Thursday, February 25, 2010

Scottsdale 2010 road trip, part 2

Last Friday, my mother, daughter, and I were on our way to Phoenix for the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show. We agreed to make one stop along the way in the town of Holbrook, Arizona at this vacant, "historic" hotelto get a letterbox that we couldn't get last year. When my mom and I stopped there last year on our way to Scottsdale, two guys were hanging out at their parked car in the parking lot. It's a creepy enough place without having those strange guys there too, so we drove on.

This hotel is located on Bucket of Blood Street. Go to the link to read more history about this fascinating street. The Bucket of Blood Saloon had so many victims of gunfights that they didn't know how many buckets of blood had spilled on the floors, so they changed the name of Central Avenue to Bucket of Blood Street. Holbrook was a wild cowboy town in 1886, "too tough for women and churches" and boasted that the Hashknife Outfit were the "thievinist, fightinist bunch of cowboys in the west".
There was also this huge pile of petrified wood in the fenced hotel compound. The pieces were BIG and so very pretty.
Who says that Indians don't live in teepees? Lol. These were part of an exhibit at one of the trading posts along old Route 66. Coming into Flagstaff, we were awarded the spectacular view of snowy mountains. All the times I've driven through here I never knew there was any skiing until my daughter told me about the Arizona Snowbowl. They certainly had a lot of snow around.Did I mention that we brought the dogs? Buddha was asking me if we were there yet?
Okay, I know it's grass, but it's so green! As we turned south, the terrain changed and we began to see cactus alongside the mountains and finally, Saguaro!
To be continued...

5 comments:

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

I am so familiar with that stretch of road from Albquerque to Phoenix and absolutely love the scenery around Gallop.

My daughter and I spent a whole day going through the Petrified Forest park for a school project she was working on. It was amazing. I should pull those pics up and post them.

I was very disappointed that I, yet again, did not make it to Phoenix/Scottsdale as I had planned. Looking at yours and Mikey's pictures of all of the green, green grass this definitely would have been the perfect time to go.

Can't wait to see pics of the Arabian Show.

Dan and Betty said...

Neat pictures. We never stopped in Holbrook on any of our trips.

Dan

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Interesting place. Wow. Bucket of Blood street makes for some disturbing images. So were you able to locate the letterbox?

I'm glad you're still enjoying letterboxing. We usually take a hiatus during the winter. I have been planning and carving stamps for some letterbox locations, though. I can't wait until winter is over.


~Lisa

Paint Girl said...

I wish I could have seen you at Scottsdale! I was so crazy busy working 14 hour days. We were so exhausted. But I am finally home!

The Wades said...

Sounds like a good call you made last year when you saw the suspicious characters sitting there. I don't think I would have stopped either.

I've said it before, but maybe I should get my family involved in letterboxing. You guys have the most exciting adventures.