Out West Trip: Day 13 (Grand Canyon, AZ to Barstow, CA)

Today’s Highlights:
Watching the sun rise over the Grand Canyon, stopping for lunch at a diner on Route 66 in Kingman, AZ, walking across the London Bridge, not surrendering our apples to the state of CA.

sunrise - 3 jun 2011

I got up around 5am and walked out to the rim to watch the sun come up. Along the way, I saw a pair of elk grazing and gave them a wide berth. When I came back from the rim, Rob and the girls were up and had started to pack up to leave. After breakfast, we finished packing up and left the Grand Canyon around 7am. We headed west on I-40, stopping in Kingman, AZ, to drive on Route 66 for a while. When we spotted Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner, we knew we had to stop for lunch even though it was only 10:30. After grilled cheeses and root beer floats, we wandered over to the Route 66 museum/store. Chloe thought it hysterical that everything had a price of something and 66 cents. As we drove further west on I-40, we made a quick stop to see the Golf Ball House.

kingman, az - 3 jun 2011

We took a 1.5 hour detour down to Lake Havasu in order to see, of all things. It was SO hot in Lake Havasu as compared to the early morning at the Grand Canyon mid nineties instead of just above freezing). We walked around the somewhat rundown kitschy “tudor village” and then across the actual London Bridge, before getting back into poor, hot Evie and driving on towards Morro Bay, our destination for tomorrow night.

london bridge - 3 jun 2011

We got to the Barstow KOA around 4:30pm. Rob and Chloe went out and bought a pizza and salad for dinner. After dinner, Rob the girls went to check out the pool. Too cold. Then they rented fun bikes and rode around the campground for a while. Chloe played on the playground and made friends. Gwyneth worked, uploaded photos and caught up on a bunch of emails during the evening.

My reviews:

• Yelp review of Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner
• Trekaroo review of Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner
• Trekaroo review of London Bridge
• Trekaroo review of Barstow KOA
• TripAdvisor review of Barstow KOA

Trip Stats:
Roadside Attractions: 3,333.33 feet above sea level, Golf Ball House, London Bridge, Diner-saur Park. (Total: 14)
States: Arizona, California. (Total: 10 – GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, CO, CA)
State Plates Spotted: None. (Total: 46)
Miles: 426 (Total: 3544)
Gallons of gas bought: 18.4 (Total: 222.5)
Poptops Spotted: 1 (Total: 9)
National Park Stamps: None. (Total: 6)
Miles walked: 2. (Total: 28)
Dollars saved with NP pass: None. (Total: 85)
Continental Divide Crossings: None. (Total: 3)
Time Zone Changes: 1. (Total: 7 – EDT, CDT, MST, MDT, CDT, MDT, MST, PDT)