As a huge Jackson Browne fan, I was a bit disappointed that there was no reference to the fact that…read moreJackson Browne and Glenn Frey wrote the song. It was a nice place to make a stop on our road trip across Arizona. Some great photo opportunities, a cute gift shop, ample free parking. Worth stopping if you are in the area.

Nice cast display of Jackson Browne (Song Writer) & Glenn Frey (Singer) and the tribute to the…read moreEagles "Standing on the Corner" in Winslow, Arizona.It was a fine sight to see! No girl in a flat bed Ford though. My husband was bummed about that! LOL However, there is a big Route 66 emblem in the middle of the intersection & a historic building. If you are an Eagles and Glenn Frey fan this is worth the time to visit this display. Right across the street is a fabulous gift shop for great souvenirs and more. This is the best place for the price. We picked up a few t-shirts, guitar picks and presents for some of our other groupies. Winslow is a very small town. There isn't too much to do here, so could only imagine what it would have looked like back in the day when this iconic song was created. **Fun Fact- the original version was based off of Jackson Browne actually being stranded in Flagstaff but Glenn Frey changed the lyrics to Winslow as it was a better fit rhythmically & vocally. The locals are super friendly. Take it easy and enjoy the Route 66 appeal. Encourage visiting the 9/11 Remembrance Garden and the Old Trails Museum while exploring this legendary spot.

What a cool park!…read more We have a lifetime parks pass, so it's been great to be able to explore when we can. We spent about 1/2 day here - drove to many of the overlooks for some very cool views. Followed someone recommendation to hike the Blue Mesa and truly felt like we were walking on the moon. Very cool colors and petrified logs lying around. It's about a mile; so quite a short hike but you are 'up close and personal' with nature. Take the time to walk thru the museum at the Inn (there's also clean restrooms here and an ice cream shop). They've done a great job preserving the original furniture and such. The parking lots at many of the stops had several spots for RV's and could accommodate towing as well. Clean restrooms thru out the park too A tip would be to hike in the morning as the afternoons can get pretty toasty and windy

I am a big fan of national parks and am also a big fan of keeping them fully budgeted and staffed…read more If you have ever been to a national park, you know that they get a ton of visitors from other countries. These foreign folks love our national parks for good reason. Americans should also appreciate them. Now, this is probably not one of the "must do" national parks. It is not a Yosemite or a Yellowstone. There is no camping here and much of the park is entirely experienced by driving around in your car. There are a few hiking spots, some better than others. There are two entrances and there is only one road between them. It is impossible to get lost, although there are a few turnoffs. You drive from one entrance to the other and then you are done. Apparently, some people drive through the park, never leave their car, and spend about an hour in total here. It seems crazy to me to visit a national park in one hour and I do not recommend it. Do one or more of the hikes. Get out and experience a few of the overlooks. The Blue Mesa portion of the park is incredible. That was probably the highlight of the park for me. The color of the hills is just surreal. It is like you landed on Mars. You will, of course, see petrified (or "fossilized") wood here. It is multi-colored beautiful stuff. The visitor center on the north end is much better than the one at the south end. There is a cafe at the north visitor center, better souvenirs, and also the Painted Desert Inn where you can experience a bit of history from about a 100 years ago. Spend some time here whether you are just entering the park or leaving it. I would plan on spending about three or four hours here, especially if you do at least one good hike and stop at most of the overlooks. If you did all the hikes and all the overlooks and bring a lunch (there are no picnic or lunch areas, by the way), you could probably spend the entire day here. Half a day, including one long hike, was fine for us and I feel like we saw all of the highlights. I hate to give any area of land less than 5 stars through no fault of its own but this is not one of the more spectacular national parks in the country. But if you are in the area, it is worth a visit.

Hubbell's in Ganado has been selling goods and trading Native American Art since 1878. You can…read morevisit the visitor center which gives additional context about the trading post and how it fit into the community, as well as the actual trading post itself. There was a wide variety of things being sold, from Navajo rugs (all handmade! With prices to match) to frozen mutton. Just entering the trading post felt like a step back into time, with squeaky wood floors and waist high counters. You can also ask the NPS ranger for guided peeks and tours into the Hubbell family home, depending on how busy it is. It's furnished as it was by the Hubbell family. They recreated the rugs that line the floor as the original ones were in poor condition. Knowing how much those rugs cost, the rugs on the floor are probably tens of thousands of dollars! I also wandered the grounds, but was too scared to interact with the animals. Well worth a quick stop if you're in the area.

Hubbell trading post is a national historical site starting 1878 and JL Hubble, whose family…read moreoperated the trading Post for nearly 90 years was known among the Navajo as trustworthy and honest. It's a phenomenal place to take in some history. Inside around the Navajo rug area, I met Vanessa and at the visitor center I met William. Very nice, helpful. I WOULD RECOMMEND

I stopped by the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center first during my visit to the Petrified…read moreForest National Park. This is a cool little museum that features the types of fossils found here, as well as the NPS gift shop and ranger on duty. There are a bunch of brochures available about the human history of this area (ranging from the petroglyphs to the development of the area as a tourist attraction), flora and fauna, and more. The bathrooms are right outside, as well as the Giant Logs Trail. The logs here are indeed giant, with "Old Faithful", at the top of the trail being almost ten feet wide at the base! The pathway is a little confusing and could be marked a little clearer, but I think that is due to the erosion of the area. If you had to only make one stop, make it be this one.

Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center is near the south end of Petrified Forest National Park in…read moreArizona. President Teddy Roosevelt made this area a National Monument in 1906 and then it became a National Park in 1962. There is another visitor center at the north end of the park, but I think this one is way nicer. At this visitor center is a gift shop, bathrooms and an information desk with park rangers on hand to answer questions. There are some paleontological exhibits complete with skeleton displays of prehistoric animals in the museum. You can also obtain a backpacking permit and get your US National Park Passport book stamped here. I enjoyed visiting here and doing the nature trail behind the building. The Giant Logs, Long Logs, and Agate House Trails can all be accessed from outside the visitor center. The largest and most colorful logs in the park is called "Old Faithful" and is on the Giant Logs Trail. I found the employees here to be very nice and helpful.

This place has been on my bucket list and I was just waiting for the perfect chance where the water…read morewas flowing and I had a day off to make the drive. Well that occurred the other day for me and it did not disappoint! The drive out there is beautiful. The falls are amazing and I love that you can hike down to the bottom. It is a short hike down, but you will get very very muddy! Make sure to check the water flow on the website before planning to make the trek. It is absolutely worth it!

Grand falls is a fairly unique to Arizona attraction. The water over Grand Falls flows only with…read morethe weather, the water is fed by snow melt in the spring and monsoon rains in the summer. Visit in mid March / April to see it run from snow melt or during July / August and try to see it after a monsoon storm rolled through within the past couple of days. What makes this unique is the muddy or "chocolate" color of the water. Colloquially, Grand Falls is also known as Chocolate Falls, this is because of the chocolate color when the water is flowing. As the dry river that feeds this collects dirt, mud and debris most of the year, when the water is running the dirt from the normally dry riverbed and surrounding desert gives the unique color of mud or chocolate. The sheer force of nature here gives you some perspective on fragility of life. The sound of rushing water, the mist of water and dirt cakes everything within 100+ yards, the visual effects of falling water and multiple levels within the falls. The adventurer in me wanted to find my way down, climb my way up, go back behind the falls, and declare myself "champion of the waterfall", but the safety focussed parental side of my brain screamed, be careful, don't slip, don't hurt yourself, three points of contact when youre climbing around, test your footing before you put all your weight there. It's always a tough battle between that devil and angel when they get going. Today we compromised and I only climbed halfway down. There are a couple spots you can climb down a few feet and really get away from the crowd to take in the spectacular view of this beast. Use extreme caution though. During time of monsoon, the visitors areas are overrun with mud, your shoes will be covered and it is best if you have something you're willing to get covered in mud. What I'm trying to say is don't wear those nice loafers or driving shoes that you'd be sad to see stained, dirtied and or thrown away. During dry times or when visiting after a snowmelt, the *dry ground can be misleading. That clump of solid earth, might just be a dried up clump of mud that gives way with a few pounds of force. Be sure to test your footing with every step as you're climbing around here. The drive in, let's just say that I felt like a god passing all those people driving their Honda civics down this washboard, dirt road for 10 miles. This is what my off-road vehicle's suspension was built for. You certainly CAN take ANY vehicle to get here. There is nothing on the road driving to the falls that will be too challenging for a low clearance vehicle, but with that said, if you have the facilities to put air back in your tires, you will want to take air out of your tires when you get to the dirt road to make this drive much more pleasant, but doing so would require you to keep an air compressor in your vehicle. If you do have a compressor, take your tire's PSI down to about 20. Taking air out will give you a wider footprint which means more traction and it will also allow for more absorption of vibrations and significantly lower the awful sound of driving over washboard roads. When you're done and find the paved road again, put air back in to the level of factory specs, which can be found on the driver's door usually or the tires themselves will have a recommended PSI. If you don't have a compressor, take the road as fast or slow as you are comfortable, but man this was fun to drive at 40+ mph, passing everyone and splashing my way through every mud puddle I came across. I feel like I've accomplished one more thing on the AZ bucket list with this trip. I most certainly will add this one to my places to go when I've got adventurous family or friends in town. It truly was a fun day with spectacular views and inspiring sights of the power of nature.

Worth every single hike For sure not crowded at all…read more For sure a hidden gem! We did all the ruins we could find and lived them all. Started from Sunset crater side and worked our way around. we had a family of 3 with a 16 yr old who loved it as well. For sure bring water and sun tan lotion!!

The main attraction here is the Wukoki Pueblo which is right behind the visitor center, and also a…read moregeological blowhole, from which wind escapes or gets sucked in from a cave system depending on the weather conditions. The day I visited, it was blowing pretty hard, enough to blow away a light jacket. There are also structures located here which are accessible from the road. You can walk right up to them, but be sure to avoid leaning on the wall or picking up artifacts. There were volunteers shoring up Wukoki Pueblo as erosion damages it and they want to preserve it for years to come. It was cool to see them work. The visitor center has a lot of information about the people who lived here, as well as the vibrant trading culture. For example, there were macaws brought here from Central America! There were no horses back then, so all goods were transported by foot. Very impressive. I bought the brochure/travel guide about the park from here as I found that they enriched the visit beyond the informational signs displayed. This is a neat monument that showcases the history of the area.

It was a cold and windy day when we visited the Window Rock Tribal Park. The clouds were low and…read moreit was spitting rain off and on, the park was completely empty except for the two of us. Window Rock is one of two prominent features in the park. This rock arch is located on the far side of the park from the parking lot. The hole in the red rock would frame the blue sky behind if you were here on a sunny day and make for some impressive pictures. There is also a super-sized bronze statue of a Navajo Code Talker, honoring those individuals that served in this vital role during the second world war. The statue is detailed and depicts the patriotism and bravery of these individuals as they served in the United States military. The park is surrounded by the tribal offices of the Navajo Nation. It is quite impressive to see the different services that the tribe provides. If you are just driving through Window Rock, you should take the time to visit this park and see the towns name sake and the Veteran memorial.

Quick 15-20 minutes here and you can see this cool Window rock and the memorial that surrounds it…read more They also have park bathrooms that were clean if you need them. Was worth the stop.

I noticed this statue early today as I was leaving Springerville for my six-hour drive back home…read more It's next to the McDonald's exit, so I pulled into the next parking lot so I could read the plaques. The Madonna of the Trail is one of 12 statues erected along the National Old Trails Road, one in each state the historic route travels through. This statue deserves a better location in town. The trees around the statue hide it from view.

The Madonna of the trail is such an inspiring statue. The women of the early west endured and…read moreendured to settle the territories. This statue and the others along the trail to calif. If you ever get the chance to see the play quilters it really describes the Madonna of the trail and their lives.

It's not expensive and well worth the money we paid. We experienced an active ride into space,…read morelearned about the different types of meteor rocks and the expanse of the crater was astonishing. We paid one price for all activities. There is a tour around the crater. We chose not to take the tour since I wasn't wearing sun screen. The museum put a tremendous amount of work into the displays. Definitely for all ages. I would rate it a 12 out of 10.

We made a stop at Meteor Crater during our road trip, one of those places you feel like you should…read moresee at least once. And to be fair... it is impressive. It's exactly what it sounds like, a massive crater, and there are some interesting exhibits and information that make it a neat, educational stop (especially for kids). The staff was also very friendly, and the clerk at the front desk was especially welcoming, which we appreciated. That said, if I'm being completely honest, the price point was hard to justify. At $29 per person, it felt very steep for the overall experience. For what's offered, something in the $12-$15 range would feel much more reasonable. I'm glad we saw it, for us it was one of those "check it off the list" places, but not something I would personally return to or go out of my way to recommend at the current price.