Williams, Arizona

Tonight Kathleen and I lay our heads on soft down pillows in San Rafael, CA.  We're on our way to Seattle via the Pacific Coast Highway and plan to really enjoy it.   Having the luxury of about a week -- from now until April 29th -- to get there,  we plan to see and experience many of the sites along the way.

Dave and Tere' are staying behind in San Jose for now.  We had stayed with them for the past few days assessing the damage done by the break-in.  Things went well and the hoodlums did not seem to do as much harm as they could have.  A broken window, some stolen jewelry, stolen car keys and ransacked drawers appear to be the extent of the damage.  Dave and Tere' will remain in San Jose to get things squared away (read:  Install a new security system, motion activated lighting, new locks, etc etc) while Kathleen and I proceed on to Seattle.  The current plan is to meet them in Portland, Oregon on May 4th  after we are done in Seattle.   They will continue the road trip with us all the way back to Wisconsin.

I wanted to revisit some of the sites on Route 66 as I certainly did not have time to do the "Mother Road" justice.  I have averaged about 200-300 photos per day and there is no way I can share all of them on the blog.  I'll try to edit the most interesting and continue to post them in future editions of the blog.

Tonight I write of Williams, Arizona.  This little town, which got it's name from mountain man Bill Williams, has the dubious distinction of being the last Rt 66 town to be bypassed by US Route 40.  This occurred on October 13, 1984 when the nearby 6-mile stretch of Interstate 40 was officially opened. *

We visited the Grand Canyon and after a good day there drove down to Williams on old Route 66.  Williams is only about 30 miles west of Flagstaff on Rt 66.  We had breakfast at Old Smokeys - and it was very tasty!

From Old Smokey'a you can walk or drive a few blocks to the downtown area of Williams.  Williams is also known as "The Gateway to the Grand Canyon" as it is only 60 miles south of the South Rim and sports the Grand Canyon Railroad - a neat train ride that leaves town every morning at 9:30am, drops you off at the Grand Canyon and brings you back in the afternoon.

I was lucky enough to be at the Williams end of the line when the train left for it's morning run to the Canyon.  Here is a shot of it, above.  I also caught a shot of the cowboys who see the train off every day - they looked very authentic . . . . 

But downtown Williams has a lot of other interesting things to see.  Here are a few of them:

The shot above was taken in the early morning (well, early for me) and shows the barbeque grill smoking already!

This Saddlery store is where Dave and Tere' purchased some very nice cowgirl boots for one of their daughters.  The lady who owns this place is quite the craftsperson and makes beautiful carved leather full sized saddles.

 

The saddle prices start at around $2,000.00 for ones that have no or little carving/design on them!

And of course every town has to have at least one coffee shop.  The American Flyer was exceptional and Kathleen (who really knows more about them than I do) highly recommends this one:

And that's Williams, Arizona.  I'm going to try to revisit most of the places where we stopped on Route 66 but will also keep you current on our Pacific Coast Highway adventure.  The scenery is stunningly beautiful here as well.  Until next time, all the best to you!

*Much of the detailed information I have on Rt 66 and these towns comes from Mike Wallis's outstanding book, "Route 66 The Mother Road."  The 75th Anniversary Edition.