Route 66-Holbrook and Winslow

          

           

  If you want to buy rocks Holbrook is the place! My favorite is the Rainbow Rock Shop with homemade concrete dinosaurs lined up outside.

 

        

   There are also a couple of cool old businesses in town. Joe and Aggie’s is a family run cafe started by Jesus “Joe” L. Montano and Augustina “Aggie” Tafoya Montano in 1943.

   The Wigwam Village Motel is one of three Wigwam Villages still standing. It was built in 1950 and operated as a motel until the 1970s, then a gas station until 1988 when the original owner’s family opened it as a motel again.

The free Navajo County Historical Society Museum is filled with donated items but, as we’ve found in many of these small town museums, very little historic information.

  The second floor is not accessible due to stairs and no elevator.

  The accessible entrance is in the rear of the building. The parking lot is large enough for RVs.

  We went exploring on the south side of the railroad tracks and found the Arizona Rancho.  This building has a long history. It was built in the early 1880s by Pedro Montaño as a single family home but with added additions it soon became a rooming house, then a hotel and it also served as a dance hall, a Masonic Lodge and a hospital at various times. It was last used as a youth hostel and appears to be empty now.

  Bucket of Blood Street is also located on the other side of the tracks. The street is named after the Bucket of Blood Saloon. The saloon- the red stone building on the right, now closed - was originally called Perkin’s Cottage Salon but the name was changed after a gun fight in which “buckets of blood” covered the floor.

  Back on the interstate for a few miles and off at exit 280 to see the World’s Largest Petrified Tree at the Geronimo Trading Post. It’s the one standing up on the left in the photo. The little gray spot is Tony.

        

  At exit 274 a dead end section of Route 66 protects the remains of old businesses.  Ella’s Frontier Trading Post has been abandoned since the mid 1980s.

The Historic Route 66 Hay and Feed Store has been home to several businesses including Sitting Bull Trading Post..

           

    and Howdy Hank’s Trading Post.

           

  Cross over the interstate and travel along the frontage road to visit the giant jackrabbit.      

 

  You can’t go to Winslow and skip standing on the corner!

   Winslow is a great town for walking. Parking is available on the streets and many attractions are just a few blocks apart.

   La Posada Hotel opened in 1930. It was the showpiece of the Fred Harvey Company, who operated restaurants and hotels along the western rail lines. The hotel closed in 1957 and the building was used for railroad offices. In 1994 Allan Affeldt  and his wife Tina Mion  bought the building to save it from destruction. It has been completely restored.

  The public areas of the hotel are opened to visitors so feel free to wander around. It’s a beautiful building. Tina Mion is an artist and many of her pieces are on display. A free museum of her work is located on the upper level.

The ground floor of the hotel is accessible but the museum is not due to the lack of an elevator.

          

   A very plain Valentine Diner is located across the street from La Posada.

        

  The nicely done and free to visit Old Trails Museum covers area history.

  McHood Park, about 5 miles south of Winslow, has a great free campground. A restroom ( non-potable water) is opened during the summer.  There’s a choice of pull through paved sites, sites next to the small lake or sites with a lake view. All have picnic tables and some are large enough for any RV.