Our first encounter with the Route 66 was in Kingman, where we stayed in the Quality Inn. A typical hotel along the Route 66, with friendly staff, a nice pool and an excellent location if you want to ride the Route 66. In Kingman you can also find the Locomotive Park where you can find the ‘famous’ Steam Engine #3759. The steam engine was a present from the Santa Fe Railway Company to Kingman. This specific engine was built in 1928 (coal-burning) and rebuilt in 1941 to run on oil fuel. It was on the passenger run between Los Angeles and Kansas City. There’s also a Mohave Museum of History and Arts. We didn’t visit the museum, because we arrived too late in Kingman.
Seligman was the second town on the Route 66 where we decided to stop for a bit. There’s a tourist shop in town, that is covered with cars, elements and decorations that have to do with the Route 66. Just hop outside your car and shoot some pictures, and then be kind enough to go inside the shop. You’re bound to go out with something from that shop.
Other than that, we didn’t had the past part of the Route 66. It was kind of boring. The Highway 62 was way more beautiful than this part of the Route 66. So my high hopes about this scenic highway, well… they got flushed away during the trip. We didn’t even see any signs on the road itself! Only right before we entered Seligman. It’s not worth driving the whole day from Kingman to the Grand Canyon on the Route 66. Really it is not. There have to be better parts of the Route 66! I’m sure of it, just go and found them – for example near Amarillo, where you can find the old Cadillac Ranch, or Oatman where the wild donkeys roam around.
After Seligman, we stayed on the Route 66 until Williams, where we left the route to go towards the Grand Canyon. But right before we had to take the turn, we stopped at the Bearizona Wildlife Park on the Route 66. This was a rather expensive stop, that – afterwards – I wouldn’t have done if I knew I would’ve seen (almost) every animal in the wild. The Bearizona Wildlife Park is a wildlife park where you can drive through with your own car. You pass by donkeys, wolves, bears, American bison (even white ones), wild goats, … There’s also a part where you can walk through, seeing otters, a fox, a badger, some wild cats and – recently – a jaguar. There’s also a bird show. It’s kind of fun to do, especially with kids I think. For us it was kind of a break from the Route 66, so we were happy to see something else than… nothing.
After we left the Route 66 and went on the Highway 64, we stopped at Bedrock City as well. It’s not a big detour from the Route 66 if you’re interested in going here as well. It’s not too expensive ($5 per person) BUT it’s actually way too expensive for what it is. And it is a really big disappointment. I don’t know what we expected of it… but not some shady looking, badly taking care of ‘theme park’. I felt that it was just a joke. But, the pictures came out nice actually, so it’s kind of up to you if you want to take the challenge or not. It was nice to take a stroll down memory lane. Even if it was all a bit ridiculous.
Around the world in a lifetime 