Adult Under Construction: Standin' On A Corner after being Under the Bridge

Soon after returning to Phoenix with my parents, they headed back east and I hit the road with my new hosts, my brother and new sister-in-law. Debbie had a meeting to attend in Winslow, AZ, and we decided to make a trip of it. As if to remind of the varied and unusual beauty of Arizona's geography, our first stop was the natural bridge in Tonto State Park. Once again, our hike began with a steep descent. After getting an eyeful of the bridge itself, we headed underneath it. As our voices began to echo, a man sitting on one of the smoothly worn rocks beneath the bridge asked us where we were going. His manner suggested knowledge and wisdom, and the echoes added a certain gravity to his voice. It was only after a quick look at the tiny logo on his polo shirt that I realized he was a park employee. I suppose in such a small and popular part of the park, he could let the visitors come to him. He offered some directions and explanations before sending us on our way. As we went, we followed his advice and slid down the rock in front of us. Years of water dripping from the exposed plant roots above had made the surface surprisingly slippery, and those same roots soaked me in the closest thing to rain I had experienced in Arizona.

After camping near Blue Ridge Reservoir, we made the drive in to Winslow for the meeting. Jesse and I dropped Debbie off and then attempted to occupy ourselves for a day in Winslow. It was not easy. Both of us were titillated by being in the same town mentioned by The Eagles in "Take It Easy." Before leaving, we learned that Winslow has a park dedicated to the line "standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona." Once there, we found that park to be the highlight of our visit. It seems that the construction of I-40 bypassed Winslow and made it redundant. While it is still a hub for freight train traffic, its main street is a place where shop doors slam in the wind and logos of previous owners remain emblazoned on empty storefronts.

There is one ray of hope, however: new owners are renovating La Posada, an old hotel from the town's heyday as a passenger rail stop. Not much of an architecture connoisseur, I was expecting to lose interest quickly, but they have done a good job of making it comfortable, even for non-paying guests. Especially intriguing was the common room, an amenity forgotten in modern hotels. Rather than encourage guests to use the hotel only as a place to sleep and eat, La Posada attempts to make its guests feel at home. While this effort is at least partly motivated by the original plans of the hotel, it is clear that there is very little to do in Winslow, and encouraging guests to stay in may be the hotel's only hope of succeeding.

We returned to Phoenix via Flagstaff, where we stopped for a brief hike to get one last feel of the cooler weather before returning to the desert. Before long we were back in the triple digits (Fahrenheit) and heading to bed after a busy couple of days.