Tag: kitsch

Southwest Road Trip Days 7 and 8: The Shady Dell in Bisbee, AZ

We left Phoenix and headed southeast for the part of the trip that would prove correct the old mantra, “Save the best for last”. Our final destination was the old copper mining town of Bisbee. This neat little town is notable for its unique Victorian architecture (not what you’d expect near the border with Mexico) and hilly terrain. Quite a few hippies migrated here from San Francisco in the 1970s once being a hippie was no longer in vogue. As such, Bisbee is full of art, music, and neat shops.

We didn’t spend all that much time in the town itself though. Why not? Quite simply, once we checked into The Shady Dell, we didn’t want to leave!

What is the Shady Dell? It’s the most unbelievable recreation of a 1950s-era RV park with a bunch of vintage travel trailers that have been lovingly restored down to every last detail. Ours was the 33-foot 1951 Spartan Mansion. I don’t even know where to start! So I’ll try to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Here’s the living room:

The ancient TV functioned flawlessly – and was wired to a hidden DVD player for watching any of the old movies that were thoughtfully provided.

There was an old record player that worked too! Several old records are in the trailer for your listening pleasure.

All the details were tended to – real vintage records to play and a real coffee percolator in the little kitchen!
 

This is the dining nook – on which sat a vintage radio that not only worked, but was tuned into the Shady Dell’s own radio frequency, to which an iPod filled with 50s music and commercials played around the clock!

Super cute bedroom….

Check out Carrie’s short video tour of the Mansion!

Truly amazing, isn’t it? But the grounds themselves are equally amazing. Dot’s Diner is on site, and it’s an actual prefab 1950s diner that originally stood at the corner of Ventura Blvd. and Topanga Canyon in LA. The burger patties were handmade and some of the best we’ve had in a long time. Super friendly folks inside, too!

And look at the rest of the Shady Dell! Beautiful trailer after beautiful trailer, each with a little green lawn and chairs and in some case, white picket fences.

How fitting is it that the end of our retro road trip, inspired by the great family road trips of yesteryear, was spent in the exact sort of vintage trailer from that time period? And as people would do in a more relaxed yesteryear, we just kicked back and relaxed in the trailer, really only leaving to eat. And what occupied our time in the trailer? Scrabble!

After the second night, we checked out with a heavy heart. We certainly didn’t want to leave – we truly fell in love with the place. But as we began our nine hour journey back to Long Beach, we knew that this road trip had been one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. We certainly feel inspired to take many more road trips; America is such a huge place with countless things to see and experience.

We just can’t wait to get on the road again.

Southwest Road Trip Day 5: Painted Desert, Petrified Forest & Route 66

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Leaving Sedona was bittersweet for us – we were anxious to see more of the kitschy Americana ahead that we had planned for the trip, but Sedona ended up being so majestic that it was hard to tear away from the laid-back vibe there! But it was time to go, and this day it was back to Route 66 for awhile, where we’d end up in the furthest eastern destination of the trip – Holbrook, AZ – where we’d finally sleep in a teepee at The Wigwam Motel!

Route 66 Roadside Town #5: WINSLOW
First things first, we had to make a brief stop to pay homage to the town mentioned in The Eagles’ song, Take It Easy …

“Well, I’m a standing on a corner, in Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see …”

So as you can see in the photo, we aren’t the only ones to go to Winslow for this specific reason … :)  Unfortunately, this is about it for Winslow.  Aside from the eagle cleverly perched from the painted window sill above, and the reflection of the flatbed truck painted on the wall … that’s about all there is to do there!

PAINTED DESERT/PETRIFIED FOREST

We kept driving on east to get to the Painted Desert & Petrified Forest. When we arrived, it was apparent that this was quite the stop back in the late 50s/early 60s … Neutra-esque buildings in the National Park and the visitor center made of brick just oozed the boom and enthusiasm of the road-trippers during the middle of the century. It was definitely something we had trouble capturing ourselves, being novice photographers – but we sure did try, though! Eventually, we told ourselves  that we won’t obsess about trying to capture the moment, and instead just absorb it. Here are a few shots:

Route 66 Roadside Town #6: HOLBROOK

So, there was a lot of hype when it came to Holbrook – afterall, this was where we’d be staying at The Wigwam Motel! You can’t get more road trip kitsch than sleeping in a cement teepee, so we were pretty excited. So what if all the Yelp reviews said the guy running things these days is a weird Norman Bates type, or that one guest had a drunk Navajo indian knock on their door in the middle of the night asking for change  – it didn’t really matter to us, as long as we could get a reservation!  So off we went to see what was in store for us!


Things looked pretty good at the beginning – they had old cars parked outside to make it look like the old days, and the teepees looked really fun and cartoonish in person! (This was ours, #10)

Even though the hotel manager was just as weird as expected, we were still a little creeped out, but we decided to have a look inside to see what it looked like. We know you have been waiting, so here is the completely UN-authentic, average and extremely drab interior in all its glory!

No matter, we weren’t there for the interior, just the experience, so we kept our spirits high.  However, as sad as we are to say these words out loud – Holbrook is one freaky town!!! Unfortunately, Holbrook is the prime example of how these Route 66 towns completely died after the freeways were built.  This sad little town, which was once bustling with activity and enthusiasm due to The Mother Road, has been forgotten.  Modern times are harsh in Holbrook – things are so dreary and unkempt that the deterioration is unforgiving on these huge pockets of kitsch.  The people of the town are clearly struggling.  We won’t go into too much detail, but we’ll just say we have a number of stories about various individuals we saw in town.  Strange Rangers! The only way I can even describe it is that being in Holbrook was like being in a David Lynch movie.

We walked down to Butterfield, a SUPER kitschy looking restaurant next door to the Wigwam that looked promising, but despite the RAD windows with fake people silhouettes (see below!), it was 100% weird. We’ll chalk it up to yet ANOTHER EXPERIENCE!!!

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We want to leave our last memories of Holbrook on a positive note, so here are a few pics in honor of the real kitschy gems in town. Holbrook – we know you must’ve been quite something back in the day!

(The Twin Arrows Trading Post was just outside of Holbrook – on your way into town from the west.  We passed by it several times, and it was just too cool not to post!)

Southwest Road Trip Day 4: East Rim, Desert View Watchtower, Meteor Crater and Flagstaff

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Today we woke up bright and early and said goodbye to The Grand Canyon.  We left the National Park via the East Rim, and boy are we glad we did – the views on the east are really spectacular!

Also on the way out was the historic Desert View Watchtower, which was definitely worth the stop.

You can climb up to the top for really great views and the inside is pretty neat – twisty and Native American inspired.

After leaving the Watchtower, we had a long drive through miles of open nothingness. There were red rocks all around, old shabby Navajo Trading Posts and more picturesque scenery than we could ever describe. It was a quiet drive for the two of us, just trying to take it all in.

However, we lightened things up a bit and headed out to the Meteor Crater – a stop that Ed was especially looking forward to! We had fun checking things out and absorbing the kitsch that goes along with the visitor center there. Here are a few shots:

Ed’s interpretation of the impact!

Say what?

The awesome 80s looking reenactment of the meteor hitting the earth

Happy Ed on site

After leaving the crater, we were headed off to Sedona, where we’ll be staying the next two nights. But we did make a brief stop in Flagstaff for a yummy lunch downtown.  We didn’t get any pics unfortunately, but the downtown area is really cute – very liberal feeling with lots of college students.  It sorta feels like Davis.

The drive to Sedona via Flagstaff was easily the most scenic and magical yet! It is amazing how the landscape changes here in Arizona – earlier that day we were surrounded by canyons and dust, but this route was cloaked in Pine Trees!

This was our first hint we were about to arrive in Sedona:

This is the view we have about 20 steps outside of our hotel:

Tomorrow will be another day of hiking and taking in the great outdoors. So far, this vacation has been VERY different for Ed & I, but we have to admit we sure are being wowed by Mother Nature!

See ya tomorrow!

Southwest Roadtrip Day 2: Route 66 Roadside Towns

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Today’s leg of our trip focused on all things Route 66! There was plenty to see and do – and we couldn’t wait to hit the road!

But, first things first – keeping in line with our kitschy theme, we had to hit up The Pioneer in Laughlin for breakfast before starting our day.  What can we say – the Pioneer was a goldmine of kitsch, and we thoroughly enjoyed the Old West theme!

In Ed’s words, “When you’re in a gamblin’ kind of place, you gotta have a shrimp cocktail, no matter how early it is” – so here is my happy guy with his Shrimp Cocktail:

I chose to stick with coffee and pancakes. :)

Route 66 Roadside Town #1: OATMAN

Oatman is quite a place – and yes, you read it right – the sign mentions Wild Burros. As you walk through the main drag in town, there are tons of donkeys just cruising around unattended! They are descendants of all the pack animals brought to the tiny town by miners back in the day. You can buy a bag of carrots to feed them for $1, so of course we did!

Another big claim to fame for the town is the Oatman Hotel – where Clark Gable & Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon! The actual suite is undergoing renovations, but here is the entrance:

Oatman is a cute little old west town, and it was fun to take a few shots of all the old signage.

After leaving Oatman, we made a few stops along the way to take in the scenery.  A man was even nice enough to take a picture of the two of us!  Here are a few shots, but man – it really doesn’t do things justice!  One thing we both agreed on was that it was during this stretch of the road that definitely seemed the loneliest, and definitely most forgotten …


We even drove by the infamous Cool Springs Mobil Gas Station, which is an icon of stops along The Mother Road:

Route 66 Roadside Town #2: KINGMAN
We got into Kingman, which is one of the better known roadside towns. It was home of the Route 66 Museum, so we had to make a stop inside to check out all the memorabilia.

Also in Kingman is Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner. We were holding out for another place to actually eat at which was a few towns away (more on that later!), so we settled on a milkshake at Mr. D’z.

We didn’t have too much time in Kingman, because we wanted to make sure to get to the Grand Canyon Cavern in time to check it out before it closed. On the way, we passed through a TON of open road, some Hualapai Indian Territory, and the teeny tiny town of Peach Springs.

Route 66 Roadside Attraction: GRAND CANYON CAVERN & CAVERN INN

The Cavern was so awesome! We were glad to make it in time for the last tour of the day (they don’t let you go down there unattended). We took an elevator 21 stories down underneath the ground with 4 others and our tour guide, Johnny. Tough to capture – but here we are in the Cavern!

Also on site is a ton of other fun stuff, like dinosaurs & the groovy old sign at the Inn!

Route 66 Roadside Town #3: SELIGMAN

We hightailed it out of the Cavern as soon as the tour ended en route to Seligman – where the fictional town of Radiator Springs (from the Pixar movie Cars) is basically inspired from. There were promises of a pretty extensive (and wacky) mega gift store, as well as the diner we’d really been holding out for all day – The Snow Cap Drive-In. We are bummed to report the Snow Cap was CLOSED by the time we got there! However, they had lots of pictures of cars just like the ones in the movie Cars – so these pics are for you, Facey family! :)
Look at the eyes they put in the windows:

We were really disappointed, the Snow Cap just seemed like the ultimate place to stop … SO old school!

They’re most famous for their “Dead Chicken” – and we didn’t get to find out what it was all about!

Route 66 Roadside Town #4: WILLIAMS
By the time we got to Williams, the sun had already gone down – but this was the most bustling of the roadside towns. Don’t get me wrong – its still teeny & quaint – but the lights were on, the Old West vibe was strong, and there were lots of people milling around. This is the Route 66 town before we left the Mother Road to head to the Grand Canyon.

To finally quench our ultimate Route 66 diner quest, we had a bite at Cruiser’s Cafe 66.

That wraps things up for day 2. We gotta get some rest – we’re planning a big day of hiking at the Grand Canyon. We both can’t wait to see it, we’re getting up early!