Saturday, August 20, 2011

Road Trip: Corner in Winslow Arizona

Day three of our road trip started in a little cooler weather - Flagstaff, Arizona is at about   7,000 feet so the weather was much milder and the the scenery was much different!  We arrived at our hotel in the dark again last night so it was fun to wake up and see where we were!  This time, the Holiday Inn Express wasn't quite what is was last night.  This hotel had that fifties boomerang wall paper and some cheesy gold accents!

Oops! Sorry the pic is upside down! I guess the management thought we may not be able to determine the difference in the firmness of our pillows, because the pillow cases were marked 'firm' and 'soft'!  The whole idea entertained me for a while as I thought, "What if the hotel maids put the wrong pillow in the wrong pillowcase?  Would people still believe they were sleeping on a firm pillow if a soft pillow was thrown in the 'firm' case?" LOL!!  I can' t imagine how much those pillow cases cost them but I am pretty sure I can figure out if my pillow is firm or soft!!

Enough about pillows! Back on the road!  The terrain was much greener than yesterday and we even saw trees with leaves and pine needles instead of just cacti!

 The highlight of our day today was our stop in Winslow, Arizona - the town featured in the Eagles song, "Take It Easy" - which was our theme for the day!  Here is the infamous 'corner' on Route 66 in Winslow!
And here is Mike "standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona such a fine site to see!"  If you click on the picture it will get bigger, look in the green window area and you can see "the girl in the flat bed Ford slowing down to take a look at Mike!"

As we walked around the small town, I spotted an antique shop and went in - Mike decided to head for the corner store.  The antique shop used to be an art gallery so there was all kinds of local art displayed including dream catchers, ceremonial Indian tools and instruments, woven blankets, and lots of turquoise jewelry.
  
  Beautiful things but I am looking for furniture and vintage home items so I looked closer.  There was a cool old desk with a lift up top and a single drawer which looked German, and had some great detailing - I thought it would be great shabbied so I inquired about the price.  The kind little old lady told me it was a bargain at $1200.00!!  
Not exactly my price range so I moved onto the pedestal table which was standing in the corner - it had seven faux drawers along the apron and one real drawer with interesting hardware so I again asked the price - this one was only $1100.00!  I was so shocked I forgot to take pictures for you! I have seen similar pieces in Sacramento you could get for $125.!

I was just about to give up when I spotted some old books in the corner. I have a theory that there will be no books one day with the advent of Nooks and Kindles!  I found a vintage 1941 Little Orphan Annie book and a vintage 1953 Felix the Cat book that interested me but I was afraid to ask the prices!  When she told me $6 and $3 I thought "There we go!"- paid my money and got out of there!

As soon as I got out the door, I saw my driver sitting on a bench in front of the corner store.  Since his back has been giving him so much trouble I assumed it had seized up again. My worries were laid to rest as I approached and saw the "Route 66 Root Beer" bottle in his hand!  I know it looks like he has imbibed a bit but he is the only one with a Class A license so he has to do all the driving so -Yes, it was root beer!

He hadn't made it to the museum!  So I sat down with him as he finished his beer and he went into the little museum and I turned the corner and found a second hand furniture store. The store had lots of used furniture but not many vintage pieces - mostly stuff left over from the eighties and nineties which don't have a lot of character.  I found this chair tucked away between two cafe tables and was thrilled since it is one of my favorite colors - the light aqua blue!  I started thinking if this guy's prices are like the lady at the antique store I have no hope!  I was delighted when he said $5 - I will recover the cushion and maybe sand it a little more to reveal the some of the pink paint I see peeking out underneath the aqua!
The driver's side door to the truck was opened as I carried my chair to load it so I knew Mike must not have spent too much time in the museum.  As we left Winslow we happened to drive by the high school and saw this huge bulldog 'on the corner in Winslow, Arizona - such a fine site to see!'  I jumped out, snap a picture on my phone and quickly emailed it to my friend Donna to show her husband, a lover of Bulldogs!  

\Back on the road, I started getting really tired since I was up until 2am writing my blog last night so I drifted off to sleep.  Mike said we passed Indian casino, after Indian casino as I slept so sorry, not a lot of pictures today!
We drove into New Mexico and we could definitely tell we were in another state!

 
The landscape looked like picture postcards of the red rock bluffs, cliffs and rocks you see that typify the Southwest. The rock formations were stunning!  We saw a few cinder cones, saw the infamous meteor crater just outside Winslow from a distance because we had spent longer than we planned in Winslow so we had to get on our way.

We made a quick stop in Albuquerque to refuel and I ran into a Estate Sale/ Second Chance Shop.  The place was a mess but I managed to uncover a few treasures!  This wedding cake set was made in England and from the fifties but it had a modern look to it that appealed to me, and it was only $5!

There was a wooden display case with some beanies babies,  some glassware, and Pez dispensers thrown in this dish.  When I saw the edge of the dish, I though it looked like Limoges but I asked the lady to open the case so I could check it out - I was right!  A gorgeous piece with not a chip or even a flea bite! (That's was dealers call little tiny chips!)  I turned it over and sure enough it said "Limoge, France". They clearly did not know what they had when they told me it was $5.!

And I couldn't resist this vintage hat!  All of you who know me know that this is one of my favorite colors and again a steal at $3.00!  There was a Thrift Town next door so I had to run in there as well. There was a hat rack in there that had about 8 vintage hats, some with the net veils attached and even one with feathers but they wanted a fortune for them - $24, $20, $22 were the first three prices I checked and then walked away - they were worth it but I knew I still had lots of shops ahead of me I might find better deals!  We drove another hour in the dark before we got to our hotel in Santa Rosa so I'll have to wait until the morning to see what it looks like outside!

1 comment:

  1. I love Arizona and New Mexico as well :) I have a history in those states and I enjoyed reading about your experience there!

    ReplyDelete

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