Souvenirs From The Road: Standin' On the Corner in Winslow Arizona......and More!

Well did I get you to singing the great Eagles hit "Take It Easy"? We made our way to Winslow, Arizona and are camped for 3 days at Homolovi Ruins State Park. This is a really great park!!! The sites are really good. Big rig friendly. Water and electric. And it is centrally located for some activities we are interested in doing while in the area.

Great park right outside of Winslow. Central location for things we want to explore.

Love the road intersection!

The thing about Winslow......it became known because of the Eagles hit "Take It Easy". There is a park in town on old historic Route 66 called "Standin on the Corner Park." It is pretty cool, especially if you really liked that song. After Interstate 40 was built and Route 66 died down, this is probably the only thing that is keeping this town alive. That and the famous and historic La Posada Hotel. This is a gem of a place and we were told that most folks come from all over just to eat at the Turquoise Room. This restaurant is rated as one of the top 3 in our nation. Believe it or not, we just didn't have the time to eat out. (But those of you that really know us know that we prefer cooking our own meals. LOL!)

Standin' on the corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see.....

Ron trying to get picked up by that girl in the flat bed Ford slowing down to take a look!

Love the flat bed Ford that had by the park!

Great museum. A letter from Don Henley with a donation for the park.

Museum picture

They kept playing Eagles music outside.

Beautiful place

Four sisters garden

Inside La Posada

We also decided to take the time to visit a National Landmark that we have passed by many times in the past - Meteor Crater. This is a bowl shaped cavity, a crater that is 700 feet deep and over 4000 feet across. They say that you can place the Washington Monument in here and it's top would be at eye level. Also imagine 20 football games being played simultaneously while more than two million spectators observe from its sloping sides. That is how big this is. From 1964 to 1972, NASA provided extensive training here for astronauts to help them understand what materials lay on the lunar surface. OK - I am glad we stopped. But for the $36 entrance fee, I was a little disappointed. But now we can say we have been there and done that. And don't think we will do it again.

The next pic shows a zoomed in version with the astronaut and flag.

I was able to really zoom in to get the picture of the astronaut and flag at the very bottom.

Top of the crater

Inside the crater

This is Arizona's monsoon season. The thunderstorms were beautiful to watch.

The next day we intended to tour the Petrified Forest, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site and Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Well, we made the first two. Guess we will have to get the other on another trip. Arizona time is so hard to keep up with. The Indian Reservation observes Mountain Daylight Savings Time, while Arizona itself is only into Mountain time. So, we just ran out of time, especially given all the time zone complications!

The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert are very much worth the time to stop and explore. This is one of the more extensive forests of downed logs. In 1906 Teddy Roosevelt set it aside as the Petrified Forest National Monument. In 1962 it became a National Park. We drove the 27 mile scenic drive through the forest, and ended in a small corner of the Painted Desert. It was interesting to learn how these fallen trees from 225 million years ago washed downstream, gathered in piles, covered over with silt, mud and volcanic ash. The silica was redeposited into the cells of the logs which recrystalized into stone to form petrified wood.Long story short!

We entered from the south.

Beautiful rock now!

Stephen Mather, the man behind getting our National Park System started.

Who cut the wood? The hill is!

Happy 4th of July by the way!

An ancient river

Our next stop was the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. By the way, if you are into collecting stamps for your National Park Passport, this area has all kinds of opportunities to collect a lot! This post was established 1885 and it is still in operation today! Hubbell was a merchant and a liaison to the outside world for the Navajo. He translated letters, settled quarrels and explained government policy. He came to Ganado as the Navajo struggled to adjust to reservation life following the brutal ordeal of the 1864 Long Walk. In 1965 Dorothy Hubbell (daughter-in-law) sold the property to the National Park Service, and trading remains important to the community today. It is still a vital part of the Navajo Community.

The barn

Inside the house in the dining room

A lot of the trade was with baskets which he hung from the ceiling.

Guns in the trading post.

Rugs in the trading post. Beautiful. And quite expensive!!

Baskets in the ceiling.

All kinds of things to buy or trade for in the trading post.

Outside of the post

And we ran out of time after that. Back home to Homolovi Ruins State Park. A really great place. We have met some really fun camping folks here! Next up is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon!