I am writing from a Best Western in Cottonwood, AZ. I'm still sunburnt, I've had 3 migraines in two days, and I'm afraid my feet are starting to smell, but I'm still trucking along. Travis is doing quite well. His old-man back is holding up, and he's watching pig-wranglers on the History Channel. I guess you could say he's in "hog heaven".
The past two days have been pretty out of the ordinary. Yesterday morning we left Colorado and headed back into Arizona. On the way, we had planned to stop at Four-Corners National Monument. When we pulled up, however, we were quite dismayed to see that there was a $3 charge to get in. Three dollars??? To lie on the ground??? We decided it wasn't worth it and headed back out on the road. I don't remember much of the morning trip because of the massive migraine wreaking havoc on my brain. I basically slept the entire three hour trip to Canyon de Chelly.
Now, I'm pretty sure that if we hadn't seen so many canyons and cliff-dwellings already, we would have been mad-impressed with Canyon de Chelly. Unfortunately, it really just looked like everything else we have seen during the past week, only smaller, so it was kind of a let-down.
There was reason to look up, however, because this was a special day - it was the day we would stay in a wigwam! We set a course for Holbrook, Arizona, and the historic Wigwam Motel on Route 66. Travis humored me by agreeing to spend the night in the wrongly labeled "wigwam" (they're actually cement teepees). What can I say? I'm into pop culture kitsch, and there is nowhere in the US where you can find more of it than on Route 66. I definitely got my kicks! The wigwam was surprisingly clean, but the restaurant where we ate dinner was NOT. Even Travis had trouble choking down the horrible food.
It was kind of a cruddy day.
Today, however, was much better. We woke up early, checked out of our lovely indian home, and headed down I-40 for the Jackrabbit Trading Post - one of my FAVORITE places in the entire world. The trading post has been in business since 1949, and the owner offers all sorts of useless junk. I bought a patch and some gifts. The best part about the trading post is the giant metal saddled rabbit that sits out front. You can ride the rabbit! I tell ya, nothing makes a girl laugh more than seeing her husband sitting on a giant rabbit. It was truly a Kodak moment.
After the trading post, we moved on to the well-known corner in Winslow, Arizona. We stood on the corner, and I tell ya - we were such a fine sight to see...
THEN we traveled down to the new-age haven, Sedona, AZ to hike to a vortex. We hiked Airport Mesa, but I didn't feel any sort of inspiration from the earth. Maybe I should have tried some yoga or something? Anyway, we didn't enjoy Sedona half as much as we did Jerome, which is a historic mining/ghost town that has been turned into a sort of artsy community. It's basically a more cheezy, more interesting, rougher Asheville. There were shops full of beautiful artwork, and we really enjoyed trying to figure out how the artists made some of their products.
Now, my mother was the one who told us about Jerome, and she had told us that we just had to go to two places - The House of Joy (a brothel turned gift shop) and Belgian Jennie's (a brothel turned pizza parlor - sense a pattern here?). Unforunately both of these places are closed on Wednesdays. I'm currently lobbying for another trip to Jerome tomorrow - I mean, how can you miss out on a place called The House of Joy?
Pics (including Travis on the rabbit)!
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