California Route 66 Road Trip Pit Stop: Barstow

Barstow.  Barstow is not the first place that comes to mind when you think of a California vacation.  Barstow is known for being the junction of multiple major highways.  Barstow is known for its large rail yard.  Barstow is known for its military base.  Barstow is known for being a city you pass through on the way to somewhere else.  Barstow isn’t really known for being a highly sought-after travel destination.  But in the past, Barstow was an important stop on Route 66, so much so that it was one of the 12 Route 66 cities mentioned in the song (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 written by Bobby Troup and made popular by Nat King Cole in 1946.  Therefore, when we took a short Route 66 road trip at the beginning of the year to celebrate Route 66’s 90th anniversary, we made Barstow our first overnight stop so we could see Barstow’s Route 66 remnants and the memorials to this bygone era. 

Main Street Murals

Barstow was first founded in the 1830s as part of the Mormon Corridor.  Barstow developed further with the discovery of gold and silver and the subsequent gold rush to nearby mines like Calico.  Then the railroads came through.  After the railroads came Route 66.  Today, Barstow’s Main Street is one of the last remaining Route 66 Main Streets.  Barstow’s long and varied history is illustrated chronologically in Barstow’s Main Street murals, which were painted starting in 1998.  The murals were created to help revitalize Barstow’s historic district by providing a short walking gallery along Main Street.  Print a map of Barstow’s Main Street murals and wander through this gallery of 15 murals.

El Rancho Motel

While exploring Barstow’s historic main street, stop for a look at El Rancho Motel, a Route 66 hotel since the 1940s.  It is said that El Rancho used to be a popular place to stay for celebrities like Marilyn Monroe.

Harvey House Casa del Desierto

I first learned about Harvey Houses when I saw the movie Harvey Girls with Judy Garland.  What I didn’t realize at the time was that a few of the old Harvey Houses still exist.  One of these is in Barstow.  Fred Harvey ran a chain of restaurants along the Santa Fe Railway.  The restaurants were known for their good food served on fine china and exceptional service provided by prim and proper waitresses known as Harvey Girls.  The restaurants catered to train passengers.  After train travel waned, the Harvey Houses continued to serve travelers, but of the road tripping kind.  The Barstow Harvey House, called Casa del Desierto, was built in 1911 and operated for 60 years until it closed in 1971, which means it was also around to cater to Route 66 road trippers.  Barstow’s Harvey House is one of the last and finest remaining examples of the famous Harvey Houses and is registered as a California Registered Historical Landmark.

Route 66 Mother Road Museum

Housed in the old Harvey House and Barstow train station is the Route 66 Mother Road Museum.  The museum displays historic photographs and artifacts related to Route 66.

Western America Railroad Museum

The Barstow Harvey House also houses the Western America Railroad Museum which displays railroad history and technological development.  Indoors is a display of artifacts, uniforms, tools, and other railroad related items.  Outside are locomotives and railroad operating equipment.

Skyline Drive-In

Drive-in movie theaters were popular during the Route 66 era.  However, only a few hundred are left in all of the United States.  One of those is the Skyline Drive-In of Barstow, a two-screen drive-in with desert surroundings.

Barstow Station

Barstow Station is a popular stop for casual dining.  It started as a lone McDonald’s, but was transformed by owner Fred Rosenberg into an eatery made with 16 train cars strung together in the 1960s.  A building was constructed next to them and Barstow Station had its grand opening on July 10, 1975.   Inside Barstow Station, you’ll find gift shops, an ice cream parlor, and some casual restaurants like Route 66 Hot Dogs, Jed’s Jerky, Subway, Panda Express, and Dunkin’ Donuts.  The McDonald’s at Barstow Station is made of three side-by-side railroad cars, an homage to the importance of Barstow’s railroad.

Barstow Hotels

We stayed at the California Inn Barstow as it is one of Barstow’s pet-friendly hotels and because of its convenient location near Barstow’s historic Main Street.  There are a number of hotels in Barstow from which to choose.

This post contains affiliate links.  If you book through them it costs you nothing extra and we earn a small commission which goes towards supporting this website so we can bring you more travel stories.  

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Arizona Route 66 Road Trip Attractions

Arizona has the honor of having the longest stretch of Historic Route 66 in the nation.  While there is not much left of Route 66 in the eastern part of the state, western Arizona has approximately 140 miles of uninterrupted Mother Road stretching from Topock to Seligman.  To celebrate Route 66’s 90th anniversary, we took a road trip along Arizona’s Route 66 and visited Route 66 attractions and towns.

Arizona Route 66 Topock to Kingman

As soon we crossed the California / Arizona border we hopped onto Route 66.  At over 50 miles, this is a pretty long stretch of Route 66 road.  The biggest Route 66 attraction along this section is Oatman.  There is a lot to do in Oatman, including touring an authentic gold mine, walking through the historic town, and seeing an old-time gunfight in the street.  Be sure to visit the Oatman Hotel, where Clark Gable and Carol Lombard spent their wedding night, and its dollar bill plastered bar.  Probably the most surprising thing you’ll see in Oatman is the wild burros that freely roam the streets.  The burros are friendly and are protected by federal law as symbols of the American West.  This part of Route 66, especially past Oatman, is curvy, so drive carefully, especially at night.

Another point of interest along this section of Arizona Route 66 is the Shaffer Fish Bowl Spring, approximately five miles east of Oatman.  Stairs lead up the hill on the side of the road to a small rock “bowl” which collects water that seeps through the rock from a spring. 

Arizona Route 66 Kingman to Seligman

Route 66 continues through Kingman, which is also off Highway 40, and then veers away from the highway for another 80 plus miles.  

Related: Things to Do in Kingman Arizona on Old Route 66

The first roadside stop along this stretch of Route 66 is Antares Point, home of Giganticus Headicus.  Why this 14-foot tall Tiki head was placed on Route 66, we don’t know, but it is definitely the type of kitschy Americana that makes a US road trip special.  Giganticus Headicus is painted pink in October for breast cancer awareness month.   The rest of the year it is green.

A few miles past Antares Point is Hackberry, home of the famous Route 66 Hackberry General Store.  Outside are gas pumps and old cars from the Route 66 era.  It is both a store and a museum of the Mother Road.

Beyond Hackberry is a town that used to be, Valentine.  The Valentine post office was famous for its heart-shaped postmark.  Today visitors can visit the Valentine Indian School site, the remains of one of the many Indian schools in existence between 1870 and 1930, boarding schools which the children of Native Americans were required to attend, leaving their homes and families behind.  Also in Valentine is Keepers of the Wild, a rescue sanctuary for exotic wild animals that are rescued from or surrendered by private owners.

Other stops along Route 66 from Kingman to Seligman include Truxton, Peach Springs, and the Grand Canyon Caverns.

Arizona Route 66 Seligman to Flagstaff

Seligman is where Route 66 returns to close proximity to Highway 40.  Seligman has shops and restaurants and is a great stop for Route 66 souvenir shopping.  Somehow Seligman gained the right to proclaim itself the birthplace of Historic Route 66 and is the first town along this longest remaining stretch of Route 66 from Seligman to Topock.

Heading east from Seligman, Route 66 is also Highway 40, so you’re back on the freeway.  You can get off the Highway and follow a small length of Historic Route 66 through Williams, the last town in Arizona to be bypassed.  Williams was finally bypassed by the freeway in 1985.  Williams is a great little Route 66 town to visit, filled with many blocks of restaurants and shops and Route 66 memorabilia.  During Route 66 days, Williams was also a popular gateway for travelers wanting to explore the Grand Canyon.

Arizona Route 66 Flagstaff to Lupton

East past Flagstaff there is very little opportunity to drive along the original Route 66.  However, there are quite a few fun detours between Flagstaff and the Arizona state line that Route 66 travelers would have enjoyed during their travels as well.

Related: History and Route 66: Things to Do in Flagstaff in One Day

One of these unusual detours is Meteor Crater, the world’s best-preserved meteorite impact site.  The meteor crater is what you would imagine, a really big hole in the ground.  The crater is one mile in diameter and over 550 feet deep.  The visitor center offers a movie, exhibits, and a piece of meteor rock.  After the visitor center, join a guided rim tour and learn more about this crazy phenomenon.  On the way to Meteor Crater make a stop at Twin Arrows for a Route 66 photo opp. 

The next piece of Old Highway 66 travels through Winslow, Arizona, made famous by the Eagles song Take It Easy.  Eagles fans will want to be sure to stop at Standin’ on the Corner Park, complete with flatbed Ford.  Another must-see in Winslow is La Posada Hotel & Gardens, an old Harvey House that has been lovingly restored into a gorgeous hotel with one of the most delicious restaurants, the Turquoise Room.

Travelers might think the Wigwam Motel of Holbrook looks familiar.  That’s because the Cozy Cone Motel in the Disney / Pixar movie Cars was modeled after the Wigwam Motels of Route 66.  The Wigwam Motel of Holbrook makes sure you see the resemblance.  Not only do they have old classic cars in front of reception and the teepee-shaped cabins, they also have a vehicle straight from Cars out front, Sir Tow Mater.  Holbrook’s Wigwam Motel has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2002, listed as Wigwam Village #6.  A stay at Holbrook’s Wigwam Motel will allow you to respond to the question, “Have you slept in a wigwam lately?” with a resounding “Yes!”

Arizona has a National Park along Route 66, the Petrified Forest National Park.  The Petrified Forest gets its name from the petrified wood that can be found throughout the park.  Millions of years ago, logs were washed away and buried in mud and debris, quickly cutting off oxygen and allowing for an extremely slow decay process.  Minerals were absorbed into the wood, which then crystallized, causing the wood to be replaced with quartz.  The petrified wood looks just like logs and stumps and sections of tree trunk, except they are rainbows of color.  The Painted Desert Rim Drive also passes through a Painted Desert.

Arizona has so many Route 66 attractions, it’s hard to see them all in one road trip.  A road trip along Arizona's Route 66 is like strolling down memory lane, except it is the memory lane of families past who took this road trip so many decades ago. 

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California Route 66 Road Trip Attractions

Route 66 was created to get people from Chicago to Los Angeles.  Route 66 was a popular road trip route in the 1950s, but with the creation of interstate highways, Route 66 became obsolete and the towns along it couldn’t survive being bypassed.  While Route 66 went all the way to Los Angeles, following the original Route 66 through western California is pretty impossible.  However, there are long stretches of California’s Route 66 in the eastern part of the state, especially between Victorville and Needles.  We decided to start the New Year by celebrating Route 66’s 90th anniversary with a short Route 66 road trip and drove as much of California’s remaining Route 66 route as possible.  While we drove Route 66, we visited a number of California’s Route 66 road trip attractions along the way.

Wigwam Village #7

If you’ve seen the Disney / Pixar movie Cars, you probably remember the Cozy Cone Motel, a motel along Route 66 with accommodations in what looked like upside-down cones.   The Cozy Cone Motel was modeled after the Wigwam Motels that used to be found along Route 66.  Wigwam Motels were the brainchild of Frank Redford, who built the first Wigwam Village in 1934 in Kentucky.  The villages consisted of cabins built in the style of teepees surrounding a larger teepee building which housed reception.  He patented the design and a total of seven wigwam villages were constructed in the United States, some as franchises, and some which he built himself, including the one in Rialto / San Bernardino.  Today, three of these Wigwam Villages remain, two of which are along Route 66 and one of which is in California.  The three remaining are now on the National Register of Historic Places, and the one in Rialto / San Bernardino was added in 2012 as Wigwam Village #7.  Travelers can still spend the night in one of the Wigwam Motel’s teepee cabins today.

Route 66 Victorville to Barstow

Photo Credit: Chris M Richards via Compfight cc

After heading north from San Bernardino along Highway 15, we reached the first real long stretch of Route 66 in California.  When you hit Victorville, take exit 153B for E Street and head north.  You’ll pass some industrial plants and then it is open road.  Along this piece of Route 66 the iconic Route 66 sign is painted on the road at various intervals.  There are a handful of small Route 66 towns along the way including Oro Grande, Helendale, Hodge, and Lenwood.  You can stop at Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch, an art installation of metal “trees” decorated with countless bottles.  After Lenwood, Route 66 turns into Barstow’s Main Street, one of the last remaining Route 66 main streets in the United States.

Route 66 Side Trip to Calico Ghost Town

After seeing what there is to see in Barstow, Route 66, also known as the National Trails Highway, runs parallel along Highway 40 and enters the small town of Daggett.  Here we took a detour up to Calico Ghost Town.  On the way, we stopped at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner in Yermo for a tuna melt and a real chocolate milk shake so thick that your cheeks get sucked in when you try to take your first sip through the straw.  Peggy Sue’s is an original roadside diner that was built in 1954.  During the days of Route 66, it had nine stools at the counter and three booths.  Peggy Sue’s was restored and reopened in 1987.  You can still sit at a stool at the counter, dine in one of the dining rooms, or even get your food to go and sit in the Dinersaur Park out back, where you’ll be surrounded by dinosaurs and serenaded with music being played over the loudspeaker that will make you feel like you’re at a sock hop.  The Dinersaur Park is dog-friendly.

Just north of the diner is Calico Ghost Town.  You’ll see Calico spelled out in white rocks on the hillside.  The mining town of Calico was founded in 1881 during the largest silver strike in California.  The population peaked at 3,000 residents.  Calico had 500 mines and produced millions of dollars’ worth of silver and borax in a little over a decade.  But then silver lost its value and it cost more to extract the silver than it was worth.  Calico and its mines were abandoned and it had become a ghost town by 1907.

Walter Knott, known for Knott’s Berry Farm, purchased and restored Calico in 1951.  He restored most of the buildings to look as they did when Calico was a mining town.  There are a few buildings which he left in their original state: Lil’s Saloon, the Town Office, Lucy Lane’s House, the R&D Co. Store, and the General Store.  Calico Ghost Town was donated to San Bernardino in 1966 and it was declared a State Historical Landmark in 1973 and proclaimed California’s Silver Rush Ghost Town in 2005.

Calico Ghost Town is a large attraction and can take a few hours to visit.  In addition to the historical buildings and shops, there are amusement park style attractions as well, which are run by Calico Attractions.   These include a walk through Maggie Mine, with recorded commentary and recreations, a ride on the Calico Odessa railroad, Gold Panning, and a visit to the Mystery Shack where water flows upwards and billiard balls roll uphill.  The attractions are very similar to those we found at Goldfield Ghost Town while driving Arizona’s Apache Trail. 

If your pets are coming with you on your Route 66 road trip, you’ll be happy to know that Calico Ghost Town and its attractions are dog-friendly.  There’s even a shop in town that caters to pets.

On your way out of Calico Ghost Town, make a quick visit to the Calico Cemetery, where residents of the old mining town are buried, including Calico's last school teacher, Margaret Kincaid Olivier. 

Route 66 Barstow to Needles

Back on Route 66, our California Route 66 road trip continued east.  The first noteworthy Route 66 roadside attraction after Daggett is the Bagdad Café in Newberry Springs.  The café was originally built in the 1950s.  It became famous when the movie Bagdad Café was filmed at the café in 1987.  At the time, the café was called the Sidewinder Café, but the name was changed after the success of the movie.

Also in Newberry Springs is the abandoned Whiting Brothers gas station, which closed in 1968.  The gas pumps are like ghosts of Route 66, still showing the price of gas at the time and the amount of the last sale.

Something you probably wouldn’t notice if you were whizzing by on Highway 40 is the lava field in the middle of the Mojave Desert.  Just south of Route 66 is Pisgah Crater, and the flat land around it is covered in lava rock.  The road gets a little rough here, probably because there is no real need to keep it up because of its close proximity to the highway and the lack of towns.  If the road is still rough when you drive it, consider getting on the freeway until you get to Ludlow.  At Ludlow, Route 66 veers south, away from the highway.

Ludlow was a popular Route 66 town, with its Ludlow Café, a motor hotel, and a gas station and garage.  Now Ludlow is a Route 66 ghost town.  There’s still a Ludlow Café, but everything else is pretty much ramshackle, including the abandoned and dilapidated Ludlow Mercantile Building near the railroad tracks.

Along this next stretch of Route 66 are more remnants of what used to be, like the towns of Siberia, Bagdad, and Amboy.  Along the side of the road in Amboy is Roy’s Café and Motel, which is one of the best-preserved Route 66 structures left in California.  While driving through Amboy, you can take a detour and visit Amboy Crater, a volcanic cinder cone surrounded by miles of lava.

Route 66 curves back up towards Highway 40, crosses the freeway at the town of Fenner, and continues north through the town of Goffe.  Route 66 turns back south and terminates at Highway 40, which leads to the last Route 66 town of California, Needles.

Taking a California Route 66 road trip is a fun and nostalgic way to travel, though it’s sad seeing the remains of the towns that used to be.  Perhaps Route 66 road trips will become a popular way to see the United States again, especially for those who enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

Thank you to Calico Ghost Town and Calico Attractions for hosting part of our California Route 66 road trip and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are my own.

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Things to Do in Kingman Arizona on Old Route 66

When we were planning our short Route 66 road trip from California to Arizona, we needed to decide in which cities to spend the night.  We wanted to stay in cities that had Route 66 history, so Kingman, Arizona seemed like a good choice.  After all, it is one of the cities mentioned in Nat King Cole’s (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66.  Little did we know that there are so many things to do in Kingman, Arizona!  What we thought was just going to be a couple hours spent in this Route 66 town turned into almost a full day. 

Related: Happy 90th Anniversary to Route 66! and History and Route 66: Things to Do in Flagstaff in One Day

What to Do and See in Kingman Arizona

Historic Kingman Powerhouse

We started our exploration of Kingman at the Historic Kingman Powerhouse.  The powerhouse now houses the Kingman Visitor Center, the Powerhouse Route 66 Museum, and the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum.  The powerhouse and its museums are dog-friendly.  Be sure to talk to Diane Silverman, Go Kingman’s Information Supervisor, for information and suggestions about what to see in Kingman.  Then head upstairs to visit the Powerhouse Route 66 Museum, or watch the film about the history of Route 66 first.

The Powerhouse Route 66 Museum tells the story of Route 66, starting with the development of a westerly route first developed in the 1850s to make emigration to the west easier along a weather-proof route that was also north enough to bypass the Rebel sympathizers in Arizona. The story continues through the Great Depression and the time of the dust bowl, when Midwestern farmers left their farms during the drought and came west along Route 66, the Mother Road, for a better life.  Route 66 was also part of the recovery from the Great Depression, as the New Deal provided jobs to road gangs during the 1930s when Route 66 became completely paved from Chicago to Los Angeles.  The final exhibits feature Route 66 like it was when it was a popular route for long, leisurely family road trips, before its demise caused by the opening of the interstate.

The Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum is on the first floor of the powerhouse.  It displays a number of vehicles both old and new.  One of the modern vehicles is the Buckeye Bullet 2.5, which clocked 320 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats on August 24, 2011.

Locomotive Park

Across the street from the Historic Kingman Powerhouse is the Locomotive Park.  This small park features the historical monument Steam Engine #3759, a locomotive that was built in 1928 and ran the Santa Fe Railway Company passenger route between Los Angeles and Kansas City, with a water stop in Kingman.  Dogs are not permitted in this park, but a visit to the park doesn’t take very long and there are shaded parking spots nearby.

Historic Downtown Kingman Walking Tour

We picked up a map of the Historic Downtown Walking Tour from the Kingman Visitor Center.  The walking tour has 32 points of interest ranging from museums like the Mohave Museum of History & Arts, which features the history of Northwestern Arizona, to historic buildings like the W. G. Blakely House, an adobe built in 1887.  25 of the sites are on the National Registry of Historic Places.  Most of the sites on the walking tour map are within the 12 block downtown area, but a few are a little farther afield and are better visited by car than by foot.

Hotel Beale once hosted passengers riding the rails of the Santa Fe railroad, and later travelers of Route 66.  The hotel was built in 1900 and purchased by Tom Devine in 1906.  Tom Devine was the father of actor Andy Devine, a comic character actor who was born in Flagstaff but grew up in Kingman.  The part of Route 66 that runs through Kingman is now named after the actor.  Be sure to look up at the Hotel Beale neon sign that proudly proclaims that the hotel was air cooled.  You can get a shot of the sign as well as a modern Kingman feature, the Running Hare sculpture by Don Gialanella.

The Little Red Schoolhouse was Kingman’s second schoolhouse.  The schoolhouse was built in 1896 and is a red brick building built in the Victorian style.  It is the only remaining pre-1900 public building.  It now serves as the city’s municipal court.

The Bonelli House was built by George and Effie Tarr Bonelli, prominent citizens of Kingman.  The house was built in 1915 with local volcanic stone in the Anglo-Territorial style.  The house can be toured during the week.

Kingman Railroad Museum

Railroads and Route 66 go hand-in-hand.  Before Route 66 allowed motorists to make the trip between Chicago and Los Angeles, travelers could take the train, as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad route between Chicago and Illinois was completed in 1885.  For a little railroad history and kitsch, we visited the Kingman Railroad Museum.  Inside you can look at model railroads, and just outside the window you can see real trains fly by about every 15 minutes. 

White Cliffs Wagon Trail

A unique site in Kingman is the White Cliffs Wagon Trail.  A short hike from the road leads to wagon tracks that were cut deep into the stone in the late 1800s.  The wagon trail was used to transport ore from the Stockton Hill mines to the Kingman railroad.  Along the side of the tracks are depressions in the stone that were used for stubbing posts and ropes which kept the wagons from flying down the hill.

Kingman Army Airfield Museum

In addition to Route 66 history, Kingman also has military history.  The Kingman Army Airfield was founded during World War II to train aerial gunners.  Now the Kingman airport is the site of the Kingman Army Airfield Museum run by the Kingman Army Airfield Historical Society.  Exhibits include artifacts and photos of the history of the airfield, and, of course, large model airplanes.  We received a tour of the museum and also learned an interesting fact that was new to us.  When airplane travel was first possible, travelers would travel cross country using a combination of airplane flights and train rides.  Kingman was the last airport on the way to the West Coast.

Kingman Wine Country

Using the term wine country might be a bit of an exaggeration at this time, but if things work out well, sometime in the near future Kingman will have a wine country, and a really good one at that.  Right now there are two wineries open to visitors, Cella Winery and Stetson Winery.  Cella’s wines are made by hand on property with grapes either grown in Kingman, Arizona or Temecula, California.  Cella Winery’s owner and winemaker comes from an Italian family and grew up making wine.  Stetson Winery is a large tasting room and event center.  Their wines are cowboy and Route 66 themed.  Currently, most of their wines are made from grapes from California and Southern Arizona, but they have a Zinfandel made with grapes grown on their Kingman property and plan to release more locally grown wines.

Related: Get Your Sips on Route 66: Kingman Arizona Wineries

Desert Diamond Distillery

Wine isn’t the only alcoholic beverage being created in Kingman.  Kingman also has its very own distillery.  Just a few blocks away from the Kingman Army Airfield Museum, you can find Desert Diamond Distillery near the airfield.  Desert Diamond Distillery is a craft distillery making rum of the white, dark, and barrel aged variety, as well as vodka.  All of their spirits start with sugar cane molasses.  Visitors can have a tasting flight, take a behind-the-scenes tour, or relax with a cocktail.

Related: A Tasting Tour of Kingman's Craft Desert Diamond Distillery

Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner

Since we were taking a Route 66 road trip, it only felt right to have Route 66 style meals.  Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner is the perfect restaurant in Kingman for a Route 66 meal.  Mr. D’z wasn’t around during Route 66 years, but it is the type of diner you would have found along Route 66 back in the day.    I highly recommend the Popsicle Float, an ice cream float made with orange soda and vanilla ice cream.

Kingman Arizona Hotel

There are a number of hotels in Kingman, Arizona, but if you’re visiting Kingman on a Route 66 road trip, you have to stay in a Route 66 motel.  When we arrived at the Hill Top Motel we knew immediately we were staying at the perfect place.  The first thing that greeted us was Hill Top Motel’s classic neon sign glowing red and green.  It looks exactly like the roadside hotels from movies of the 1950s and 60s, one story and you park right outside your door.  Of course, it would have been more authentic if we had been driving a Ford Thunderbird.

Hill Top Motel is a motel, an inexpensive one at that, so don’t expect luxury accommodations.  While not luxury, the accommodations are spacious, clean, and delightfully retro.  Rooms have block walls and wood paneling decorated with southwestern art.  Our room had a comfortable bed, a table for two, and a microwave and refrigerator.  Outside was a pool, though the weather was far too cold for taking a dip.  Since we were traveling with our dogs, we were happy that this Kingman hotel has a pet-friendly policy.

The Hill Top Motel is situated right on Route 66 a short distance away from the center of town, which means it’s nice and quiet.  The hotel has a panoramic view of the Hualapai Mountains.  As Kingman is a Route 66 town, that means the train comes through town, but the train tracks are far enough away from the hotel that the sound of the train isn’t disturbing at all, but rather provides a relaxing, white-noise kind of rumble.

Another great thing about the Hill Top Motel is that it is family owned and run.  Be sure to take a few minutes to talk to the owner Dennis Schroeder and Herberta Schroeder.  They will tell you about the area and suggest a lot of great things to see, not only in Kingman, but along Route 66 as well.  Herberta is a photographer with a gift for lightning photography (you can see some of her images on her website Windswept Images), and she also creates postcards featuring Kingman and Route 66.  

If you have the time, we suggest staying in Kingman for two nights so you can spend an entire day experiencing all the things to do in Kingman and then have a full day to enjoy all of the Route 66 stops past Kingman the next day.

Thank you to Go Kingman for hosting the Kingman portion of our trip along Route 66 and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are my own.

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