Day 2: Sep. 11, 2005
A Remembrance Garden


Prev
Next
I thought I'd start the day by showing what the other guests saw and drove. So here is a hint of what those folks who booked earlier and paid more could see from their rooms. In one of last night's conversations I learned that there was to be a gathering of Volkswagens somewhere nearby and I'm sure these two were on their way with their owners resting at the Grand. As I drove north out of Jerome, I saw several more "bugs" heading for the party.
I slipped over to I-17 just long enough to visit this national park. There is an unbreakable rule that any reference to this structure with more than ten words include the same two disclaimers: It's not a castle and Montezuma never even came close to it. Montezuma's Castle was the home of about 35 Sanigua farmers for some time between 1200 and 1450. There are remnants of other cliff side structures that housed another 100 or so Saniqua. An interpretive center provides information on the site and a gentle 1/3 mile round trip walk provides a variety of views of the ancient structures.
Then it was back to AZ-89A via AZ-179 to Sedona. The Red Rock Park area contains lots of gorgeous scenery and, at least today, lots of traffic. Just a bit before Sedona I noticed a large egg amongst the trees and rocks. The picture isn't very good but I did stop and pick up a sales brochure from the box at the entrance. More than 5500 square feet of living space for $2,200,000. According to the brochure, that price includes the garage door opener.

I've included one picture of the drive north through Oak Creek Canyon. I pulled off on a scenic overlook I had stopped at in 2003 but didn't stop this time. The parking lot was full and gridlock seemed just moments away. I managed a turnaround and a quick escape.
In Flagstaff I picked up Historic 66 then made a stop at the Museum Club in the north part off town. I have been by here before but never inside. Today I enjoyed a longneck MGD while discovering that everything I had heard about the interior was true.
Not far up the road I made a brief stop at the Elden Pueblo. I first noticed this place in 2003 and at that time the place appeared to be a fairly active dig. The blue tarps indicate that it is still active but signs of digging were not nearly as fresh as what I saw two years ago.
On the way to Winslow, I visited three fading Sixty-Six landmarks. Note that I am traveling east as I make these stops and all other travel on Historic 66 will be westerly after a night in Winslow. At Twin Arrows concrete barriers are placed right at roadside of the east bound lane so that there isn't even room to pull over. I turned around and squeezed the car into some space on the north side of the road while I took these pictures. Traffic isn't a problem.

The side road that leads to and ends at the graveled drive to Two Gun's MOUNTAIN LIONS is becoming more and more overgrown. So is the one that gets you to Meteor City but at least the big dome of a souvenir shop is still open and the encroaching growth does get run over once in awhile. As I snapped the photo of the "World's Longest Map of U. S. Route 66" at Meteor City, a long freight train was speeding by. You can see it in the background and in its own picture here. More on the train later. The pavement ends at Meteor City but a graveled path leads all the way to the horizon.

In Winslow my home for the night is La Posada, the Mary Colter designed Harvey House that has been lovingly and beautifully brought back from the brink by Allan and Tina Affeldt. La Posada is more than a one panel hotel and I know I'll have more tomorrow after some inside roaming. Mary Colter liked her buildings to have a history and the one she created for La Posada was as the home of the Pajaro family from Spain. After years of successful ranching and major additions to the house, the family fell on hard times and was forced to sell the hacienda - all 72,000 feet of it - to Fred Harvey for conversion to a hotel and dining stop along the Santa Fe Railroad. It's a good story. Not all the gardens are yet restored but they're on the way and the trains never went away. Winslow averages 90 trains a day and one was passing as I walked along the brick wall that separates the hotel from the tracks. To my surprise, it was the very same one I had watched pass Meteor City not long ago.
Standing On The Corner Park is only a couple of blocks away and I walked down to look over the damage. Last October fire gutted the building on which the mural of the girl and the flatbed Ford were painted. The wall and mural survived but are held up only by some braces. The park itself is fenced off for safety with a real flatbed Ford parked beside it.
In 2003 I discovered another "standing on the corner" sort of place at the east edge of Winslow. Here it was two twisted girders from the World Trade Center that were standing with the words "United We Stand" on the brick wall in front of them. This was Winslow's "Remembrance Garden". Today, after walking around town a bit, I got in the car to see if I could find the girders going the other direction. I thought of stopping by in the morning before heading west but was well aware of the day's date and really wanted to get there today. I headed east but found the road closed. Not too sure of myself, I decided to get on I-40, drive to the next exit, and try to follow the 2003 path. But that road was also closed off just a short distance from the exit and I could see a crowd gathered not far away. Suddenly it all came together. I could just make out the two girders rising above the crowd and realized that the very intersection I was trying to reach was what was blocked off. I parked in a nearby gas station and walked to the corner.

The city of Winslow has had a remembrance ceremony on this spot on every September 11 since 2001. A focus of that ceremony is replacing the flag that flies above the girders. The one that was flying in 2003 had flown over the Pentagon and I imagine this one has a similar history. The master of ceremonies was mayor Jimmy Boyd, that's him on the right in that first picture. In addition to the bits of actual ceremony, there was a long list of speakers. The mayor of Flagstaff was there and there was an assistant to the governor as well as several other state officials and the district's US Congressman. I got pictures of just about all of them but the four I've used are all local residents. They are Wayne Taylor, President of the Hopi Nation, Jim Courier of the Winslow Fire Department and Sergeants Afton Foster and Ken Ahrens of the Winslow Police Department. The light was going fast and that last picture suffers from it but I think you can still get the idea.

[Prev] [Site Home] [Home] [Next]