Young Snowbirds » route 66

Dawg House Diner in Dwight on Route 66

Rob — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:18:14 +0000

The Dawg House Diner in Dwight Illinois on Route 66 is part of a collection of HDR photography included in our Road Trip 2011 Calendar now available for sale, just in time for and making nice holiday gifts.

Every picture tells a story and this one is no different. After the first 8000 miles of our 17,000 mile journey, I came to realize that when Darlene photographs her subject, any sort of thing can happen. From the Texas neighborhood watch that approached us within 2 minutes of arriving at the ward lefrance pumper, to a skateboarder taking his goldfish out for a ride, coasting through our shot while the shutter was open.

After a few days in Chicago visiting historical Al Capone sites including his grave site, touring the filming locations of the Blues Brothers and some geocaching, we decided to spend a day on Route 66 in Illinois. It was on our last day in Chicago when waiting to cross the street to the Museum of Art, we noticed the Route 66 mile zero marker on it’s post on the side of the street. We had been to a few parts of Route 66 while in Arizona a few months earlier and thought “We simply have to see Illinois’ section while so close”.

We started out early and made our way from the Leisure Lake RV Resort near Joliet Illinois, through Joliet and south west to Dwight.

Dwight Illinois

Dwight has an enormous amount of history aside from it’s involvement in Route 66. Downtown Dwight boasts the First National Bank building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905 and the Keeler Institute (now the Fox Development Center) which includes some amazing stained glass windows. I mean really amazing.

It’s also home of one of the oldest operating gas stations along Route 66, the Amblers Texaco gas station. It’s been restored to very near it’s original condition and serves as a welcome center for Dwight. we bought and mailed some postcards from here.

but I get ahead of myself.

The Dawg Diner

We came into Dwight from the north east and one of the first things we saw was this classic American diner. A little run down to say the least and for sale as I recall. Proudly displaying it’s Dawg Diner name on the side opposite from our picture, it stood there along the road in it’s red and white striped brilliance. (Update: Learned later that the most recent name of the diner in Dwight was Big Al’s Hot Dog’s)

We learned earlier from one of our RV magazines that it was national Pick Some Litter day and that RV’ers were encouraged to clean up any liter they found today. We cleaned up around the diner a little before setting up the tripod. It was a bit tricky to get a good angle because of an obstacle in our way (see video), but Dar did her best.

Using a wide angle lens includes objects very near the camera, so like I said, it was a bit tricky.

Video of Dawg Diner on Route 66

Road Trip Calendar

Have a look at the rest of the HDR Photography included in the Road Trip 2011 Calendar and then go ahead and order as many as you’d like using the buttons on the bottom of the page. Stunning imagery of places such as Rhyolite Ghost Town near Death Valley in Nevada, the Tombstone Boot Hill Hearse, a couple of shots of a classic fire truck from Corpus Christi Texas, two more all American diners from Rochester New York and Bisbee Arizona, a vintage corvette on a beach and more from Route 66.

The Dawg Diner was our introduction to Dwight Illinois, but we spent over 2 hours in the little town. Beautiful place and “not just a bump in the road.”

Road Trip 2011 Calendars

Darlene — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:50:10 +0000

These will go like hot cakes, don’t hesitate – get yours now!

A couple years ago I did a calendar of some of my favorite images of Peru. I got to thinking, since I took over 17,000 images on our six month RV trip south – I should do the same this year! So here is the official launch of Road Trip 2011 calendar. It includes 13 fabulous images from our 26,000 km (over 16,000 miles for my American friends) in full color glossy pages in 8.5×11.
The calendars will retail for $20 plus GST, shipping is extra if needed – I just charge you what it costs me. Shipping will be added to your total if you order online here. If you pick up your calendar I’ll give you a cash refund for the shipping cost.

CALENDARS MAKE GREAT GIFTS – ORDER A FEW!

Calendars are great gifts, staff or co-workers and those hard to buy for people. The best part is even those tough to buy for guys on your list will like it because there’s cars in it! I went with a theme this year of Road Trip as that’s exactly what our journey was – one big one at that! So the images are things along the Roadside, or things that were once on the road. We even hit Route 66 a couple times so look for some cool diners and gas stations.
Here are the images that appear in the Road Trip 2011 calendar. It’s a slide show, so just click the picture to start it. Of course they are much more impressive in print but this is a good teaser.

Click to play slide show

Odell Station on Route 66

This photograph of the Odell Station on Route 66 in Illinois is one of Rob’s (my husband) favorite images. He says he has a lot of good energy around it. We were running out of light and I wanted to make it to this town to photograph this station. We got there and it was all but dark and no lights on the building. So we started photographing with our car headlights on it for any light at all. We tried using a flashlight on it and as we started running around lighting bits of the station up – the motion sensors came on and we had an “aha!” moment. So we used the lights to our advantage – each one set off in a different exposure, some of them at long at 8 minutes. Then I worked some magic in Photoshop to combine about 9 different shots into the final image you see here. Is that cool or what?

I just remember having to go to the bathroom the entire time and when you’re doing the Pee Dance 8 minutes for each exposure is a loooooong time! What you don’t see in the image is Rob running around setting off the motion sensors and then hiding behind the posts or around back of the station while the exposure finishes. Trust me, he’s in the picture a lot, but he’s always hiding out of sight.
I asked him why he likes it so much and he told me that after a great day exploring Route 66 with me, we got to this spot as the sun was just setting. It was quiet and peaceful with virtually no other cars around to interrupt us. The stars had come out, the sky was clear and the air was so very fresh. His helping me set up the shot and running around the building setting off the light sensors just allowed him to fully appreciate the place and be fully present during the making of the shot. He says he was in pure joy for a good hour.
Back to the Road Trip 2011 Calendar.

To order your Road Trip 2011 calendar please click on the Add to Cart button below to make your payment by Paypal. If you’re in Edmonton I’ll be keeping a list and you can come pick your calendar from me directly once I get them. If you require shipping and billing to the US, please use the button below for US Orders.

Canadian orders here!

USA orders here!

For orders of more than three calendars please email me with a quantity as I’ll have to get a quote on shipping. Then if you want to proceed I’ll send you a custom invoice including the freight.

Day 33 – Meteor Crater and Winslow Arizona

Rob — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:44:34 +0000

I take full responsibility, as visiting the Meteor Crater and Winslow Arizona were my idea. Since seeing the movie Star Man with Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen from 1984, I’ve always wanted to see the Meteor Crater. As for Winslow, well, while only 17 miles from it, one has to get a picture “Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona,” doesn’t one?

We planned a 2 day trip, to visit the Meteor crater and Winslow on day 1, then on to the Grand Canyon the next day after spending the night in Flagstaff.

Meteor Crater

Barringer Meteor Crater just outside Winslow Arizona

The Meteor Crater is 43 miles east of Flagstaff on the 40 and 202 miles from our location in Goodyear and quite frankly, not as big as I thought it would be. It’s impossible to see without paying the $15 entry fee and proceeding through some serious security gates. Very odd. It’s over a mile across, 550 feet deep (currently, but changes all the time) and about 2.4 miles around. Oh, and it’s pretty old too.

The Meteor Crater was used in the early 70’s as a test ground for NASA astronauts as they practiced for lunar crater exploration. Various viewing scopes were fixed in place aimed at historical points around the location, some to sights of early drilling, one to a life size cutout of a man in a space suite along with a full size replica of the US flag on the moon positioned at the very bottom and a few other things.

Obligatory "He and She" in front of the crator shot

Now I dont’ remember the weight of this exactly, and with all the details of the various parts of the actual “hurtling through space” and “final impact” of the object you know, but I seem to recall that this little bugger I’m pictured with is about 1100 pounds. I do remember though that it’s a meteor that makes its way through space and a meteorite that makes the impact. In space it’s one thing, while after impacting the earth, it changes name. Either way, this little 1100 lb bugger displaced 300 to 400 MILLION tons of earth when it hit 50,000 years ago (exactly).

I’m glad to have taken the time to go to the Meteor Crater, to be able to say I’ve been there and cross another item off my life list.

“We’re off to Winslow,” we said to the guard as we made our way out of the security check point.

“Not much of a place” he said which we thought was odd at the time.

“We’ve got to get our picture taken while ‘Standing on the corner’,” we said back and with that made our way to the car.

Driving past “Two Arrows” we saw the two giant arrows at the now abandoned gas station on the side of the road. A few miles later we encountered “Two Guns” Arizona, but had no such attraction as the arrows. Interesting to see two towns named the way they were in the short 17 miles to Winslow.

Winslow Arizona

We pulled off the highway and onto Route 66, to make our way through historic Winslow.

“Not much of a place,” we thought, echoing the guard’s sentiment.

Lots of old buildings in disrepair, houses, shops etc and more motels in a short space of distance than I’ve ever seen before in my life. The little town is more or less split by two one way streets going east and west and on each side of the street are motels and more motels, most relics from the early days of Route 66’s history, some still functioning while others boarded up along with most of the rest of Winslow’s business district.

Standing On The Corner Park

At one four way stop, we happened to see some people taking photographs when we realized we had stumbled upon “Standing On The Corner Park”, a small space dedicated to the city and the famous lyrics by The Eagles, from the song “Take it Easy.” There sat a bright red flat bed Ford on the street and a brilliant mural behind a lone statue with a guitar. We pulled over and parked.

After convincing the local homeless man that we’d like to have our picture taken “without” him in the picture and to move aside, we took a bunch of photographs. That done, we decided to walk the street a little further, camera firmly in Dar’s hand.

Rob and the Flat Bed Ford in Winslow Arizona

This is one of my favorite shots and I’ve seen nothing like it before. Dar used a wide angle lens and literally stood against the opposing wall across the street while I tried to stay behind the lens and hold the American flag down so it was straight. You’ve really got to love the wide angle lens, you know?

I thought about all the people who’ve made their way here simply because of The Eagles song “Take it Easy” and wanting to have their picture take “Standing on the Corner in Winslow Arizona”. I thought of my friend Bob Garon who himself told me that he had to come here just for the photo. We arrived to a couple standing getting a photo and we left a few hours later after seeing an entire high school wrestling team take a group shot at the location, meaning more to their coach than the team, I’m sure.

Surprisingly, just about all the shops were closed for the day and this was 3:30 on a Saturday. Again, very very odd.

La Posada Hotel

I had heard about the La Posada Hotel somewhere earlier, but paid no attention to it because, why would I care about a hotel in Winslow Arizona? Well, we stumbled upon the La Posada and decided to take a look.

Front Gate at La Posada Hotel Winslow Arizona

Walking up to the doors from the Route 66 street side provided an excellent opportunity for some architecture photography by Darlene. This hotel was certainly old and while not in the state of disorder the town’s other motels showed, it still had it’s own issues. If the cars out front were any sign, it was certainly a working hotel.

I left Dar outside to take photos as I went through the two paint chipped doors, one with a note to “use the other door”.

What lay inside stunned me.

From the outside, one would have NO idea what the insides offered. I was to soon learn that National Geographic Travel magazine listed La Posada Hotel on their 2009 “Places to stay” list

A 1929 railway hotel originally designed as a centuries-old fantasy Spanish hacienda. Saved from demolition by historic preservationist owner in 1997: hand-painted glass windows, tin chandeliers, some original six-foot-long cast-iron tubs. Planting of original garden based on sustainable desert plants now underway. You can still come here by train: Amtrak stops twice a day. 37 rooms; from $109.

Trip Advisor rated La Posada Hotel as #3 on its list of bargain hotels in the US while readers of Conde Nast Traveler chose it as “one of the best places to stay in the world”.

The La Pasada Hotel was the creation of Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, a name having very little meaning as I stood exploring the hotel and grounds, but I get ahead of myself.

After walking through the front doors, I was so blown away by what laid ahead of me that I sat down on the couch to watch a little movie looping on the flat panel TV across from a beautiful couch, just past the doorway to the reception and gift shop. The DVD playing was part of a documentary / movie being made about the hotel and was made available to the hotel owners for display, but as it was unfinished, was not available for sale or professional showings. Here I sat, just 10 feet into the front foyer, Route 66 a few feet past the doors I came in, watching and waiting for Darlene to follow.

Fifteen minutes had easily passed when I realized Darlene was not coming into the hotel. I left to find her outside still photographing the bits and pieces of the hotel. After a few minutes of the video I had watched, I looked at the front entrance way with new vision. I took my time and soaked it all up. What first looked like disarray in fact was part of a historical restoration by the current owners. Like a good muscle car, the owner was taking care of the inside before turning his attention to the outside. I stood on the front steps and watched Darlene make photographic magic. When I slow down, and see the things she sees through the lens of her camera and her eyes, everything we do and all the places we go make more sense to me. This seems to be especially true of architecture and historical places. Her eyes work differently than mine and I’m grateful for being able to experience the art of her eye.

I encouraged her to enter the building and see what awaited her.

As we ventured past the point where I had sat earlier, and saw into the lobby and down the hallway around the corner I hadn’t yet made it to, I said “Holy shit!”

Literally a few feet past where I was sitting, the inside of the hotel opened up. Down the hallway past the former lobby was a staircase to a second level and off to the right were short stairs going up to a ballroom and outside a sunken garden. The tin work, art by a local artist accompanies the new owners art along side as much of the original work as possible.

Looking East from the West Wing rooms through the cinderblock court, past the lobby

The Ballroom

Hotel La Posada was originally the Arizona headquarters for the Santa Fe Railway and when constructed in the very late 1920’s had a budget of $1 Million dollars. The La Posada Hotel website says that with grounds and furnishings, the hotel was rumored to have exceeded $2 Million dollars, or $40 Million today.

My words fail to capture what my eyes experienced in this wonderful hotel. We took a walk out the other side and found the railway tracks still used today by Amtrak, delivering guests to the hotel making stops twice a day.

Train side entrance of the La Posada Hotel Winslow Arizona

Train Station Winslow Arizona

Walking through the hotel, we discovered more history including weddings that have taken place, renovations made by the railway that destroyed original art in favor of a doorway and famous guests including Jimmy Stewart, Shirley Temple, Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, John Wayne and Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

We left the hotel to walk back to the Standing On The Corner Park and our car, wanting to drive around Winslow just a bit more before settling in on a way to best describe the town.

Virtually absent from people, we got a few more good shots at the park including some with the flat bed Ford that we hadn’t taken previously. After another 10 minutes alone, we drove up the street and then back down the other side of Route 66, heading West now on the other one way street. Finding a postcard and mailing it to a friend back in Edmonton, we drove the rest of the way out until spying a native art store for Darlene to peruse.

For the life of us, we could not figure out what Winslow’s industry was, what was its reason for being here? Why would there be so many motels lining the roads? Only since doing more research on the little town did we discover that Winslow was chosen as the headquarters of the Santa Fe Railroad, as it still is today, and a great place to build a resort hotel. Being a short distance to many Arizona sights to see, the community developed from tourism. The airport was the only all weather airport between Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Los Angeles, California when built by Charles Lindbergh and paid for by Howard Hughes who were also guests at La Posada Hotel. While Winslow is located on one of the busiest railroad lines in the United States and has 100 trains go through it each day (we saw 3 of them as we stood out front of the hotel), the I-40 bypassed the little town in 1970, leaving Route 66 available for local residents, tourists and history seekers.

After seeing a drug deal go down in front of the Circle K while Dar looked for Wifi, we left thinking Winslow was more or less “a shit hole.” an “odd little town.”

Our evening meal was found through Restaurant.com and a short 5 minute drive from our Motel in Flagstaff. We ate at the Himalayan Grill, continuing our vegetarian theme while eating out. Truly wonderful place with exceptional food, serving sizes and prices. Our greeter was Nepalese and after looking at a photograph of the Himalayan countryside, asked if I’d been. I explained that I had hiked to Mt Everest Base camp a short 16 months previously and we chatted about Kathmandu and other Nepal attractions. Our waitress, also Nepalese took our order. We chose the vegetarian platter and had more than enough food after a day of sitting and driving. We’d easily rate it a 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone when eating in Flagstaff.

We settled in for the night thinking of tomorrows adventure, the Grand Canyon.

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.