The journey goes on

After Kingman we set out over the Historic route 66 towards the Grand Canyon Caverns. In spite of what the name implies said caverns are not in fact part of the Grand Canyon, but the air in the caverns flows in from the Grand Canyon, 75 miles through rock.
The caverns and route came highly recommended by a retired miner hanging around a general store in the middle of nowhere a few miles outside of Kingman, and I was glad we visited. The tour of the caverns was very enjoyable, and the whole place breathed a kind of old-fashioned tourism you'll only find in the UsA.

We spent the night in the outskirts of Flagstaff, AZ. We weren't really up to exploring much of this little city save a meal at Granny's Closet. The food there was quite nice, though the staff was a bit flustered having an invasion of half the city in their sportsbar for the NBA finals match.

Today we went to the Grand Canyon. It's a cliche that you cannot adequately describe the experience to someone that hasn't been there, and I will not attempt to do so. Suffice to say we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Apart from the magnificent views the area with traditional Native American crafts and dance demonstrations was very worthwhile.

On our way out we briefly stopped at Bedrock City. Yes, I kid you not, a Flintstones-themed camping with a life-sized replica of Bedrock City. We passed on the experience itself but had an excellent lunch (Dino-dog) at Fred's Diner (where the coffee is 5 cents. Now that's staying true to the back in time theme of the region!)

Tonight we're staying at a motel in Needles, CA. This is one of those little places that looks like a dump at first sight, and turns out to be an awful backwards dump when you get to know it. They haven't even bothered to install traffic lights, and the state of most of the motels would bring a tear to an eye with most property developers. If it weren't for a steady trickle of travelers on Historic Route 66 that runs past it I'm betting the place would have turned ghost town ages ago. It works as an overnight place in any case, we found a decent hotel and will head out to LA tomorrow.