Winslow La Posada

We hoped to climb at Jack's Canyon near Winslow, AZ. There is supposed to be nice camping, which was the original plan, but the forecast was for rain so I took a quick look for other options, not expecting too much from a small town. I discovered La Posada, a historic hotel and gardens designed by Mary Colter. We couldn't resist stopping overnight to check it out.



The interior of the hotel was beautiful, especially considering what it's been through. It opened in 1930. After it closed as a hotel in 1957 it was gutted and used as offices. All the furnishings were sold and all the interior decorating was removed / replaced. Since being bought and rescued in 1997 they have done a great job of gradually restoring it to something like its former elegance, using original items when possible, and similar or reproductions otherwise.



It looked like the gardens would also be lovely at the right time of year. Now, it was quite bare and brown. Just a few flowers poking up.



I don't know the significance of the metal animal sculptures, whether they are original or new. They were fun, though. In addition to the camel and the donkeys, there was also a life sized giraffe.



You might know Winslow from the Eagles song, Take It Easy, that contains the line "Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona".

Winslow also turned out to be an Amtrak stop on the Southwest Chief route. (Originally, before the automobile took over, tourists came to the hotel primarily by train.) Someday I'd like to do a triangle route on the Southwest Chief and California Zephyr, Chicago - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Chicago. We've done the Los Angeles - San Francisco section before but the rest would be new.

We didn't end up climbing here because the weather was too rainy. That'll have to wait for another trip.

See all 6 photos as a slideshow or an overview

See also Shelley's blog post