2022: Route 66 and Beyond, Day Three

So fun fact: I planned to just knock out one of these a week, but I did some math and that means I’d still be doing these well into the fall (!) And I mean: like LATE OCTOBER (!!)

I’m sorry but that is just not acceptable, I have other summer content to upload and stuff I still haven’t done from the spring, like nope. So, anyway, long story short: I was being super lazy about my usual weekly post and once I did that math I was like hahahaha uh nope, I have to get this thing knocked out, and also I probably need to accept that I’ll have to make another post soon after to keep up.

SO HEY, HOW ABOUT DAY THREE. We woke up to a lovely morning in Kingman, packed up the car, and headed off early in an attempt to see some museums before making the drive to Prescott for a few days with family.

Here’s a shot of the mural down our motel-room row, taken from the car window. And speaking of…

Here’s a picture of the mural outside our motel room, the stagecoach window was our actual motel window and the owner cheerfully told me it would make a great photo op with the kids. Which is why I tried to open the blinds and got bonked in the head with them instead. Then in the madness of Scott and I freaking out and somehow shoving the thing back into place and by that point I mean, forget about pictures man. Ah, memories.

Before leaving, I ran up to the office to drop the keys – we were instructed to just leave them in the dropbox near the door and WHOA GUYS JUST NOW I SUDDENLY REALIZE THIS IS PROBABLY THE REAL REASON THEY HAD TO CHANGE OUR LOCKS HUH. The trust there! The funny thing is that this was far from the last little Route 66 rental that instructed something along those lines (other spots, yes more than one, told us to just leave the keys in the door lock when we left).

Anyway, took a few pictures of their cute R66 shield on the driveway and of the cool vintage car and then we were off.

Soooo. This happened to be Memorial Day weekend, so while this particular day was a Monday and theoretically the museums should be open AND there was no mention of Memorial Day closings on any of their (fairly active) social media: we were pretty sure the museums would be closed. And sure enough: yep, they were. I WAS SO SAD even though I figured that would be the case. The Mohave Museum is supposed to be amazing.

It shares a parking lot with the Kingman Visitor Center/town Musuem AND the “Powerhouse Museum” (which is their Route 66 Musuem). Visitor Center/Museum was open, but Powerhouse Museum: closed. Another bummer. Several towns on R66 have Route 66 museums (there are ~20 total!), and the Kingman one is supposed to be one of the better ones. But, thems the breaks. If there was one thing I realized on this trip, it’s that you’ve just gotta deal with some places not being open when you happen to breeze through town.

CLOSED 😥

The Visitor Center and Museum was pretty darn small, but also pretty darn cute.

Learned about Andy Devine.

And some Route 66 bits.

And also about a Kodak artist who lived in Kingman but I didn’t get any pictures of that, but he was pretty cool (Carlos Elmer, give the man a google).

After running around the little museum area and raiding the gift shop, we went outside and took a photo in their giant neon shield art piece thingie.

Bob even made the rare appearance.

Then we headed east out of town, to take the R66 detour to Seligman before heading down to Prescott.

From Kingman, Route 66 bumps up into a little rainbow shape over Highway 40, landing back down at Seligman (and just east of Seligman we’d head south to get to Prescott). Anyway, my point: we took the original Route 66 rather than straight across Highway 40. And for the record, lots to see on old Route 66.

First stop: at Gigantus Headicus, outside of Antares. The attached curio shop is usually open but was closed due to the holiday. Womp, womp. Still, I had an entertaining conversation with the young man tripping balls on a bench in front of the shop. So not a wasted stop 😉

Back on the route! We drove through Hackberry and Peach Springs before getting back on 40.

And then we hit the delightful town of Seligman, possibly one of my favorite little towns on the route.

First stop: lunch. The kids settled on the Roadkill Cafe. They also proudly caught themselves a tumbleweed, something they’ve been trying to do since we hit the desert. It was a wee baby one. And they named him Tumble.

We were forced to put it in the back of the car “so we can make a TikTok later” and lemme tell you: those things are prickly and yet also quite fragile. The amount of room we had to hold for that thing, while also keeping Bob away from it so he wouldn’t get a hole, SO ANNOYING.

Anyway – walked around the grounds for a bit and enjoyed the kitschy Old West stuff on the property. And found out later that this was indeed an actual old territorial jail (!).

Back to the Roadkill Cafe. This article can give you the cool history of the place and the family that runs it.

I love Seligman, and this restaurant is a shining example of what was so lovely about it. No creepy political rantings or disinterested staff. Instead, everyone there was so friendly and kind. Taxidermy animal heads adorned the walls and honky tonk played on the radio. The bartender brought out the boys’ cherry Cokes with extra cherries, and slipped them toys before disappearing back to the bar. The menu is not diet-friendly, but my goodness it was all hot and fresh and delicious. Also, they make a mean margarita there (god bless, my favorite vacation guilty pleasure: a noontime margarita).

After we finished eating, Moose and I headed straight for the gift shop, found in the back of the bar area. Linus loved all those stuffed dead animals.

His favorite was the Moose, for obvious reasons.

We spent A LOT in their gift shop (post-margarita problems) but you know what, that $10 jar of Hatch chile + garlic spice blend has gone on pretty much everything I’ve made since we got home, so there.

We drove around town a bit and took it all in.

The only other stop I requested as a MUST was to see Angel’s place. This town was well on its way to becoming a ghost town, first with when I-40 opened and then when the Sante Fe Railroad up and left town. But Angel Delgadillo, the town barber, was not going down without a fight. He created the Route 66 Association of Arizona, and roused the other residents to persuade State of Arizona to make Route 66 a historic highway, including adding exit signs on I-40 to highlight Seligman as the “Birthplace of Historic Route 66.” They also convinced the state to designate a good chunk of Route 66 here as a Historical Highway. And then, they lured in the tourists.

Everyone worked together to keep the town alive, but a lot of credit should go to Angel. His efforts were successful and gave a game plan for other towns in the same position to follow and also stay alive. He is 95 years old and retired recently. The building is largely a Gift Shop now, but his barber chair still stands in its original spot.

They even let you sit in it with a life size cut-out of Angel by the chair, my heart.

What a treasure this man is.

It was hard to leave Angel, but it was certainly time to get moving. After Seligman, we aimed for Prescott, Arizona. My dad planned a family reunion there with he and all my siblings and our families. Everyone was beginning to hit town around early afternoon, according to our group text, so we were kind of the last ones arriving (whoops, I blame Seligman). Thankfully, we were only about 90 minutes away.

We got to town and I was pretty pumped because y’all: Prescott is super beautiful. Tucked in the mountains, surrounded by pines and that cool mountain air. And I am so ignorant. Before this trip, I thought all of Arizona was like Phoenix, of which I am not much of a fan (SO HOT SO DUSTY SO GODDAMN HOT YOU GUYS). Turns out, northern Arizona is nothing like Phoenix.

My dad rented a bunch of VRBOs for everyone (thanks Dad!) and ours was Prescott’s old General Store back in the 1930s. I LOVED IT. Master bedroom on the main level with two sweet bedrooms for the boys in the dormer upstairs, and lots and lots of room to spread out.

We arrived, did a a lot of unpacking/settling in/sorted laundry, then headed to my dad’s rental for dinner. Below is his rental, which also included a ton of room to spread out and a huge back patio.

A warning: I didn’t take pictures 99% of the time in Prescott. What can I say, I was too busy catching up with all of my favorite sisters 🙂

We got back to the rental late that night, and in-between getting the boys bathed/to bed and mixing ourselves a rum-and-coke before falling into bed: I took exactly two photos. So here you go, friends. Living room before we pulled up some Obe Wan on Disney+, and a glimpse into the kitchen where I whipped up those rum-n-cokes to accompany the show.

Good night, y’all. More to come very soon!

Day Three Stats:

The Mileage: 164 miles

The Towns!. Kingman got me in the right frame of mind to tackle these sleepy, delightfully weird little Route 66 towns. Seligman, you are the absolutely cutest thing I have ever seen. And Prescott, while still new by this point, is definitely a great little mountain town.

Dwellings: VRBO, baby. After a lot of running around and some nights with little sleep, this comfy spot was just what we needed.

Attractions: Kingman Visitors Center and Museum – small small small but hey, soothed the soul when the others were closed. Also, downtown Seligman is worth a stroll.

Roadside Oddities: Headicus Giganticus!

Stuff To Do That We Missed: Kingman’s museums should not be missed: both Powerhouse Museum and Mohave Museum. In Seligman, check out the Sno Cap, a historic and eclectic drive-in that was owned by Angels’ brother Juan and has been kept up by the family since Juan’s death.

Foooooooood: Roadkill Cafe for lunch, a very solid hang. Also! Snagged some coffee on the way out of Kingman at Liquid Bistro, and it hit the spot.