Days 9 & 10 - Arizona to California

So, on our last day in the Grand Canyon we took a walk down to see the mules and took one last look at the Canyon. We were pretty sad to leave it, but also very excited about the rest of the adventure.

So, we left the Grand Canyon and pointed the car towards San Francisco. On the way, we drove down the longest stretch of Route 66 that has survived. There were plenty of kitschy, cheesy stores and diners that were left in the few towns that existed on this stretch.

We decided to stop at The Grand Canyon Caverns, which is an underground dry cavern. When you pull up, you are greeted by a giant T-Rex sculpture (which has nothing to do with the Caverns since they never found any dinosaur fossils there). They had a great greasy spoon restaurant inside, cowboy gunfights on horseback, a motel and a curio shop. It was exactly what you would expect from a roadside attraction on Route 66. We decided to take a tour of the caverns and we ended up with the best tour guide, Ron. Ron has probably worked at the Caverns for 50 years and given the same tour a million times, but he definitely still enjoys it and cracks up at his own jokes. The caverns themselves were beautiful. As soon as you got out of the elevator, the change in pressure was instantly evident. If I spent a week down there I would probably come out a foot shorter. There were tons of entertaining tidbits, like it's call the Grand Canyon Caverns because the air actually comes in from the Grand Canyon, which is almost 150 miles away. I highly recommend stopping at the Grand Canyon Caverns if you find yourself on Route 66.  The rest of Route 66 was exactly what you would expect, lots of nothing with a few curio shops, gas stations and an Indian Reservation. It was beautiful.

We spent the rest of the day driving towards California. One thing I have to say about Arizona is that it was probably our favorite place to drive through so far on our journey. It was beautiful and had everything from forests that looked like Vermont to deep deserts to craggy mountains to rolling, grassy hills. I can understand why so many people are moving there.

We didn't drive for as long as we intended towards San Francisco because we were pretty exhausted. We ended up stopping in Barstow, California and staying at the Quality Inn there. I know I am probably going to sound like an ad, but the staff at the Quality Inn was the most friendly and accommodating I have ever encountered. They must have thought we were undercover hotel reviewers or something. The hotel had a great courtyard with grills, outdoor fireplaces, picnic tables, fountains and a pool. It was pretty swank and pretty cheap.

We left Barstow first thing in the morning after our sweet free breakfast and started towards San Francisco. Unfortunately, our drive through California was not quite as scenic as some of our other drives. Everything seemed to be farmland or industrial plants. Although, on the California hilltops we saw lots of wind farms and some of the winding roads through the hills were very nice.

We arrived in San Francisco around 7:00 and spent about a half hour trying to find a parking spot, which seems like an authentic San Francisco experience. We are staying with Tommy's brother, Erik, who lives in a fantastic neighborhood right near the house and park from Full House. We went to a great pizza place, Little Star, and got a few delicious deep dish pizzas. We went down the street to a bar where we got to meet some of Erik's friends, who all had great suggestions for the drive back east.

Now we are about to head out to see the sights in San Francisco, but first I have to wait for Tommy and Erik to finish shaving because they decided they wanted funny beards. I will be sure to post before and after pictures later for your amusement.

To tide you over, here are some pics from Arizona, Route 66 and Eastern California.