Day 4 - Look, ma! I glow in the dark!

leaving Los Lunas, NM, i noticed it didn't feel as hot. in fact it felt downright nice even though the temperature was up there. we got up and out fairly early (partly because we're going back in time going west).

first stop was the Mining Museum in Grants, NM. this area of NM is known for its mining (historically, anyway) - and especially mining Uranium. The Chamber of Commerce there has converted half of their building (or more) into an interactive Museum display for mining history and education. this was really interesting to me - not so much for the kids, but they suffered through pretty well. in fact, the "basement" part of the exhibit (where you ride an elevator to the basement that they've completely remodeled to look very much like being in an underground mine) scared Jaron at first. it took quite a bit of consoling to persuade him that we were going to be ok - and as soon as he saw the elevator again, he was all about getting back "up top." i have to give the city their props - this exhibit was super-cool, especially for a small town.

on the road again, we stopped at the Continental Divide sign when we passed. sadly, it was located at a broken-down Indian Gift Shop along the way and the sign looked hand-painted. this wasn't nearly as nice as the signs we've seen in Colorado. it did give me a chance to take a picture that was pointed out in our route 66 book. it shows a historic route 66 sign next to a "road closed to thru traffic" and a "dead end" sign. framed in the background is an old service station/hotel sign that is just a memory of the old route. i thought it was cool, but i'm odd. :)


woo-hoo! made it to Arizona! not that the part we drove through was that interesting, but it's good to feel like we're making progress. eastern Arizona was very desolate - and having to drive on the Interstate made it even worse. the Interstate makes me feel disconnected from the places through which we're driving - and it seems that almost none of the original route 66 is in tact in eastern Arizona. traveling is much more fun and interesting when we can take our time and drive through all of the small towns to view the old buildings/signs.

if you're an Eagles fan (the band, not the team), you'll recognize this reference... we had our picture taken on a corner in Winslow, AZ. notice the girl in the "flat-bed Ford" in the background. (she's checking me out) ;) (we had someone else take the picture, so forgive the sun dots)


we almost went to a huge meteor crater, but they wanted $15 for melissa and i, and $7 for jaden - and they were only going to be open for 2 more hours when we got there. seems like a big rip-off to me (reminded me immediately of the Royal Gorge in Colorado).

we rolled through Winona, and didn't even realize it except for an old abandoned bridge that was part of the original route. right down the road a few miles is Flagstaff, AZ. we stayed at the super 8 near downtown. it's ok but nothing special. you can tell they really put some effort into remodeling, but it's super old and the lack of a proper air conditioner (we had a window unit) made me hot all night long. i wanted to open the window, but couldn't.

the best thing i've found about Flagstaff is the Flagstaff Brewing Co. we ate dinner there last night. we tried their sampler of beers. i liked the porter and melissa liked the golden ale. the porter had a distinctive "campfire" flavor - but with no burn or char flavor. the golden ale tasted like butter or buttered popcorn. they were both excellent. they also had Moose Drool on tap, but by the time I finished 1 porter, it was time to go. walking in Flagstaff is fun. this is an "outdoors town" and would be a great place to live -given that i know absolutely nothing else about the town except for the beer and the weather... but hey, what else do you need to know?

gotta run. melissa and the kids are already up, dressed, and fed. i think i'm slowing down ;)

wish us luck - we're California bound today! until next time, same blog time, same blog channel.