day 5: praise you under open skies, everything breathing praising God

we packed up and made a quick trip to walmart to grab a few supplies before hitting the road. we ate a yummy cereal breakfast and took off! we stopped by a Quality Inn to check out their collection of Route 66 mementos and then headed for the next town. 

a buggy by the Grand Canyon Caverns

we took the original route 66 that lead us through some wide open spaces, hilly areas and itty bitty towns that had once been bustling centers of activity. we went through Hackberry, Valentine, Truxton, and Peach Springs {one brochure claimed it was the inspiration for the Cars movie but we didn’t think it looked a single bit like it.} from there we drove through more open beautiful land to finally come to Seligman. this was a super cute little town that was what we had envisioned when we thought of route 66 towns. the people were friendly and fun to talk to and it even looked a lot like the Cars movie town. we had slowly been climbing in elevation from Kingman and it was perfect outside – not too hot but perfectly warm. after looking for souvenirs, we stopped by the Snow Cap Drive-In, widely known for their practical jokes. brooke and I thought we would enjoy one of their famous shakes. So brooke ran in and asked “can I get a chocolate shake?” the lady held out her hand and replied “here’s your shake.” haha didn’t see that coming. then when she actually gave brooke the shake she also handed her some cow straw and told her, “here’s your straw” they also tried to get tonka by squeezing a fake bottle of mustard which sprayed yellow yarn. these funny jokesters keep people coming back as their entrance was completely covered in dollars, business cards, notes, and photos from people all over the world. 

from this fun little town we were off and on the freeway to Ash Fork with a small museum. when we were driving on the original route there were Burma Shave signs that we were excited to read. 

then it was to the next destination of Williams. we drove through and saw the cute little buildings, with quite a few from back in the good old days such as the Turquoise Teepee, Rod’s Steak House and the Cruisers Café. but we didn’t take the time to stop because we wanted to get up to the Grand Canyon while we still had time. so we left Williams and took off to cover the 50 miles to the Grand Canyon. we finally arrived and made our way to Mather Point.

WOW.

the views were breathtaking. the more we looked the more we were amazed by what we were beholding. we walked along some of the south rim and the outlooks until we went into the visitor center to learn more about the Grand Canyon. we watched a short clip on how it was all formed and looked around until we thought it would be best to get away from the crowds and enjoy the sunshine while we still could. we were astounded by just how many people were there and how few of them spoke English. we certainly didn’t spend enough time to do the Canyon justice and we all want to go back again someday. with thoughts of the majestic Grand Canyon in our heads we headed back down to find a place to camp for the night. We found the Williams/Grand Canyon KOA and pulled in. we enjoyed a yummy dinner {huge thanks to Grandma York – the goulash lasted us for 3 dinners! and Aunt Sara the chicken enchilada was yummy last night} the kids got to swim in the pool and we all enjoyed long hot showers. the stars were astounding with the wide open Arizona sky and we stayed out until we could hardly keep our eyes open any longer.