On the Mother Road :: Part 7

Good morning! What a way to start a day, huh?

The sky in the southwest never disappoints!

A church blending in with the hills.

Moccasins for the entire family!

The Continental Divide!

Blue Spruce Lodge.

A cowboy Muffler Man.

Arizona.

Friends along the road.

Geodes! I love rocks and minerals so the rock shops in Arizona were super exciting!

Rock Shop dinos.

I bought some Arizona petrified wood at this shop.

More dinos and geodes.

The Wigwam Motel was our home for the evening!

The happy (and tan!) couple!

Wigwam sunset.

The motel has old cars stationed throughout the parking lot.

Morning dinos.

Rawr!

So much petrified wood!

Pow Wow Trading Post.

Bucket of Blood Street!!

b Horsehead Crossing.

Inside our Wigwam. They’re actually quite a bit bigger than they look from the outside.

An old campground.

Here it is! Jackrabbit, AZ.

This side of the billboard needs some loving!

Eric rode the rabbit.

And I hugged the rabbit.

On 66 in Winslow, Arizona.

Do you remember that song by the Eagles called “Take it easy?”

“Well, I’m a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see. It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look at me.” Take it easy.

Broken down map.

I’m not sure what this was, but I’ll take it!

Giant dreamcatcher!

We took a tour of Meteor Crater. It’s impressive, but you might not be able to tell that from the photo.

Storm clouds over the crater.

Please slow down! Baby calves on roadway.

Two Guns, AZ.

Old mountain lion cages for tourists to gawk at mountain lions. That’s just rude.

See? Mountain lions.

Super cute graffiti!

Twin Arrows, AZ.

On the Mother Road :: Part 6

Good morning, Tucumcari!

Can you spot the little lizard?

Outside of Tucumcari we stopped at an old swimming pool.

Broken down.

Wilkerson’s.

Church in Cuervo, NM.

Old 66. What a view!

The road REALLY deteriorated. The Yaris is pretty much an ATV.

We were way out in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t pass one car. At one point we stopped and turned the car off. You could literally just hear the wind. Nothing else. Those kinds of experiences make you love life and the ability to travel!

We had beautiful weather while on this road.

Trust someone, Little Robot.

About an hour after exiting that gravel 66 road we encountered some hail!

There were some incredible downpours throughout the day in this part of New Mexico. Look at that water!

Pecos National Historic Park…and some rather threatening clouds.

You could actually use the ladder and step down into the kiva.

Inside! It was so cool underground.

Ruins.

There was some construction going on around the ruins. I think they were (hopefully) trying to restore more parts of the ruins.

Note the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background.

Blooms.

I was on snake patrol. But I only saw some red ants.

Lovely colors!

We also visited Glorietta Pass Battlefield which is close to the Pecos ruins.

St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe!

Santa Fe is littered with beautiful buildings.

I really wanted to buy one of these cute little bunnies! They were $80 a piece though, so I just settled for a photograph.

We hiked La Bajada in New Mexico. This is a famous Route 66 road.

Morning on La Bajada.

Madonna of the Trail in Albuquerque, NM!

The Desert Sands Motor Hotel.

Gorgeous!

We were in Albuquerque on July 4th. Fei’s Cafe is a vegan cafe that was sadly closed for the Fourth.

But Mint Tulip was open! This was our first time visiting Mint Tulip. We had lunch and then ice cream. And then we went back later for milkshakes. Oh my! Vegan goodness galore!

Albuquerque had a big fireworks display that we stayed for. We also had some fries and corn on the cob.

You could see storms rolling in as night approached. Check out the lightning!

Happy 4th!

It started to rain right before the fireworks display started. People started to scream and run. I guess people in Albuquerque aren’t used to the rain.

Eric and I crawled under a picnic table to watch the fireworks while not getting wet!

In the morning I spotted that nasty little critter when we packed up the tent. OMG gross. Go away little guy!

On the Mother Road :: Part 5

We spent the night at the Blarney Inn in Shamrock, TX. Just a wee bit of Ireland!

Shamrock also has a blarney stone. What’s a blarney stone you say?…” is a block of bluestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. The castle is a popular tourist site in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world to kiss the stone and tour the castle and its gardens.”

And I kissed that blarney stone!

Rattlesnakes.

Devil’s Rope Museum in McClean, TX.

The barbed wire museum wasn’t open so we drove around McClean for a few minutes to pass some time. This old gas station was lovely in the morning light.

We even found a dirt road before the museum opened! Lucky little devils.

Whoa!

The Devil’s Rope Museum had a collection of salt and pepper shakers, because, why not? I’m loving that kangaroo and joey shaker!

An armadillo made out of barbed wire.

More barbed wire than you can shake a stick at!

Fancy wire.

And a big ‘ol block of wire!

Super Service Station.

Alanreed, TX.

The Leaning Water Tower of Britten, TX.

Groom, TX is home to the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere.

Bug Ranch.

Promoting peace.

John Lennon.

Cowboy Motel.

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX.

There were a ton of people there the day we were, but I somehow managed to get a few photos without people in them. Also…people like to spray paint the cars, which I think it wonderful! Except people leave the empty spray paint bottles all over the ground when there are trash cans at the parking lot of Cadillac Ranch. Shame on you, litter bugs!!

I spray painted a cat face and Juniper’s name on a car.

Juniper Purrito!

Bates Motel? Let’s go!

Seems legit, right?

Boot tree in front of Dot’s Mini Museum in Vega, TX.

Dot’s Mini Museum.

Inside the museum. We left a Polaroid Land Camera photo next to a Polaroid photo someone else left there!

Adrian, TX is home to some fun and quirky signs!

Adrian is also the midway point of Route 66! We’re half way there! Adrian is also home to the Bent Door Cafe. I love the door! Also…you’re or your? It’s like nails on a chalkboard to me.

More signs in Adrian.

Loose at Night.

I think was my favorite sign in town.

How does your garden grow.

Holly hawks.

The old cowboy took off his hat.

Cats make me enormously uncomfortable. I never know what a cat is thinking.

Art is what you can get away with.

Who stuffed that white owl.

Midpoint Cafe, Adrian, TX.

Midpoint.

Wonderful view!

There’s the New Mexico border on the Interstate. We didn’t take the interstate…we found a dirt road to make our way into NM.

There’s our dirt road!

And look who we found crossing the road.

I was trying to make a turtle face. Apparently turtles always have their eyes closed.

I love the buildings in New Mexico! I love the desert too. I think it would be fun to live in NM someday.

The Pony Soldier Motel.

The Lasso Motel. What a beautiful broken down sign!

This was home for the night. The Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM! We booked a room here two months in advance. This motel is always sold out. There was a mega surprise waiting for us at the Blue Swallow when we got there. They knew we were on our honeymoon and they made it a memorable stay for us. Eric and I both agree that this day was our favorite day on the trip! I can’t wait to tell you about our stay at the Blue Swallow. I have a ton of pictures to share, so I have a post dedicated to just the motel!