We awoke in Kingman, AZ to another beautiful day and hopped in the car. We started out immediately with a detour opting for the longer famous Route 66 section between Kingman and Flagstaff. We weren't disappointed as the scenery was spectacular and the drive easy. We stopped for breakfast in Seligman at a German restaurant, rumored to be fantastic. There we sat among all bikers and hunters eating our wonderful pancakes. Needless to say we were the only people not wearing black or camouflage.
We cruised through Flagstaff and decided to stop at the famous Meteor Crater . You can read all about it via the link however, it was huge, only 6 miles off I40 and well worth the stop. They trained the Apollo astronauts there as it was so moonlike. You drive up to it and you can see the impact (literally hehe) it had on the landscape. Miles upon miles upon miles of flat high desert and then the ground rises up to this. Amazing.
Next we cruised through Winslow, AZ and played the Eagles song, "Take it easy" in honor of that one horse town. We again veered off the main interstate, opting for the road less travelled and headed up SR 191 for the Hubbell Trading Post. This is the last still operating trading post in the United States and lies on Navajo land. The Navajo exhibit their rugs, jewellery and still trade for foodstuffs here. Dena purchased a beautiful ring whose turquoise reminded me of 2 flowers coming out of a vase. I decided her Indian name was going to be "two flowers".
From there we blew thru the Navajo reservation coming into Gallup and patted ourselves on the back as our timing was going to be perfect. We were going to arrive in Albuquerque around 7:30 - 8:00p in time to check in and then go to a late dinner. Apparently old town ABQ rolls up at 9:00. This was not to be as we hit a tremendous thunder and lightning storm, construction and bad traffic. We rolled into Albuquerque at 9:00p hardly able to see the street signs and struggled to find our B&B the Bottger Mansion. We found it and the rain was just raging. The inn was closed and I ran up to the door found our letter with how to get in, meanwhile shivering in the rain, soaked to the bone and cringing from the thunder and lightning bolts. We made it in the house both soaked and pissed off. All the restaurants were closed and we ended up going to bed with a protein bar. A bad end to an awesome day.
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