Day Eight - Flagstaff to Kingman, Arizona

When we woke up this morning in Flagstaff it was raining pretty hard. I was nervous that it would put a damper on the Grand Canyon side trip today. By the time we showered and headed out the sun came out and the rain stopped. We had spotty clouds but no more rain. We took the "green dotted route" to the south rim of the canyon. The Rand McNally atlas calls this a scenic route but we just call it gorgeous.

At the Grand Canyon National Park entrance the ranger charged us $10 instead of the usual $25 because Mom is over 62. (Note to self: Take Mom everywhere to get the senior discounts.) The first scenic outlook was Desert View and they had this terrific watch tower built in the early 1930's. We walked up to the top for photos and visited the gift shop. Back in the car we stopped at most of the scenic outlooks and took photos of the awesome views. The canyon is so impressive in person.

After our side trip through the canyon we returned to the old Route 66 and continued west. We had the road to ourselves with very little traffic. Most of this area is Indian reservations and they have strict rules to stay off their property so we didn't go looking for the original dirt roads from the earliest Route 66. Along the way we saw more Burma Shave signs. I barely remember seeing these as a child growing up in central Illinois. Since the roads were free of traffic it allowed me the chance to take some photos. Each sign is about 50 or so yards apart, there are always 5 signs with the last one advertising Burma Shave.

The town of Seligman was much smaller than I expected and full of hilarious decor. One of the souvenir shops has multiple mannequins on a balcony above their store and a car parked on the street with Elvis and Marilyn Monroe sitting on the bumper. Some very funny people must live in this tiny town because they appear to try to outdo each other. We stopped for a bite at the famous Snow Cap touted as being the funniest food spot on '66. With the false doorknobs, "squirting" mustard bottles and entertaining "out house" we were not disappointed. Mom asked for an iced tea and Mr. Delgadillo brought her a cup heaping with shaved ice and a golf "tea" on top.

On our way out of town a tumbleweed rolled across the road in front of our car. I was so tickled. In the 30-plus years I've lived in Kansas I have never seen a tumble weed!