Hallway at La Posada
Day 10 – Winslow, AZ
Turns out that today is Laura’s birthday, reinforcing the notion that staying here is the best idea. So, tomorrow will have to be a bit crunched to get all of the photos on the to Albuquerque, but today is heavenly.
La Posada
One of America’s treasures, the beautifully restored 1930 Harvey House was designed by Mary Jane Coulter, the most influential female architect of her time. La Posada was the last of the great Harvey House/Santa Fe Railway hotels.
Colter, who also designed the Hopi House at the Grand Canyon, considered La Posada to be her favorite project, being the only time she was allowed to design everything from the gardens to the buildings. When you walk down the hall, you are struck by the genius of her design – breezy and well-lit, without air conditioning on a hot summer day.
Timing of the opening of the grand hotel couldn’t have been worse. 1930 saw the beginning of the Great Depression, and La Posada never truly prospered. It closed 27 years later, the museum-quality treasures auctioned off. In 1961, it was gutted to be transformed into offices for the Santa Fe Railway (yes, acoustic ceiling tiles and all.) By 1994 the National Trust for Historic Preservation but La Posada on its endangered list.
After three years of negotiation, Allan Affeldt and his wife Tina Mion, purchased the landmark and immediately began restoration, hiring local artisans to restore it to its glory. Oh, and what glory it is!
And do not miss the Turquoise Room for your dining! The “Corn Maiden” breakfast was spectacular, with sweet corn polenta and eggs, just the right blend of savory. Their signature soup, a black bean/corn chowder looks as good as it tastes. And we shared the elk medallions with black current sauce (grown locally by our server!). The chocolate souffle, well, just go ahead and order it. Ok, so this trip will be sending me to the gym for extra workouts – but who cares!
Mural detail
My original plan to drive back out 20 miles or so to Two Guns and grab some photos of the infamous “Mountain Lions” sign was twarted by ridiculously high winds and the ensuing dust storm that browned-out the highway. So after 10 miles of a serious steering wheel clampdown, I headed back to Winslow to see some more sights.
I stopped in the visitor’s center, formerly the Lorenzo Hubble Co Trading Post (once home of the World’s Largest Navajo Rug) and they gave me great tips on some photo finds that I didn’t have on my shot list. Winslow is another of those Route 66 towns that is really working hard to make the trip well-worth it.
Your photos are beautiful,
and I had such a wonderful time on this trip.
Again, I feel so fortunate that I was able to
experience Route 66 before the fires became so big.
The app, road trip 66, is a blast. Suitable for ages 4 – 99 years.
It is the best scavenger hunt/summer vacation ever.
xox
Patty