Williams, AZ February 10, 2020
I'd meant to make another trip to Williams. I'd drove through it on Route 66 when I went to Kingman for the first time. My Route 66 app pretty much ignored all of the downtown area of William and it is clearly a town that loves its association with Route 66. Once I got there, I realized there really wasn't that much to do. You can drive the Historic Route 66 loop, check out the historical marker, eat at a dozen different Route 66 restaurants, shop the historic downtown area and that's about it.
I had some nice BBQ for lunch and then found the Visitors Center. The Visitors Center attendant pointed out a few other things William has, including a few animal attractions outside of town. They look nice, but after Africa I'm not really enjoying the animal attractions like I used to. I still support them, if they are run well and the animals are treated well. I support them even more if they contribute to education or conservation efforts. But the fun for me is in taking pictures, and taking a pictures of something that is fenced in isn't any fun. The Visitors Center also offers a small museum that provides a little history of the area. It wasn't much different than the other dozen small town history museums that I'd visited along Route 66, but it was worth a walk through and they had some interesting information.
The only other thing Williams offers is a train that takes people to the Grand Canyon. I'd known this, and had heavily considered it earlier in my Flagstaff stay. Almost booked the Christmas train to go to the North Pole (a fake Christmas town about half an hour down the track). But it's expensive. And there are 6 different levels of car. Each car offeres better windows and more amenities. As much as I love free snacks, I wasn't really willing to pay an extra $50 for them. The better windows though...that was tempting. I just couldn't talk my self into the $200 ticket and went with the $75 ticket with mediocre windows. I booked the trip for the following day.
After that decision was made, I decided to walk the few blocks of downtown area to check out the gift shops. Coming from Florida, my love of gift shops is limited as its rare to find anything I haven't found 1,000 times in Orlando. They had some unique Route 66 type things and some Native American jewelry and arts, but nothing that super turned my head. Decided to check out a local brewery that I'd seen. Mostly because I needed to use the bathroom and all the bathrooms in the area are for customers only. The brewery I'd seen was closed for renevations but directed me to the Station 66 Italian Bistro to sample the brews.
They didn't have cider so I asked for some recommendations and I sampled 3 and choosing a Holiday Beer that tasted like chocolate. It was good. I drank two.
I had some nice BBQ for lunch and then found the Visitors Center. The Visitors Center attendant pointed out a few other things William has, including a few animal attractions outside of town. They look nice, but after Africa I'm not really enjoying the animal attractions like I used to. I still support them, if they are run well and the animals are treated well. I support them even more if they contribute to education or conservation efforts. But the fun for me is in taking pictures, and taking a pictures of something that is fenced in isn't any fun. The Visitors Center also offers a small museum that provides a little history of the area. It wasn't much different than the other dozen small town history museums that I'd visited along Route 66, but it was worth a walk through and they had some interesting information.
The only other thing Williams offers is a train that takes people to the Grand Canyon. I'd known this, and had heavily considered it earlier in my Flagstaff stay. Almost booked the Christmas train to go to the North Pole (a fake Christmas town about half an hour down the track). But it's expensive. And there are 6 different levels of car. Each car offeres better windows and more amenities. As much as I love free snacks, I wasn't really willing to pay an extra $50 for them. The better windows though...that was tempting. I just couldn't talk my self into the $200 ticket and went with the $75 ticket with mediocre windows. I booked the trip for the following day.
After that decision was made, I decided to walk the few blocks of downtown area to check out the gift shops. Coming from Florida, my love of gift shops is limited as its rare to find anything I haven't found 1,000 times in Orlando. They had some unique Route 66 type things and some Native American jewelry and arts, but nothing that super turned my head. Decided to check out a local brewery that I'd seen. Mostly because I needed to use the bathroom and all the bathrooms in the area are for customers only. The brewery I'd seen was closed for renevations but directed me to the Station 66 Italian Bistro to sample the brews.
They didn't have cider so I asked for some recommendations and I sampled 3 and choosing a Holiday Beer that tasted like chocolate. It was good. I drank two.
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