Arizona - ilivetotravel's travel log

A brief summary of day 3 of my cross-country drive: Grand Canyon to Amarillo, Texas, begins with the stats!

Stats of the drive

Third day: Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) in Arizona to Amarillo, Texas

Routes taken: Route 64 (south) to I-40 east, crossing New Mexico

Departure time: 6:20AM (Pacific time in Arizona)

Arrival time: 7:20PM (Central time in Amarillo)

License plates spotted: 43 (two days in a row! oddly for the proximity, we did not see Arkansas)

A Grand Canyon sunrise with deer

One key benefit of staying right there was the ease of getting to see the Grand Canyon at sunrise. Not that getting up for a 5:15AM daybreak was easy but, certainly, a ton easier than if I had been outside of the GCNP. In fact, I am pretty sure I would NOT have done the sunrise thing if it required an hour drive before 5:15AM!

sunrise, Grand Canyon, rim view, Arizona

Needless to say, I was not the only one out admiring the sun’s rise. A few deer accompanied us right between the lodge and the edge of the path though they seemed more interested in the grass than the colors of the canyon walls!

Thunderbird Lodge, Grand Canyon, rim view, Arizona, deer — A tourist at the Grand Canyon

Driving through New Mexico to get to Amarillo, Texas

Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest — Non-descript terrain for a good part

Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest, new mexico roadside diner — Diner at Grants, NM, right before the duststorm part of the drive

Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest, new mexico

Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest, welcome to texas

Grand Canyon to Amarillo, steakhouse, famous steak, great drives, road trip southwest, wind farm, windmill

The windmills above are not properly given justice by this photo. The line of windmills we encountered sometime after crossing into Texas lasted miles and there were multiple rows well beyond the right side of the photo. It was an amazing amount of windmills. As big as everything is in Texas!

Steak night at the Big Texan

And speaking about big in Texas, the Big Texan enters the picture. We stayed next door and ventured to this place famous for its challenge to anyone who dares…

It says ranch but I saw no cows, alive that is!

The challenge is to eat a 72-ounce piece of steak, cooked to order, along with all the sides pictured below in one hour. If you eat it all, besides the stomach ache I imagine ensues, you get the meal for free. Otherwise, you pay $72. We saw two guys get up on the stage to try it but we did not stay to see the drama finish…

I opted for a more modest 8-ounce steak with broccoli!

And with that delicious steak ended day 3 covering the width of New Mexico and parts of Arizona and Texas!

Stats of the drive

Second day: Kingman, Arizona to the Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP)

Routes taken: I-40 east to Route 89 north (around Flagstaff) to Route 64 west (at Cameron) to hit the eastern entrance to the GCNP

Departure time: 9AM

Arrival time: 3PM

License plates spotted: 43 states (somehow I suspect the gravity pull of the Grand Canyon had something to do with this success!)

sunrise, Grand Canyon, rim view, Arizona, route 66, route 89 — Along Route 89

A simple plan

The trip’s plan included spending an overnight at the Grand Canyon National Park and enjoying the beautiful views. The drive from Kingman to the GCNP was going to be only about 3 hours so we planned for a late start this day. This would give us a break from early starts that would characterize the entire roadtrip.

sunrise, Grand Canyon, rim view, Arizona, route 66

Maximizing the Grand Canyon experience

Since we only had an afternoon and an evening (we would leave early the next morning), we splurged by staying right at the rim of the Grand Canyon. For those who have not been there, if you stay at hotels outside of the GCNP, you have about an hour’s drive (or more) for most of them. So that would be a 2-hr roundtrip in and out lost in driving.

We stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge on the edge of the canyon and got a partial view of the Grand Canyon. It was a spectacular setting despite the view being partial.

Thunderbird Lodge, Grand Canyon, rim view, Arizona — The view from the ground floor of Thunderbird Lodge

Sunset light at the Grand Canyon

sunset, grand canyon, el tovar, arizona, national park

But let’s not forget about Kingman

So I just spent telling you about day 3’s sunrise but did not tell you about day 2’s sunrise…

Being that my body was still on Eastern time, I woke up sometime in the 4AM range. First thinking my options were TV or reading, I promptly concluded that it would be good to get some exercise in even if mild. Also, I figured I should try to see some of the town but driving was the last thing I wanted to do. So, I just went for a 45-min walk which also overlapped sunrise.

Our hotel (a very nice Best Western) was right on historic Route 66 so I got to walk some of it seeing the police and fire stations and a few business. I also walked the streets of a middle class neighborhood right behind Route 66 but dogs would bark and being still the wee hours, I felt it a little rude of me to disturb the peace so I went back to Route 66 – to get some of the kicks the famous song promises!