Route 66 is one of America’s most famous highways, not to mention its first highway. Route 66 has been immortalized by an old TV show, a Nat King Cole song, and even the Pixar film Cars. While it’s no longer used as a main route for long-distance travel, much of it has been preserved as historic roadways and is worth the drive if you’re traveling those parts of the country anyway.
Seligman is a great place to start your trip. It’s the gateway to the Grand Canyon, with its many historic buildings and museum. The town’s vibe is very charming and welcoming, especially at night when everyone comes out to enjoy dinner at one of their many restaurants or have drinks in one of their bars. There are several hotels you can choose from depending on what type of experience you want: there’s even one that has a drive-in movie theater!
Next up: Pops’ Diner, a Route 66 icon. This is where you’ll find the best pie in town—or anywhere for that matter. Just ask Robert Santini, author of Ghost Towns of Old Route 66, who says it’s “the kind of place where you have to eat four pieces.”
They are open 24 hours a day so you can stop by after your long drive from Kingman (which means they’re open before and after breakfast). They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner – but no dinner reservations are needed if you’re looking for pie!
You’ll see many dinosaurs along the way, which is a fun part of the trip.
There are dinosaur statues and sculptures all along Route 66. Some of them are made from fiberglass, and some are made from steel wire. Some of them look like they’re walking, while others pose as if they’re about to jump off a cliff into a river below! The colors vary greatly too—some of them have gray skin with patches of green moss on their backs (like real dinosaurs), while others are bright orange or yellow with black eyes painted onto their faces (also like real dinosaurs).
On your travels south, there are many points of interest to stop and visit. The Grand Canyon is a must-see. You can’t miss the San Francisco Peaks and Meteor Crater as you travel through Arizona, but there are so many other places to stop along the way.
The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona is a great place to see some unique trees from millions of years ago. They look like sculptures with their strange coloration and shapes!
You might be longing for cooler weather by this point, so drive on through New Mexico until you get to Winslow, home of two famous Route 66 sites: Painted Desert Inn & El Tovar Hotel which overlooks Petrified Forest National Park; then Rainbow Forest Museum & Scenic Drive which showcases thousands of species of cacti from all over North America (and even Europe!).
Don’t forget to check out Meramec Caverns in Missouri.
When you drive down the historic Route 66, you’ll see all kinds of places. You can see the iconic Texaco gas station in McLean, Illinois (one of the few remaining original stations that are still open). You can visit the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona, and stay in one of their wigwam rooms. You could stop at a vintage neon sign shop to pick up some trinkets from your trip. There’s also a lot more to explore along this historic highway than just these examples!
But what makes it so special? Why should anyone take time out of their day for this road trip? The answer is simple: The history behind this highway is incredible. It was built as early as 1926 by Cyrus Avery who envisioned an interstate highway system connecting Chicago with Los Angeles through his state of Missouri. Unfortunately for him, his idea didn’t work out—but not because people didn’t like it! In fact… people loved it so much that they started building highways themselves without any permission or planning; they just did what they wanted because they thought it was important enough!
We hope we’ve given you more reason to hit Route 66 in the near future. It’s one of the most scenic and pleasant drives in America, with lots of memories and history to soak up and enjoy. Plus, like any tourist attraction, it has its own weird and fun quirks that make it special—and it’s always better to experience those things firsthand than just read about them in a blog post! So if you ever have time for an American road trip, this is one you definitely need to take. Even if y
