OVERVIEW
Part 1 of Route 66 is offered in 2023. Part 2 is offered in 2024. Route 66 ~ Out West overlaps Part 1 in Oklahoma City and ushers the traveler into the wide-open spaces of the American Southwest.
The western section of the Mother Road includes natural wonders like Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas and Petrified Forest plus an optional visit to Grand Canyon National Parks in Arizona.
Native American connections are made at places like El Morro National Monument and Gallup, New Mexico. Route 66 highlights abound on this stretch of highway as well: Glenrio ghost town; Seligman, AZ; and Route 66 museums in Clinton, OK and Kingman, AZ are just a few.
We will not be on Route 66 for the entire 2,448 miles of the original road. That is no longer possible because of the covering of the road by freeway in some cases and by impassable condition of the road in other places.
We will, however, travel significant sections of Route 66, and our planners have selected what we believe are the most interesting sections of the road to share–those that reflect the spirit of Route 66–through small towns whose fortunes ebbed and flowed with the pulse of traffic along Route 66.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Las Vegas, New Mexico – just a stone’s throw off Route 66 and chock full of classic historic buildings from the 19th century, including our 1882 hotel, nicknamed “The Belle of the Southwest”
- Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona – offering a varied series of walks through a graveyard of petrified logs, Native American petroglyphs, and bizarre, colorful formations of the Painted Desert
- Williams, Arizona – our favorite Route 66 town with the most concentrated collection of fun, quirky Mother Road eateries and shops, located just a few minutes’ walk from our hotel
- Seligman, Arizona – home to a colorful handful of Route 66 diners and gift shops, including the barber shop formerly run by Angel Delgadillo, widely considered the “Father of the Mother Road” for petitioning for “Historic Route 66” designation for the Road in Arizona, a 1980s movement that carried to the other seven states
- Santa Monica Walk – through upscale neighborhoods in Marina del Rey, along the canals of Venice, meandering through only-in-California scenes on seaside promenades of Venice Beach Boardwalk and Venice Muscle Beach, finishing at Santa Monica Pier, California
