Not only is this the first road trip of 2020 for Caroline and me, but it is also the 26th anniversary weekend of our wedding back on the 12th of January, 1994. We are most obviously headed north, though I suppose had we gone east, we could have encountered snow, too. In any case, we are headed to Winslow, Arizona.

This photo does absolutely no justice to what we saw. The moon was lensing hard, with undulations moving up and down the edges of the biggest moon we’d ever seen. The drive up has been incredibly quiet as normally we have many a car wanting to pass us since we drive relatively slowly so we can see things along the way. From Strawberry, until we were just about 15 miles outside of Winslow, there wasn’t one car that came up behind us.

For years, we’d talked about staying at the La Posada Hotel in Winslow as we’d drive by saying, “Maybe next time.” I should clarify something here, as I pointed out above, that it’s our Jade Anniversary: we are not really here because of that but because we decided last year to try and travel more frequently as we did in the first decade of the 21st Century.

It was less than a week ago that it struck me that we needed to figure out some get-out-of-town plans for January, or before we knew it, we’d be in February and would have missed the opportunity to start off on the right foot. With nothing else scheduled for this weekend and certain I’d never get a reservation at this historic old Fred Harvey property, I checked out availability, and, well, here we are.

After arriving here on Friday night around 6:00, we checked into our $129-a-night king room and were ready to have dinner in The Turquoise Room. I just have to note the dinner as it was amazing. We split two appetizers, starting with the piki bread and tepary bean hummus, followed by their signature corn and bean soup presented with each of the types on their respective sides of the bowl, ready for the diner to mix it, eat from the middle, or each separately. Our entrees were the Churro Lamb Sampler for me and the Wild Platter for Caroline, which featured crispy quail, elk, and a tamale topped with bison, elk, and wild boar. Dessert was a Harvey Girls Pie of apple, quince, and cranberry.

We even saw the Amtrak stop right outside the restaurant, which had us thinking about taking the train from right here to Chicago. Checking out schedules and prices, the trip becomes even more enticing as it’s only $276 for the two of us, though it does take around 31 hours to get there. The train leaves Winslow at 6:25 in the morning and arrives in Chicago at 2:50 p.m. I can’t help but think that this would be an incredibly unique way to see America, and it may not always be available as the route is not profitable. I’m convinced we need to do this sooner rather than later.