Travel

Joshua Tree, Historic Route 66 & Bedrock

As I mentioned in the first post regarding this trip here you need to get a Parks Pass if you can. We used ours so much and saw so many amazing things we probably wouldn’t have been able to see without it. The rest of this trip we’re going to get to explore a lot of amazing places and along the way we’re going to travel Historic Route 66 as well as a detour in Bedrock. Buckle Up! We’ve got a lot of miles to cover!

The day dawns bright & sunshiny – a perfect Southern California morning. There’s a lot to be said for these early morning and I was always a fan of them when I lived there. That time just as the day is waking up but the crazy hasn’t quite started yet.

After loading up the truck, saying a fond farewell to Disneyland we make a final stop before hitting the road. Souvenirs. We hadn’t really bought much as far as souvenirs and I really wanted the kids to have shirts to commemorate this trip. I’m also kinda cheap though and I knew we could find nice ones outside of the park that were much more affordable. (It’s how we did it when I was a kid too – nothing wrong with that at all.) A bit of advice though, take a real good look at the neighborhood you’re in and be aware of your surroundings. There is an “invisible line” as you’re leaving Anaheim where you know you probably should have stopped. Of course I didn’t. We got our shirts – got a great deal on them, in fact – and my kids got to watch a drug deal in the parking lot. Good times.

We are off to our first destination of the day, Joshua Tree National Park. Joshua Tree is a unique piece of Southern California that is unlike any other place in the world. I’d seen pictures but nothing can adequately prepare you for the feeling of standing next to a Joshua Tree looking up at it and marveling at what a wondrous thing it is. It almost feels like you’re in a Dr. Seuss story. I won’t bore you with my science-nerd fascination with it but I would definitely encourage you to visit or at least read about them.

Joshua Tree is more than the namesake though. There’s a whole ecosystem of other plants and animals crawling around out here. It’s been an unusually wet Spring so the wildflowers and cactus are blooming like crazy (it’s a rare sight to see that much vegetation at once). And the rock formations? Wow! Talk about a rock climbers’ paradise! And yes, some of it is open to climbing – not like some parks that only let you look, not touch. Surrounded by all this wonder and beauty leave it to my 3 boys (I’m including my husband in that number for obvious reasons) to discover “petrified poop”. Yes, really. Someone didn’t clean up after their dog and it got sun-baked. Gross, huh? #boymomlife

After spending some time at Joshua Tree, it’s on to Historic Route 66. That “Boy Mom” thing? Cars was THE movie of choice at our house and all things that had to do with Cars were cool. The chance to travel even a small portion of Route 66 wasn’t something we could miss out on. When we were planning this trip we actually researched if there was a real Radiator Springs. Sadly, there isn’t but we did find the town that it was inspired by – Seligman, AZ. We planned this portion of our trip around the chance to stay there.

Instead of taking the freeway from Kingman to Seligman, we take the road less traveled and find ourselves on Route 66. As we’re driving out of Kingman into the desert, it’s so easy to see where the inspiration for the movie came from already. If you look hard enough, you can see the formation of cars in the buttes in the distance just like you can in the movie. It’s a drive well worth taking.

It’s just past sunset as we pull into Seligman and the neon lights do not disappoint – it’s not Vegas, but there is more neon than I expected from such a small town. I’m excited to see what this place looks like in the light! We find our hotel, the Supai Motel. It’s an old-fashioned roadside inn that still uses REAL KEYS. Yes, that was one reason I chose this one. Seriously. Have your kids ever stayed in a hotel that uses real keys? It’s clean and comfortable and the people are very friendly. We get settled then go look for food.

Dinner...yes, friends we really did eat at the Roadkill Cafe. Come on, with a name like that, you know it’s a must-do. Our dinner consisted of fine fare like: The Chicken That Almost Crossed The Road, Bad Brake Steaks, Fender Tenders & Mystery Meat. The waitress we had was so much fun and it was such a great meal! We went in for the quirkiness and found an amazing experience. Long day, full tummies, time for sleep!

The next morning we get up super early and explore this cute little town! It’s everything you imagine it would be. It’s cute, it’s quirky, it’s full of antiques and fun souvenir shops, mom & pop establishments and they have definitely embraced the Cars influence too. It’s fun to run across cars that are similar to ones in the movie that have eyes or faces on them. We even found buck-toothed Mater! A person could spend all day here, but alas I’ve got us on a crazy schedule.

We head East on this stretch of the Mother Road, stop for fuel & food in Williams then turn north towards the Grand Canyon. We have one more stop on the way though – we’re taking a trip back in time to Bedrock City!

Bedrock City is exactly the type of place you expect when searching for obscure roadside attractions. I’m certain there’s no place in the world quite like it. We have our doubts about going inside because, honestly, you can tell it’s seen better days. It’s only $5 each to go in and it’s a good chance for the kids to burn off some energy before we tackle the ambitious drive in front of us today. Why not?

It’s such a weird experience. You can tell someone once loved this place very, very much. The attention to detail is obvious. The whimsy and fun of the Flintstones is everywhere. Much talent went into creating this place. It’s showing it’s age and is in need of someone to come in and love it again. It is, in fact for sale for a mere $2 million. I love the potential I see in it, but not that much. I am definitely glad we stopped though.

{Side note: Bedrock City has been sold since our trip and I’m not sure what is going to take it’s place.}

Clickable Souvenirs