My Road Trip Adventure, Part II: Arizona and New Mexico

This is part two in a series about my travels on Route 66 (and beyond) in July 2012. See Part I here.

Part II covers the Grand Canyon to Gallup, New Mexico.

We reached the Grand Canyon just before sunset. The park was buzzing with tourists from all over the world, rushing toward the canyon's edge before the sun disappeared. A small rainbow greeted us briefly before being swallowed up by the clouds.

{This is a photo-and-text-heavy post, so please click through for more!}

Once the sun set, we went back to the hotel for a short slumber, and then we rose while it was still dark out and returned to the canyon. We walked through the park in the crisp morning air, our skin like gooseflesh and the soft footfalls of other early risers the only sound we could hear. We passed a Japanese woman who held her finger to her lips when she saw us approach, and then pointed into the nearby brush where a small doe was eating her breakfast. We stood with the woman for several moments, watching the creature silently. Then we took our place on the look out, our shoulders hunched against the cold and our fingers eagerly clenched around cameras and cell phones. Clouds hid the most spectacular colors, so we were left with what could filter through--oranges and pinks illuminating the dark silhouettes.

(hah)

We drove through Williams and Flagstaff, towns full of Indian Traders and beautiful buildings and small pieces of the past.




As we continued across Arizona, Twin Arrows came into view. Once the site of a bustling cafe, trading post and gas station, it now sits abandoned. The paint is chipping, windows are boarded up, and weeds grow from cracks in the pavement. Thankfully, the namesake of the pit stop--the two fifty-foot arrows built out of concrete and wood--were recently restored, so the paint now gleams as bright as it used to.




Not too far up the highway from Twin Arrows we stopped at a place called Two Guns. Two Guns has a long and almost entirely gruesome history, fraught with massacre, murders, fire and a disproportionate amount of accidents on the stretch of Route 66 that passes by it. Some believe it's haunted by the ghosts of the Apache warriors who were massacred there--an event so tied to Two Gun's history that some maps mark the site as "The Apache Death Cave." It's said that in 1878, a band of Apache raided several Navajo encampments--looting homes and murdering many women and children. The Navajo sent out a posse to track down the raiders, and eventually discovered them hiding in a series of caves below the site now known as Two Guns. The Navajo trapped the Apache inside the caves and then set fire to the entrance, killing all 42 Apache.

The site became known as Two Guns in the 1920's, when a man named Henry "Indian" Miller set up shop. He built a wild animal zoo, full of bobcats, snakes, mountain lions, and porcupines, among many other desert dwelling creatures. He also exploited the Death Cave, organizing guided tours and selling the bones he found inside to passing motorists. It shouldn't come as any surprise that this is when the 'curse' began to take hold--in the following years the on-site general store was robbed; Miller shot and killed his partner (but was acquitted); Miller was mauled by several of the big cats in the zoo (and bitten by a Gila); and fire gutted the general store. Eventually Miller moved on. The site changed hands several times, finally falling into complete disrepair by the early 1970's.

Though the site sits just yards from the I-40, it feels otherworldly, the sounds of passing cars inexplicably muted. Crumbling stone buildings dot the land, along with bridges that seem to lead to nowhere. I was too scared to approach the canyon and peer into it for Apache ghosts. NO TRESPASSING signs lie trampled in the dirt. Two Guns Station was decorated with a wooden cross and a sign warning to BEWARE OF DOG. A near-empty hummingbird feeder with drowned bees hung from the awning, with no hummingbirds in sight.



We quietly crept back into our car, and drove on in silence. We saw signs advertising Meteor Crater, and a radio call number that would give us the information we needed about the site. I dialed the number but there was nothing but static. We pulled off the highway anyway, and drove through the red dirt to the crater site, only to find it overpriced ($16) when you think about what you're paying for--to stare at a giant hole in the ground--so we turned around and headed on.



Joseph City was next, which wasn't so much a city as a single building--the Jack Rabbit Trading Post, a place that carries postcards featuring cowboys riding oversized rabbits and rubber magnets shaped like the fifty states. And not to forget the giant jack rabbit that hangs out in the parking lot, endlessly sun-tanning himself.

(side-saddle, like the lady I am)

Our last stop in Arizona was Holbrook, where you can sleep in a wigwam and find dinosaurs on the roadside. Petrified rocks were in abundance, advertised on many store fronts, along with Indian blankets and jewelry.



As we crossed the boarder into New Mexico, I was delighted to see grand rock formations protruding from the earth, and found myself glued to my window, ogling them until they faded from view.



We paused in Gallup for lunch at a restaurant called El Metate, a place I will dream about for the rest of my life. Tamales smothered in mole, homemade tortilla chips with green salsa, spiced chicken tacos, and a strawberry tamale for dessert. I also had horchata for the first time--and certainly not the last. We left with our bellies near to bursting--but not a single regret.



We made a point to stop in at the El Rancho Hotel before motoring out of Gallup, which was a must after seeing miles of billboards for it featuring old film stars. The interior was like a Wild West dream; two parts sprawling ranch house and one part mountain ski lodge. There are remnants of yesteryear throughout, from the metal cigarette dispenser to the wagon wheel lounge chairs and the photographs all over the walls of the stars who stayed there while filming Westerns in the area. It' definitely a place I would love to stay at least once.



And then we were off, pushing on in hopes of making it to Albuquerque before dark...

~~~

Huh, this is going to be a very long series I think! I have a lot to say, and a lot of photos too, but I'm happy to have an excuse to write this all up, if only for me to have in the future when I begin to forget the details! Anyway, Part III will be along in hopefully not too long!