Life is a highway and the
older kids and I decided to ride it all Saturday long.
First, when the Disney/Pixar movie Cars came out, we loved it. In particular, Karter, who was of course very into cars and almost 2 years old when the movie came out, loved it! Even after buying the DVD we had a few different occasions, just by happenstance, to watch the movie again and again at the public library and various parties and such. Karter got Cars everything it seems: a Mater toothbrush, Lightening McQueen toothpaste, Doc Hudson band-aids, Cars bubble bath, a Cars lounge chair for kids, and finally, the Lightening McQueen hotwheel car that has traveled with Karter many places over the last couple of years (now Lightening usually travels along side the Mach 5).
Second, to make matters more interesting, Karter's granddad went out and bought a real Lightening McQueen a couple years ago. That's right, a brand new, bright red, shiny Corvette. When we told Karter what it was, an unbreakable bond was formed that can only be found between Karter, his granddad, the corvette, and the pavement. When granddad brings the vette to visit, it always includes the traditional removing of the hard-top to take Karter for a ride. Karter is all smiles when granddad pins him to his seat with that accelerator several times on their cruise that is all too short.
Third, on the way to/from the
Havasu Falls hike last October, I drove this route between Kingman and Peach Springs. 7 miles east of Peach Springs is the turnoff for Hilltop trailhead which leads to Supai village. It was then that I noticed many places that inspired much of the
Cars movie fictional setting.
(In case you haven't seen the movie or need a reminder, here's a short video on YouTube that catches the gist of the premise: Cars: the story. And if you are interested in reading more about the similarities between the movie setting and real life people and places, here is a fairly good site, but I think the author missed the mark on some of them. I could go into a dissertation with supporting evidence, but I'll have to save that for another time.)
So, last Saturday, after Miki's mother stayed with us the week to help with the new baby, we were glad to drive her half way home to meet up with granddad. We decided to take the scenic route home on Route 66 and experience a throw-back to the past for ourselves.
We started in downtown Williams, AZ, where we stopped at the grocery store and bought some lunch to take to great granddad Patrick and Jeanie's cabin, where we met granddad to eat lunch with everyone and drop off grandma. We then hopped back onto Route 66 at Seligman and stopped at the
Grand Canyon Caverns for a tour. We then made several stops between Peach Springs and Kingman to take photos. This is the longest stretch of
original Route 66 in existence today. We had dinner at
Mr. D'z diner in Kingman before heading back home. It was a long day, but as usual, we had a good time!
Follow along our road trip with the photo album here:
