We made it!  The whole 6 weeks…September 28 to November 8, 2021.  We’re already looking back with fondness to our trip out west and Nebraska but here are a few of my favorites which may vary a bit from those Carl picked (which I have not looked at).  

Here’s my list of Favorites:

Favorite Restaurant - Turquoise Room at La Posada

Favorite Diner - Robert’s for their “Smashburger” despite the wobbly, threadbare stools

Favorite Luxury hotel - Hotel del Coronado and the Oceana tie, but the Coronado beats out due to the environs outside of the hotel

Favorite Quirky hotel - Blue Swallow Motel…most gracious owners relocated from Chicago…felt like they welcomed us into their living room (plus I got to use their laundry)

Favorite Hotel staff - The Oceana

Favorite Visual scene - the view of the Yosemite Upper Falls from our bedroom window

Favorite Obscura - Red Oak, the whole community 

Favorite Athletic moment - well it wasn’t bowling…probably walking backwards back up the trail in Yosemite after seeing a black bear on the trail 

Favorite New Experience - going up in a glider

Favorite State - Oklahoma 

Favorite Surprise -

Favorite Most spiritual inducing scene - The Painted Desert 

Favorite Museum - Will Rogers homestead and the ranch

Favorite Paid entertainment - Oklahoma State University Rodeo 

Favorite Most weird - Branson’s Main Street

Favorite Stranger met - Roller Derby clerk at the Giant Rocking Chair Canteen

Favorite Highway/road - the part of Route 66 that is known as the “sidewalk” road

Favorite Natural wonder - Yosemite but almost a tie with the Grand Canyon 

Favorite Freebie - The practice session of musicians at Red Oak

Favorite Music - the concert by the Folklore Legacy Trio in Bartlesville

Favorite Water Tower - Hot and Cold Water Towers in Saint Clair, MO

Favorite “Big” thing - the giant at the Oklahoma State Fair

Favorite Route 66 fun thing - the Blue Whale

Favorite Native American thing - the Osage Trail Legacy story, book and visitor center

Favorite Animal interaction - kinda the black bear that surprised us on the trail, mostly the buffalo at Buffalo Ranch and at Woolaroc

Favorite Cemetery - surprisingly, the Richard and Pat Nixon tombstones at his presidential library.  After all he had done in his life and had gone through, he and his wife are sheltered in a sedate, respectable burial plot in a beautiful setting 

Favorite Art - the Price Tower in Bartlesville that was created by Frank Lloyd Wright as well as the surrounding grounds

Favorite Statue - Mickey Mantle in Commerce, OK

Favorite “New” food - Moink Balls at the Oklahoma State Fair 

Favorite  Ice cream - still Ted Drewes…too hard to beat!

Favorite Harvey House - La Posada…It is so easy visualizing people arriving on the train and resting at the hotel

Favorite Iconic Route 66 motel - Blue Swallow Motel

Favorite Route 66 town - Red Oak

Favorite Breakfast - best biscuits and gravy with diced apples on top

Favorite Historical Stop/Park - Polson Cemetery with graves of Stan Wattie

 

Lancaster, OH

Today is the official end of our trip.  It was essentially a Mother Road trip but it did include a few extra weeks in California and another week in Nebraska to see the game.  Though we may make an occasional post to this travel journal in the next few months, we won’t be posting on a daily basis until we leave for a winter’s journey to Hawaii which will begin January 18th. 

Regarding this trip:

Best restaurant; The Turquoise Room at the La Posada in Winslow AZ.  The quail was a remarkable dish.

Best diner;  Roberts in El Reno, OK, home of the onion burger (smash burger)

Best Luxury Hotel; Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, CA  

Best Iconic Route 66 Hotel/Motel; The Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM

Best Quirky Hotel/Motel; The El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, NM (Motel of the Stars)

Best Hotel Staff; The Oceana in Santa Monica, CA

Best Visual Scene; The "Tunnel View" at Yosemite, CA 

Best Obscura; Crossroads to nowhere in Texas Panhandle (Tom Hanks movie, Castaway)

Best Athletic Moment; Bowling at the Starlight Lanes in Lebanon, MO

Best Museum; The Richard Nixon Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, CA

Best Surprise; Dolly Parton's Stampede in Branson, MO (I did not anticipate enjoying the show or the food, I enjoyed them both!)

Paid Entertainment; Ohio State 26, Nebraska 17 in Lincoln, NE

Best Weird; Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park in Foyil, OK

Best Harvey House; La Posada in Winslow, AZ

Best Stranger Met; Andrea Pruett owner of the Bagdad Cafe, screenwriter, preservationist, restauranteur, and general good person, in Newberry, CA

Best Natural Wonder; The Grand Canyon in AZ

Best Stretch of Road; Sidewalk Road outside Claremore, OK

Best Freebie; The Folk Legends Trio (2/3 of the Kingston Trio), Bartlesville, OK

Best Music; The Music playing continuously in the Lobby of the Hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, CA

Best New Adventure; Gliding/Soaring over Moriarty, NM 

Best Water Tower

Best Big Thing; Meteor Crater near Winslow AZ

Best Route 66 Fun Thing; The Blue Whale near Claremore, OK

Best Indian Artifact; Ok, I can't count the Wigwam Motel, the real winner is Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, NM

Best Animal Picture; The picture we didn't take, bear "wrastlin" in Yosemite National Park.

Best Cemetery; Polson Cemetery near South West City, Mo (Last Confederate General to surrender)

Best Statue; Mickey Mantle in Commerce, OK; Johnny Bench in Oklahoma City, OK

Best New Food; The Runza in Council Bluffs, IA

Best Act of Vandalism; Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX

Best Ice Cream/Sweets: Ted Drewes, it is always Ted Drewes in St. Louis, MO

Best Route 66 Town; Williams, AZ

Best Breakfast; The Lewis Café, Saint Clair, MO (Coffee and Cherry Pie)

Best Historical Experience; the Historical Tour of the Hotel Del Coronado