be insane to buy it very often. We each tried a bottle - the jolt from the high-fructose corn syrup was quite the energizer!

There wasn't much to see for most of today. Just lots of desert and mountains and trains.

Since we were passing through, we decided to drive into the Mojave Desert Natural Preserve. There were some caves there to tour but as we'd already done caves on this trip and the tour was 90 minutes, we decided to pass. There were a ton of cacti and stunted palm trees and it was VERY windy!

The wind even scours the rocks!

On our drive out of the preserve, we saw some longhorn cattle just munching away on the side of the road. There were no fences and we'd seen signs warning of cattle crossing, so it shouldn't have been such a surprise. But it was! They were a little spooked when I insisted on stopping to take their photo. The one on the far left is hiding - it was very scared and ran away.

We stopped for the night in Victorville, CA which is a bit north of the LA area. Tomorrow it's a fairly short drive into LA and on to Santa Monica to find the end of Route 66 and the Pacific Ocean.

Day 8: Williams, AZ to Williams, AZ via The Grand Canyon

2010-08-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 160
Travel Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes on the road; 11 hours at the Canyon
Pictures Taken: 255

The one and only thing we did today was see the Grand Canyon! It was hotter than expected (though much cooler than the canyon floor). The heat, combined with the altitude meant we were exhausted very quickly. Water was available for purchase (and at $1.99 for a 1.5L bottle it was a bargain) but it was room temperature, which quickly warmed to near-boiling.

We were at the South Rim of the park, which appears to be the more popular rim. I assume that the pictures I took below look nearly identical to everyone else's photos of the canyon, but it was my first time there and I was in awe. I just kept snapping away. (I'm writing the summary first then just posting the pictures below so you don't have to wade through them if you don't want to.)

We took shuttle buses for the majority of the time, which was fine until the late afternoon when they were standing room only. The main thing we learned on the buses is that the ratio of Americans to non-Americans at the Grand Canyon is approximately 1:1. At one point on the bus, we heard conversations in no less than five languages at once (none of them English)!

Because I had toted along my tripod, I was asked at almost every viewpoint to take someone else's picture - I need to start charging! We did see some wildlife along the rim - including a cute little squirrel and a very nonplussed deer.

At the end of the day, we drove about 36 miles beyond the entrance point to the Eastern entrance point to the Watchtower area to watch the sunset. The guidebooks all claimed it would be less crowded. They lied. It was quite crowded and VERY noisy - although we noted that the only loud, obnoxious children running around were the American children. Sigh. But the sunset was beautiful! There were clouds and a far-off storm across the canyon which made for some glorious colors!

We arrived back in Williams at 9:30 pm and pretty much crashed. Tomorrow we're off to California!

This is Kolb Studio - once a haven for artists, now a gift shop.

The Colorado River looking a bit muddy.

Squirrel!

Deer!

Hopi House

The Watchtower

Day 7: Albuquerque, NM to Williams, AZ

2010-08-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 420
Travel Time: 12 hours
Pictures Taken: 155

Today was a very long travel day - thank goodness for the time changing once again in Arizona! We left Albuquerque early and headed out. There wasn't much to see along the way. We traveled through Native American Indian Reservation land for a good deal of the trip today. At one point there was a sign along the highway marking a little town on the reservation with a very old church at it's center.

The land became quite scrubby and rocky the further west we drove today. We took a little side trip about 10 miles south of Route 40 (yes, I know this is supposed to be about Route 66, but Route 66 not only parallels Route 40 it is impassible in parts so Route 40 continues to be the faster way to go). The land was labeled "Malpais" which means "bad land". I can see why.

Just a little way off of I-40 are lava beds. Very old lava just laying around amongst the scrubby vegetation. It looks like the remnants of a fire.

At the "scenic overlook" sign we drove up a hill for about a mile and a half and were rewarded with incredible views of a very desolate land. There was evidence of at least one farmer making a go of growing something, but for the most part, it was barren but beautiful. There was also a lot of cacti.

The only wildlife we saw was tiny little lizards that scurried around too fast for my camera to capture. Despite the elevation being somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,000 feet, there was evidence that at some point in history, humans had occupied these caves that were below the outcrop we were standing on. The caves look like the face of an owl to me.

Then it was off westward again until we came to the continental divide. Despite having heard the term my entire life, I don't think I really understood the significance of the continental divide until today. This is the point at which the major watersheds of North America diverge - leading to the Pacific Ocean on the west and to the Gulf of Mexico on the east. There is nothing special to mark the line along Route 66/Route 40, but this is what it looks like:

We continued on to Gallup, NM where we had lunch at Angela's Cafe - a place I'd recommend highly.

Arizona was not too far from Gallup. Once in Arizona, we drove for a while and then stopped at Petrified Forest National Park. I spent entirely too much time in the two gift shops at the northern end of the park, and then we started driving the 28 mile road that loops through the park - from the Painted Desert in the north to the Petrified Forest in the south. My first time ever in a desert and it rained. Not a lot, but enough to keep us from a site or two. While the rain held off the views were spectacular! Also, deserts are hot. Also, deserts at high altitudes are extra-hot and exhausting. But SO beautiful!

The Painted Desert Inn has been restored and you can walk through it and see what it looked like in days of yore. It certainly offered fantastic views!

At the beginning of the Petrified Forest section of the park is a pueblo ruin that you can walk through. Apparently more than 1,000 people lived there in the 12th century! The shot below is of a Kiva - posted just for the Ann Arbor Scrabble Group ;)

The Native Americans who lived here a century ago left petroglyphs on the rocks.

There is one rock with so many petroglyphs on it, it is called Newspaper Rock. It's down a cliff a ways and kind of hard to see easily.

The Petrified Forest section of the park had a lot of fallen and petrified logs - the problem is, when photographed, the petrified logs look just like regular, non-petrified logs! They were EVERYWHERE though - really amazing!

On our drive out of the park, we saw the twin mesas in the distance:

We also stopped to gawk at the Teepees - cone shaped hills with beautiful striations of color from the different minerals in them. They are huge! As are the crows out this way - one of which can be seen in the picture below.

We then drove to Williams, Arizona. We'll stay here two nights and spend all day Friday at the Grand Canyon, which is about an hour's drive north of Williams.

Day 6: Santa Rosa, NM to Albuquerque, NM

2010-08-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 81
Travel Time: 5 hours, 24 minutes
Pictures Taken: 78

Today was a deliberately short travel day - we had to do laundry! On our way into Albuquerque, we drove part of the Turquoise Trail up to Sandia Point, which has an elevation of 10,678 feet! It was a pleasant 20 minute drive with gorgeous views along the way. The top afforded a beautiful view of Albuquerque and surrounding mountains. The sudden change in altitude reminded me just how out of shape I am! But the views were worth it!

Despite numerous signs warning of bears in the area, the only wildlife I saw was this little chipmunk munching on wildflower seeds.

And this deer munching on grass along the road on the drive back down the mountain.

Near the bottom of the mountain I couldn't resist stopping at the incredibly cheesy and dated Tinkertown Museum. Words cannot begin to describe this mish-mash of animated miniatures, collectibles, painted platitudes, and general kitsch. Here are a few pictures I took. Many of the walls are built out of bottles.

A few things were kind of cool, like this display from the first (only?) Native American-owned circus - the carousel horse has a blanket instead of a saddle!

Cheesy sayings and proverbs were hand painted onto signs EVERYWHERE. Probably the most elaborate was this one. Can you spot the ironic "typo"?

At least admission was only $3.00!

We then drove into Albuquerque proper. Lunch was Panda Express - one of our few chain stops this trip, but as we don't have Panda Express in Toledo, it was new to me and very delicious! Laundry was next - I forgot how much I hate laundromats! After laundry was done, we checked into the hotel and just relaxed for a little bit. Then it was off to Old Town to do a little shopping - we were a bit late for most shops but found a few still open past 5:00 pm.

This statue of the founder of Albuquerque marks the beginning of Old Town.

Then it was off to the ballpark! Albuquerque is home to the AAA farm team for the Dodgers, the Isotopes! I so wanted their mascot to be an atom, but alas, it isn't. The mascot is called Orbit and looks sort of like a dog.

The park is pretty cool and the views of the mountains around the park make for some pretty cool views - especially at sunset and with a far-off storm!

The Isotopes won, and my Diet Coke was upsized for free thanks to a ditzy concession stand worker, so it was a good night!

We took a drive through downtown to see some of the famed neon - it was a bit too congested to hop out and take a lot of pictures, so most of mine didn't come out very well. This one came out OK.

One of the oddest quirks in Albuquerque was a few of the residential streets had posted speed limits of 18mph. Very odd.

Tomorrow is a long day of driving - all the way to Williams, AZ. We'll be there two nights so we can spend all day Friday at the Grand Canyon which is about a 45 minute drive north.

Day 5: Weatherford, OK to Santa Rosa, NM

2010-08-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 380

Travel Time: 9 hours, 30 minutes

Pictures Taken: 93

On our way out of Weatherford, we noticed the sign below. We are not quite sure why someone is trying to sell these.

We were not in Oklahoma for very long. We did, however, stop long enough for me to get a photo of some of the cows. Lots and lots of cows out this way.

We crossed into the panhandle of Texas, and the landscape got even more flat, which I didn’t think was possible. It seemed like I could see forever in every direction. Nothing but scrubby little bushes and trees and miles of fencing marking each ranch’s property.

Because there wasn’t much to see (and because a lot of the original Route 66 is simply gone in this area), we took the Interstate for much of today’s drive. We stopped in a few towns to see the sights, however.And a few rest stops when there weren't any towns for pit stops. At one such rest stop, there was no doubt we were in Texas - even the grills in the picnic area screamed state pride!

They say everything's bigger in Texas, and apparently the grasshoppers are no exception. These little buggers were EVERYWHERE - and when they fly they make a very loud clacking noise. This one was kind enough to pose for me on a picnic table. They look much more yellow when they fly.

In tiny Shamrock, Texas, we somehow missed their piece of the original Blarney Stone, but did see their famous "U Drop Inn". Cool Art Deco architecture. Apparently it's a bit more impressive at night with the neon turned on.

A bit east of Amarillo is the tiny town of Groom, Texas. Groom makes sure you notice the town with their deliberately slanted water tower.

No, I don't know why their water tower doesn't say Groom on it. They also have what is billed as the largest cross in the western hemisphere. At 190 feet tall it can be seen for miles away!

A little further on (but still just east of Amarillo) is Bug Ranch, a parody of/homage to the more famous Cadillac Ranch. In this case, there are Volkswagen Beetles ("Bugs") planted in the ground and covered in graffiti.

Amarillo was next! The largest town/city we'd see in Texas. The only stop we made was for a late lunch at The Big Texan.

The Big Texan has apparently been featured on several food-oriented television shows and is famous (and I use that word lightly) for their offer of a free 72 ounce steak dinner if you can finish it in one hour. So of course we had to stop and eat there! We did not take the challenge but there was a man from Kansas who did while we were there. We left before his hour was up but it wasn't looking good for him. Besides the steak, you have to eat a salad, a roll, a baked potato, and some shrimp.

Yes, they make you eat it on a little raised stage with a countdown clock. They also broadcast the attempt live on their webcam!

They also had a very large fiberglass cow in their parking lot.

Apparently, Amarillo used to have a lot of painted, fiberglass ponies around their downtown. We only saw a few on our quick drive-through. This one was the prettiest:

Just west of Amarillo is the aforementioned Cadillac Ranch. It was a very surreal scene - lots of people (ages 3-73) running around with cans of spray paint, painting cars planted in the dirt in the middle of a field. Empty cans littered the area - someone had even brought along their little white dog and spray painted it hot pink!

That was about it for Texas. We only stopped at one more rest stop on our way out of the state. We wondered, once again, why Texas insists on drawing attention to their unbalanced children with signs like this one:

New Mexico was up next! Woo! Finally a state with some elevation! There were still some fairly flat areas which allowed the rain to be seen from miles away. It was very weird to be dry and look out and see the rain falling on another area.

We drove a little further than we intended to and spent the night in picturesque Santa Rosa. We had dinner at the Comet II Restaurant for a bit of authentic New Mexican cuisine. The building was decorated with some cool neon and I saw my first cactus of the trip there as well!

Our hotel was on the top of a ridge on the eastern edge of town. This was the view of Santa Rosa from the hotel parking lot as the sun was beginning to set.

Tomorrow it's a shorter drive into Albuquerque where we'll take time to do laundry and take in a baseball game.

Day 4: Joplin, MO to Weatherford, OK via Galena, KS

2010-08-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 351
Travel Time: 10 hours
Pictures Taken: 77

Today we headed West out of Joplin, MO and very quickly (as in seven miles later) found ourselves in the tiny town of Galena, Kansas. Galena has a semi-restored filling station with a very old tow truck of the same model that was the inspiration for the character of 'Mater in the movie, Cars.

Between Galena and the only other town in Kansas we drove through, Baxter Springs, was a field of what I think (thanks to Google Images) is Sorghum.

I have never seen anything like that before. Very pretty!

After our 13 miles in Kansas, we dipped back down into Oklahoma and began the long, hot drive across the state. Oklahoma is hot and full of cows. Lots and lots of cows. I keep forgetting to stop and get a picture of said cows - I will try to remember to do so tomorrow. It was so hot (108 F +) most of the cows were huddled in pitiful groups in the meager shade offered by the few trees around. The rest stood chin-deep in ponds. I did, however, manage to get a picture of the car's thermometer reading:

Oklahoma is also home to several world record holders! The first one we encountered was allegedly the world's largest McDonald's. It straddles the toll road near Vinita. While the overall footprint of the building was big, the interior left a lot to be desired. We used their facilities and left as fast as we could.

The next record holder we found was actually located four miles off Route 66 near Foyil. Foyil is home to the world's tallest totem pole (the authenticity of it notwithstanding, it was very tall).

On the same property is a little hut containing some of the 400 violins Ed Galloway carved in his lifetime.

Oklahoma is also very proud of it's native sons, including Mickey Mantle and Will Rogers. While we passed through their hometowns, we did not stop to take any photos (108 degree heat will make you very selective about what you get out of the air conditioned car for).

I DID get out of the car to photograph the Blue Whale! He is part of a now defunct swimming hole and is quite the attraction for photographers passing through.

Next up was Tulsa where we stopped for lunch at Marie Callender's - I had no idea she not only had been a real person but actually made non-frozen food! The only other stop we made in Tulsa was the 76-foot tall, golden oil worker statue called, appropriately enough "The Golden Driller". Apparently Tulsa used to be the oil capital of the world.

The afternoon consisted mainly of a series of tiny towns and lots and lots of cows in fields. The frequency of oil wells also increased as we moved west across the state. We stopped for a bit near Arcadia at Pops - a soda pop themed convenience store and diner. It appears they sell every single variety of pop in glass bottles known to mankind. They were grouped by flavor categories in a wall of coolers and they provided empty six-pack containers so you could mix and match the single bottles. I will try to take a picture tomorrow of some of the specific ones we bought - it was hard to pick just a few!

The giant pop bottle sculpture outside apparently is lit up with colored lights at night.

Across the street from Pops is a restored round barn - we did not go into the gift shop, but settled for a few pictures from the outside.

Then it was into Oklahoma City where our one and only destination was the Oklahoma City National Memorial. (For the benefit of my younger readers, including my almost-14 year old daughter who I realized today was not even born when the tragedy occurred, in 1995; a man blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people (including children at a day care center) and injuring many more.) The memorial is very well done - it is sobering to see the chairs of all the casualties, positioned in rows to correspond with the floor of the building they were on.

This is a preserved chunk of the original building.

We then cheated a bit and hopped on Interstate 40 for about an hour as there was not much more to see west of Oklahoma City. We stopped for tonight in the town of Weatherford and had dinner in a 50's themed diner. Tomorrow we head westward across the entire panhandle of Texas and into New Mexico!

Day 3: Cuba, MO to Joplin, MO by way of Branson, MO and Northern AR

2010-08-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 361
Travel Time: 10 hours, 30 minutes
Pictures Taken: 58

Today we headed back out on Route 66 and through a lot of sleepy towns and farmland. The first thing we saw was the world's largest rocking chair! Unfortunately, it was bolted to the ground and they didn't allow climbing on it. Boo.

A little further on, we came to Rolla, MO, home to Missouri University of Science and Technology. Put a bunch of engineers in the middle of nowhere, and well....you get some interesting things! Including Missouri's first nuclear reactor (which we did not see) and a scale model replica of Stonehenge carved not by hand, but by water jets!

I'm not sure I've ever seen a sign before that said to not stand on the analemma!

There were not as many quirky things to stop for on this leg of the journey, but there were some amazing views as the landscape got hillier.

Also some really interesting mushrooms!

However, Marshfield, MO is the home of Edwin Hubble! Who knew? There is a 1/4 scale model of the Hubble Telescope on the town square.

There is also a pretty cool mural nearby.

When we got to Springfield, MO, we decided to take a bit of a detour and see a bit of famous Branson. We can now say we've seen it. Really not my cup of tea. At all. The only thing we found remotely worth seeing was the self-proclaimed World's Largest Toy Store.

Which was closed, of course (it was a Sunday).

As soon as the perpetual traffic jam allowed, we got out of Branson and dipped down into Arkansas just to say we'd been in that state. We decided to drive west for a while along the northern edge of the state before heading back up into MO.

When I saw the signs for Onyx Cave, I knew we had to stop! After a winding three mile drive through woods, we found it - a mere 30 minutes before closing time! Woo! The cave was pretty cool and the price of admission included a narrated tour - the proprietor handed out large radio-operator-type headphones that picked up radio signals from eight stations along the way in the cave - to start each narration, there was a green button to push which also turned on lights to illuminate strategic spots within the cave.

The drive back to MO was along some steep and windy roads, but the views were incomparable! It was pretty hazy (95F and what felt like at least 90% humidity), and it did rain for a short while, but it was beautiful and breathtaking when the road afforded a view of the valleys below us, carpeted in trees.

Tomorrow it's off westward to see a teensy bit of Kansas and a great deal of Oklahoma!

Day 2: Joliet, IL to Cuba, MO

2010-07-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 361
Travel Time: 12 hours, 15 minutes
Pictures Taken: 98

Today began the stereotypical, small-town kitsch part of Route 66. Lots of small towns with quirky signs and roadside "attractions". Unfortunately, it was exceedingly gray and drizzly until about 1 pm.

Heading south out of Joliet, we found the first "giant" of Route 66 - a huge fiberglass astronaut at the Launching Pad Drive-In. He's known as the Gemini Giant.

A little further down the road in Braidwood was the Polka Dot Diner - complete with fiberglass replicas (life size, this time) of a few iconic Americans from the 50's and 60's.

The next stop was Pontiac - a place I vaguely remembered from childhood visits to my grandparents who lived in nearby Streator. (To them, Pontiac was the "big town" to go shopping in.) Pontiac is home to the Route 66 museum - complete with a replica of an interior of a Steak-n-Shake restaurant and countless other memorabilia.

Onward to Atlanta! Atlanta had another giant - this time it was Paul Bunyan holding a giant hot dog (of course).

Across the street from the giant was the Palm Tree Inn where we had lunch and I learned a new word. The word is "ponyshoe", which, despite our waitress seeming put out we had never heard of it, is, in fact, a very regional foodstuff. It's essentially cheese fries on bread with your choice of meat - even bacon is an option. Needless to say, we passed on the ponyshoe. The restaurant (not an Inn,despite the name) did have a palm tree in it - a very tiny, anemic-looking palm tree in a pot. But the fish was phenomenally good!

Atlanta also had a very old, stone library in the shape of an octagon...

a clock tower that requires hand winding three times a day (done by a team of volunteers - their schedule was posted on the door)...

and a grain elevator "museum". Good stuff!

Then it was back on the road through towns like Lincoln and Broadwell and Sherman (alas, no Wayback Machine to be found). Lots of things like restored filling stations along the way.

Next up was the Illinois state capital, Springfield! (Disappointingly, only saw one reference to The Simpson's in the entire town.) The capital building looked pretty cool, but was surrounded by construction.

The only real stop we made in Springfield was a visit to Lincoln's tomb. Very impressive monument in the middle of a largish cemetery.

(Abe doesn't look too pleased about everyone rubbing his nose for luck.)

(Lincoln is actually buried just behind and ten feet below this monument.)

Despite being tempted at the gift shop just outside the cemetery, I did not purchase a stick-on Lincoln beard for $4.50.

At this point, we were running a bit later than we wanted to be, so we decided to "cheat" a little and hop on the Interstate. Where we promptly sat in a traffic jam for 30 minutes.

So, it was back on Route 66 for a while longer. We meandered through the town of Staunton and eventually found Henry's Rabbit Ranch and Route 66 Emporium. Some interesting "lawn art" made a great photo op.

Despite the closed sign on the door, the proprietor came out from his house and opened the "Emporium" for us for a few minutes. There were, in fact, three large rabbits living inside! Coffee, Blackie, and Big Red who enjoyed having his picture taken.

After that, it was a fairly quick trip over the Mighty Mississippi River and into Missouri. Our one and only goal for St. Louis, MO was to see the Gateway Arch and ride to the top. Unfortunately, our frequent stops earlier in the day put us in St. Louis a bit later than we'd planned and we had to compete for the road with thousands of Cardinals fans heading to the game. Adding to the traffic and parking woes was the fact that the Mississippi is apparently running very high at the moment and has flooded entire parking lots that normally line the river!

We finally snagged a free parking spot on the roof of the casino's parking garage and walked (mostly uphill) the ten blocks or so to the arch. By the time we got there and stood in line for a few minutes, the ranger came out and said all the tickets for today's rides to the top were sold out. Boo! So we settled for looking at it from the outside and also looked at the barges and helicopters and riverboat casinos on the water and the horse drawn carriages.

By this time, we were hot, sweaty, tired, and hungry so of course, we headed to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard Stand. Totally worth the hype. Incredible stuff!

We headed out of town into the setting sun and drove about an hour to Cuba, MO for the night. Before we got to the hotel, we decided we really should have something more substantial for dinner than frozen custard, so we decided to try a new-to-us fast food place called Lion's Choice. I was hoping to see things like zebra and gazelle on the menu, but alas, it was more pedestrian fare. They did apparently throw in a complimentary salt lick with my roast beef sandwich!

Tomorrow it's off to see more small-town Americana and take a side trip to Branson, MO. Not planning on seeing any shows - we just want to take in the sights.

Day 1: Chicago, Illinois to Joliet, Illinois

2010-07-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

Miles Traveled: 44
Travel Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Pictures Taken: 88 (don't worry, they're not all here in this post!)

The day actually started in Detroit, where we picked up the rental car. At first, they gave us a Versa, which only had a hatchback. After pointing out that stopping at countless tourist traps over the next 12 days with laptop bags and suitcases in plain view was probably not a very smart idea, they upgraded us to a Camry.

We then drove back to Ann Arbor to stash my car safely in the garage, and hit the road. We started by meeting up with friends in Evanston for a late lunch at a local middle-eastern restaurant called Olive Mountain (not to be confused with it's Italian sound-alike cousin). Then it was off to do a bit of the tourist thing in Chicago.

It was hazy, gray, and rained intermittently, but we stopped at Millennium Park anyway.

The first thing we saw was the splash park area. There was the usual assortment of little kids squealing, bigger kids wrestling, and parents snapping pics and trying not to get the cameras wet. HOWEVER... anchoring the splash area at either end are large (50 ft tall) rectangles made of smaller rectangles upon which are projected images of faces of a variety of people. Water cascades out from these monoliths and contributes to the splash park experience. Personally, I found them creepy and disturbing - especially the face of the girl that winked and smiled (the rest were static images).

Next stop - The Bean! It's real name is Cloud Gate, but everyone calls it The Bean as it resembles a giant, reflective legume. There's an additional photo of The Bean over at my other blog HERE.

This is a shot from directly underneath, shooting up.

We then wandered up a bridge to nowhere (OK, it actually led to the upper level of the Museum of Modern Art) where we got some decent views of the surrounding skyscrapers.

As well as the amphitheater that looks like a giant bow. Apparently it was a gift from Frank Gehry? There was a free classical concert scheduled for later in the evening but we did not stay for that.

Next stop - the sculptures from China! There was a giant red dinosaur....

Rawr.

A very disturbing car hoisting a giant pig and two dangling fat men on it's tongue...

And a large ~~wad of tinfoil~~ sacred rock.

After all that culture, we decided it was time to actually start driving Route 66. Woo!

(Random shot of the El and some buildings.)

Chicago DID have a very small sign to denote the official eastern end of the route.

We crossed over the Chicago River and were officially on our way!

After winding through some....interesting....neighborhoods of Chicago, we found ourselves in Cicero, home of the first quirky/cheesy sighting of the trip! Henry's Hot Dog where, "It's a meal in itself"! (We did not stop.)

The next town was Berwyn, which is EXTREMELY proud to have Route 66 running through it. They not only have banners on their light posts, they have this lighted sign! The picture is a bit blurry as we only stopped long enough for me to lean out the car window and shoot quickly.

After that, it was a fairly uneventful drive to Joliet. We detoured slightly from Route 66 to get to our hotel, but should be back on track tomorrow and on our way to the Land of Lincoln and beyond!