As mentioned last week we took a little road trip to celebrate our fourteenth wedding anniversary. We spent our first night at the La Posada after hanging around the Motor Palace. The night was so nice we lost track of time and got back to the hotel to find the Turquoise Room closed. Luckily our friend Nathan saw us and saved the night with soup and salad which was perfect 'cause we weren't hungry enough for a big meal...and they were closed. We ate dinner on a quiet patio behind the hotel with an endless view across the plateau interrupted by the rumbling freight trains.
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| Delgadillo's Snow Cap in Seligman. We love the tacos here so you have to see lots of pictures. |
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| Waiting for Tacos. |
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| Messing with faucets again. |
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| La Posada hay maze |
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| La Posada |
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| Lori peeking in the window. |
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| A perfect night at the Motor Palace. |
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| Late night dinner from the Turquoise Room on a patio at the La Posada. (Thank you Nathan) |
Morning started with breakfast at the Turquoise Room then back on the road for a slow drive to Gallup, New Mexico. First stop, the Minnitonka Trading Post on the east end of Winslow. It's closed and we heard it's for sale. We're not buying it, but would like to so Lori could open a farm with goats and chickens behind it.
We took our time the rest of the day stopping at the Jack Rabbit, Joe and Aggies, Earl the VW guy's, and Phil the Antique Guy's, the Hopi Travel Center to see Dinosaurs, Chief Yellowhorse's, and finally the El Rancho.
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| Alien weed circle. |
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| Probably Aliens in here |
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| Earl showing us around. |
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| Crazy VW RV Earl made. |
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| Chevy near Lupton... |
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| ...Fords... |
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| ...and celebrities! |
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| Keep your cliff dwelling clean. |
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| David Yellowhorse and crazy girl. She posed a "reach around" on a big fiberglass buffalo right before this. |
Gallup is a great town and the El Rancho was even nicer than we'd hoped. The people who work here are the best. Leroy who checked us in will celebrate his twentieth year on July 6th.
Dinner at the El Rancho was so good we ate breakfast there too. We were seated next to the same Italian couple as we had at dinner. They were great entertainment the night before. The waiter was pretty young and the man didn't speak English. So the woman did the talking. They did not know anything about Mexican food. It went kinda like this: What is Tostada? It's a flat tortilla with beef, lettuce, and cheese. OK, what is a taco? It's a tortilla with beef, lettuce, and cheese...folded. OK, what is burrito? It's beef, lettuce, and cheese, wrapped in a tortilla...oh and it has beans. OK we'll have them all and chile. I asked the guy if he liked the chile the next day and he said, "NO!" and ordred "Rice Krispies, Kellogs, and espresso." I think Kellogs means Corn Flakes in Italian.
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| El Rancho. This is the place to stay and eat in Gallup. |
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| Old Route 66 motel. |
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| Another one. |
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| El Rancho from east. |
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| Lobby |
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| Lori making sure the El Rancho isn't haunted. |
After breakfast he hit the road to Pine Top/ Lakeside via the Petrified Forrest with another visit to Chief Yellowhorse's. Lori asked me if it looked the way I remembered it and it didn't, some stuff was gone and there were several buildings. I didn't know which one was the "original." The mystery was solved on the way back west. The original complex is east of what you see at the Grant Road off ramp. It's still there but not open to the public.
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| The old Chief Yellowhorse fort. |
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| Yellow horses at Grant Road exit. |
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| Old gas pump at Petrified Forrest / Painted Desert visitor center. |
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| Between Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. The power lines in the background are about where Route 66 was. |
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| These ravens follow people around trying to con them out of snacks. |
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| Petroglyphs |
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| Lori's parents' cat Emma swinging on the hammock with me. |
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| Score! This one's thicker than the one I use now. The tortillas come out flatter and more even. |
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| Lori in Navajo County Jail, Holbrook. |
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| The El Garces in Needles. It's a former Harvey House. Alan of La Posada tried to resurrect this one too but the city backed out shortly after work began. |
We spent the night in Needles, the
Rio Del Sol's pool was appreciated in the 108 degree heat. Nice people and clean rooms here too.
Juicy's (the restaurant next door) has a creative menu and the food's great. We got up at dawn and were home before noon.
See you soon!
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