Our Route 66 Road Trip Day 13 from Holbrook, Arizona to Flagstaff, Arizona was a day of trading posts – both open and closed long, long, ago. It was literally just trading post after trading post along with a stop at the Meteor Crater.
Route 66 Road Trip Day 13: Holbrook to Flagstaff
Geronimo Trading Post
We started out by checking out of the Wigwams and getting on the Mother Road. Our first stop was Geronimo Trading Post just a few miles down the road. They had a really good price on a turquoise bracelet I had been eyeing at various places since Santa Fe, so the husband got me an early Christmas present.
Trading Post Ruins
Then we came across a few trading posts that are no longer open.
Jack Rabbit Trading Post
Next up, another trading post! The Jack Rabbit Trading Post home of the famous “Here It Is” sign and where you can “ride the rabbit!”
The inside was a little disappointing, but the sign and the rabbit are awesome!
Meteor City Trading Post Ruins
What’s next? More abandoned trading posts, of course! This might have been my favorite trading post, the Meteor City Trading Post, built in 1938 with the dome added in 1979. It is also home to the World’s Largest Dreamcatcher.
Unfortunately, the trading post closed in December of 2012 and it has quickly deteriorated.
Apparently, a scene in the movie Star Man was filmed at this geodesic dome and the Mister kept repeating something about Jenny Hayden. You learn an awful lot about your husband when you’re stuck in a car with him for 40 days.
And I swear everything in Arizona has a geodesic dome, even the gas stations!
And then we visited a big hole in the ground. Really.
Meteor Crater in Arizona
The Meteor Crater in Arizona is awesome! Plus it added some nature to the trip instead of the usual antique stores and awesome tourist shit and motels. Warning, it is a tourist trap at $18, but we LOVE a good tourist trap and it is a pretty awesome sight to see!
It was super windy while we were there, so unfortunately the meteor hike guides were canceled, but we could walk out to the viewing platforms (carefully holding onto our glasses to make sure they didn’t fly off our faces) and use the telescopes to see some of the drilling areas at the base of the crater. So neat!
Based on the shirt sold at the gift shop, I think the wind is a regular thing at the Meteor Crater! So don’t get your hopes up too high to hike it or plan accordingly.
2 Guns Trading Post
Want to take a guess as to what we saw next? Yep, you guessed it, another trading post! More specifically the 2 Guns Trading Post.
2 Guns started as a trading post, gas station, and campground, and later added a zoo (which explains the Mountain Lion signs on brick building ruins (cages?) you can see from the highway. One of the past owners also gave tours down to the Apache Death Cave where 42 men met their death.
My Route 66: EZ66 GUIDE
Twin Arrows Trading Post
And then right down the road is the Twin Arrows Trading Post.
Flagstaff, AZ
We then got into Flagstaff which is a cute town. It feels like a ski town, but I honestly couldn’t tell you if it snows there in the winter or not. There are a few motels with awesome neons (which I photographed, of course!), but we checked into the Little America hotel because it had the best price with the best reviews. It also had a zillion gophers in their lawn. I’ve never really seen that many gophers, and I’m not gonna lie, I chased a few. Sorry, no photos, it was too cold.
Diablo Burger
And we had dinner at Diablo Burger which I would totally recommend! Great burgers, fries, and wine!
STAY: Little America, 2515 E Butler Ave, Flagstaff, AZ 86004, (928) 779-7900
Planning your own Route 66 Road Trip? I used the Route 66: EZ66 Guide for Travelers to plan our trip and I highly, highly, highly (I truly cannot emphasize it enough) recommend the book/maps if you’re planning to drive most of Route 66 turn-by-turn – meaning all of the historic route, no modern-day highways.
Follow along on the rest of our Route 66 Road Trip with my day by day guide:
- Day 1: Chicago, IL to Springfield, IL
- Day 2: Springfield, IL to St. Louis, MO
- Day 3: St Louis, MO to Lebanon, MO
- Day 4: Lebanon, MO to Carthage, MO
- Day 5: Carthage, MO, to Oklahoma City, OK
- Day 6: Oklahoma City, OK, to Shamrock, TX
- Day 7: Shamrock, TX to Amarillo, TX
- Day 8: Amarillo, TX to Tucumcari, NM
- Day 8: I gave Tucumcari it’s own post because I was in neon sign heaven!
- Day 9: Tucumcari, NM to Santa Fe, NM
- Day 10: Santa Fe, NM to Albuquerque, NM
- Day 11: Albuquerque, NM to Gallup, NM
- Day 12: Gallup, NM to Holbrook, AZ
- Day 13: Holbrook, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ
- Day 14: Flagstaff, AZ to Kingman, AZ
- Day 15: Kingman, AZ to Rialto, CA
- Day 16: Rialto, CA to Pasadena, CA
- Day 17: Pasadena, CA to Santa Monica, CA
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Land Acknowledgement
Salty Canary wants to acknowledge that we live, operate, gather, and benefit every day on the traditional stolen lands of several Indigenous peoples and nations including the Tongva (Gabrieleno), Kizh (Gabrieleno), Chumash, Popeloutchom (Amah Mutsun), Ohlone, Awaswas, and Fernandeño Tataviam peoples who have stewarded the lands and waterways throughout their many generations in what is now the state of California.
I wanted to personally acknowledge these Indigenous people and nations and both their commitment and current contributions to the land with a donation to the American Indian College Fund because acknowledgment without action does not begin to address the systemic issues facing Indigenous people. If you feel as though you benefit from the land you’re living on or traveling to and you have the means, I kindly ask that you donate at least $1 to a Native-led organization such as the Native American Rights Fund or the American Indian College Fund.