Edward Is Everywhere

  Around the Fourth of July, I was up in Boston, Massachusetts for a few days. I didn't realize this until after I got there, but President John F. Kennedy's boyhood home is in Boston. The site is run by the National Park Service and is in a residential neighborhood in the Brookline area, 83 Beals Street to be precise.  It is open daily and I went there the morning of the Fourth. Packard's Corner T station Boston has a light rail system running down many streets (and sometimes underground).  The Green Line covers much of the city and has several spurs, so you have to know where you're heading and pick the appropriate "B", "C", "D", or "E". There used to be an "A" branch that split from the "B" branch right here at Packard's Corner, but it is no longer in existence.  Coincidentally, this stop is a short walk away from JFK's boyhood home.  The T is fairly slow, Google Maps often suggested that bikeshare ...

Chelsea is a small town with a population of under 2,000. It is worth a quick stop to walk down the main street and see the buildings. It is also home to what is claimed to be the first oil well in Oklahoma. (The f irst one was actually completed a couple of years earlier .)  One thing that is very unusual is that there is a pedestrian underpass that goes underneath Route 66 right at downtown.  The low concrete wall behind the sign is protecting the stairs that lead to the tunnel. Inside the well-lit tunnel there is a mural that runs the length of it with Rt-66 related scenes. For a few blocks you have historic downtown Chelsea with buildings  (mostly brick ones) lining both sides of the street. the one directly in front is the museum which is in the restored Chelsea Bank building. Under this sign for the Chelsea Inn and Cafe you can see the pink-painted front of Rolling Sweets Bakery , a popular breakfast spot. you can also see that after this building the road changes...

  There are a few places on either side of Vinita, Oklahoma that are worth seeing. They aren't very far outside of town.  Starting from the west is the McDougal Filling Station.  McDougal Filling Station is a tiny sandstone building with a red roof next to the road.  There is a bit of space in front of it where the pumps would go, but there are no pumps or pump islands.  This is the old Little Cabin Creek Bridge. In 2011 a new bridge was built next to it, you can see a bit of it on the left.  The road towards Vinita lies straight beyond the bridge. The bridge is closed to traffic (You can see some rubble blocking the main span) but you can walk across it. However, there isn't a very good place to park, so be careful if you stop. Here's a view of Little Cabin Creek through the metal girders of the old bridge.  Big Bill at the Western Motel Moving on to the west side of town, there are three buildings worth seeing that are right next to each other. ...

  Vinita, Oklahoma (founded 1870) is the county seat of Craig County, OK and has almost 5,200 people living there. On the western edge of Vinita is this old Phillips gull wing gas station, named after the angled canopy over the gas pumps. The building has been restored and is a visitor information center.  When I was there it was being manned by Jeff Lair, he brought a restored car that had been his father's. Relax Inn motel is a great place to be relaxin'. Or at least, I'd expect it to be. It was formerly the Motel Vinita. It, like many motels in Vinita looks well cared for.  Quite close to the Relax Inn is the Route 66 Inn at Vinita, a U-shaped building with parking out front and a fenced-off grassy play area. On the right is an abandoned service station. The office portion of it is gray painted stone and then there are two service bays next to the office. Older photos show a canopy in front of the office which would have been over the gas pumps.  One side of the s...

 Holbrook, AZ really benefited from Route 66, the town has a lot of motels, or, at least it did.  With the coming of the interstate, Holbrook was hit hard.  Now, many of those motels have been converted to apartments. The town soldiers on though, a bit bloodied and worse for the wear.  Holbrook is known as one of the few places where Route 66 took a 90 turn. It suggests that it is the last remaining one. That corner is the intersection of Navajo Blvd and Hopi Drive.  Also on the corner is Gillespie Park with this stone, with a painted Route 66 shield, along with a statue of a pony express rider on a  horse, and a windmill.  Rainbow Rock shop technically isn't on Route 66, but it is close.  The big thing here are the dinosaur statues, but I'm not sure how true-to-life they are. It also has geodes and piles of petrified wood. This is the old Navajo County Courthouse.  It is currently used as a museum and visitor center, and has a nice plaza in ...

Geronimo Trading Post is Exit 280 on Interstate 40, 5 or 6 miles west of Holbrook, Arizona.  It is very close to the interstate, and, if you are driving towards the west, you can easily see the building and the parking lot full of cars. You'll probably be trying to decide if it is worth stopping (you just left Holbrook, after all, but, when you see cars in the parking lot, you'll think, there must be something good there if people are stopping, so I'll stop too. Well... All these cars are decorative. They are just to make you think it is busy.  Most of the cars have flat tires and no license plates.  In fact, it wasn't even open when I went.  Google Maps also lists it as "Temporarily closed" so I'm not sure it is ever open now.  Looking in the front door, all the merchandise is still there, so maybe this really is a temporary condition.  Even if it is closed, it is probably worth stopping for a few minutes.  next to the parking lot is a large collectio...