Keeping Up With This Jones: bearizona

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

St. Louis or Bust: Road Trip Day 1

I wanted to blog our road trip so I am going to do it per day to include stops and hotel stays.

Overall, planning this trip was SO SO SO easy. I used the Roadtrippers app. I entered the destination (STL) and then dropped in places I wanted to see along the way. It automatically adds stops to your timeline according to location on the drive. It also gives you a map with your stops numbered and in between it provides mileage and time expectancy. I also added dates so I could keep up with our agenda. This was a lifesaver in terms of stress and having to plan out the route. I also used Roadside America, the app, as we drove. In each town, I used location services to search for sites to see around us. If they seemed quirky and/or fun, then we stopped. Users rate the sites in terms of boring, must stop, major fun, etc. It also gives directions, tips, and how far off the interstate it is. Those two apps planned our trip for us and were fantastic. I highly recommend both!

To avoid such a long drive on day 1 and to maximize time, we stayed in Barstow on April 25, after our going away party. We drove about 2-2.5 hours to get ahead of schedule. We also stayed at the Super 8, my first time (and last) at a Super 8. There are not many options in Barstow and I sure didn’t want to spend good money on a hotel in a place we wouldn’t enjoy but only sleep for a short time before heading out early. We were so tired (and emotionally overwhelmed) that when I walked in that night I thought, “This isn’t so bad!” The room overall was good with everything that you need. When we woke up, we both said, “This is gross. Let’s get outta here.” Luba thought we smelled like the room. Funny how perspective changes after rest! What got me was AFTER I finished showering, I saw a booger on the shower curtain. I immediately started gagging and almost vomited. My gag reflex is so sensitive since my surgery and one gross thought can send me running to the toilet. I threw on clothes and away we went!! That was a sign that adventure awaits?

Our first destination was Oatman, Arizona which I kept referring to as Donkey Town. I had seen my friend Heather’s (@diningwithdisney) pictures and knew it was a quirky place I needed to see. It was a 3-hour drive to Oatman from Barstow. We walked around the town and had a great time seeing all of the shops, grabbing photo opps, and watching/yielding to the burros. Yes, burros wander the streets. At most stores, you can buy feed (it looked like a block of marijuana). I couldn’t leave without buying some and feeding the burros so that was my last stop. It started out fun until I was swarmed and surrounded by burros. Experience complete – time to move on out of “Donkey Town.”

We headed out back the way we came instead of driving forward through Route 66 to avoid extra hills and miles. We filled up the tank and headed on to the next destination, Seligman, 2 hours away. We might have been low on gas because of misunderstanding of what "ghost town" means (as in no working gas stations, not a town with ghosts).

The next stop was Delgadillo’sSnow Cap Drive-in, a find from Roadside America and Roadtrippers. I loved this stop! It was so much fun. It’s a simple drive-in with all sorts of “stuff” out back to look through as well as old cars (like Cars the movie). We ordered basic burgers. The staff is very funny and they play jokes on patrons like asking if you want ketchup on your burger and then squirting the bottle at you that has a red string that pops out on you. The doors say pull on one side, but the pull is actually on the other side so it takes everyone a second to realize what is going on. It didn’t outsmart me though, I just started doing the opposite of what it said. Pffffft. Simple jokes, fun laughs.

After running around and taking some pix in the town, we headed to Bearizona (another @diningindisney recommendation). It was 40 minutes away in Williams. This place, people, is a must stop if passing through! Kids would LOVE it. It’s a park that allows you to drive your car through and look at the animals. We saw wolves, different kinds of bears, and bison. There is also a walk-through part as well. There were also bear cubs to see. Oh! During our drive, we also saw some bear cubs “in the making” as you’ll notice in one of the pictures.

We ended the day in Williams. We stayed at a B & B type hotel, the Grand Canyon Hotel. It’s an old quaint hotel that resembles a B & B or hostel. It felt like staying at someone’s house, in a guest bedroom. The room had an old dresser, and the bed had a teddy bear on it and it felt like Luba was sneaking over into my bedroom. Ok, enough of that. We had dinner at Red Raven, which was next door. We toasted a fabulous first day, a new adventure, and our 1-year anniversary with some bubbly.