The Ups and Downs of The Canyon Motel (Williams, AZ)

It’s not every day that your mom gets her master’s degree. So if her graduation is in another city, you make travel plans.

After getting back from our last big extended-family trip to my cousin’s wedding in Virginia, we started planning for Mom’s Northern Arizona University graduation in May. We were looking for somewhere that everyone making the trip to Flagstaff could stay.

Cast of Characters:

My mom (a.k.a. Graduate with honors) and dad (vital support system and expert pancake maker)

My brother Ian, sister-in-law Christine, niece and nephew (yep, they flew in from Seattle!)

My aunt (Sister of the Graduate), uncle, and their dog

Phillip and me

Turns out that, even four months ahead, we were a little late. Flagstaff hotels were filling up for graduation weekend, and the rooms that were available tended to cost double or triple their regular rates. We looked at cabins and Airbnb and weren’t finding anything that could accommodate all of us well. (Some of these places have like a million bedrooms but one bathroom. #badideas)

We were excited to find The Canyon Motel and RV Park, which fit what we were looking for:

Kitchenettes (microwave, mini-fridge, coffeemaker) so we could bring some of our own food.
Picnic tables for family meals.
ADA accessible rooms.
Playground for the kiddos.
Dogs allowed.

Williams

The motel is not actually in Flagstaff but in Williams, about 30 minutes away.

Williams, Arizona’s claims to fame:

“Gateway to the Grand Canyon” – most routes to the Grand Canyon go through Williams. It’s an hour south of the visitor center on the South Rim.
Grand Canyon Railway – train from Williams to the Grand Canyon
Route 66 – the historic route still goes through Williams and turns 90 this year!

The Property

Canyon Motel is minutes from historic downtown Williams one direction and Bearizona animal park the other.

The motel part is actually a series of renovated 1940s cottages with exteriors made from the local flagstone. There are 3 separate rooms next to each other in each building.

Besides the cottages, you have the option of staying in a vintage train car or caboose, pulling up your RV or tent camping.

There are fire pits and grills near the picnic tables, a heated indoor pool, and a “hidden patio” (for rent).

The office doubles as a general store selling snacks and Route 66 souvenirs.

Rooms

While each room is different, the whole place is decorated with a kitschy Route 66 / railroad theme. There are vintage travel posters, benches with backs made from Chevy truck tailgates, and lots of railroad and road signs.

All rooms include kitchenettes. Some also include sofa beds. Ours had shelves near the mini-fridge and also in the bathroom, which is nice. We didn’t have a closet but there was a clothes rack and hangers.

Service

Plot twist: A few weeks out, my aunt realized they wouldn’t be able to make the trip.

When she called to cancel their reservation, the motel couldn’t find it in the system. Which is disconcerting. If they had come with us, they may not have had a room when they arrived.

Check-in Drama

Although the motel had the rest of our reservations, our arrival still wasn’t exactly smooth.

Act I

A white minivan, carrying my parents and Ian’s family, pulls up in front of the Canyon Motel office.
Dad is told he can’t park there.
Misdirected by signs meant for RVs, he pulls forward a few feet, and sends me a warning text.
Meanwhile, Ian is checking in. The desk clerk goes over where everything is, circling recommended restaurants on a map.
They go into their respective rooms, where my niece promptly throws up on the bed.
Someone from the motel brings a change of bedding.

Intermission.

Act II

30 minutes later, Phillip and I arrive.
Confused, we follow Dad’s text and park in front of the office.
Phillip is told to move the car. (Exits)
I check in and receive a single room key.
The desk clerk patiently goes over where everything is, circling recommended restaurants on a map – as if she hadn’t just done that when Ian arrived and probably 10 times that day.
As we wrap up, Phillip returns from moving the car and is told to now park it next to our room.

And…scene.

I Saw the Sign

Of course, not all the check-in drama was the motel’s fault. (They did not, for example, ask my niece to get sick.) Actually, every employee we spoke with was friendly and helpful.

There are just a lot of things design- and policy-wise that make the place itself feel unwelcoming.

Besides the confusing parking, there are baffling rules about all kinds of things, like which picnic tables to use. There are do-and-don’t signs posted all over the place.

More importantly, even though our bed was comfortable, not everyone’s was. The sofa bed where my niece was slept was basically all springs. Fortunately, she’s small enough she could curl up on the one useable corner. (My even smaller nephew slept on a cushion. Awww…)

Conclusion

Our stay wasn’t all bad, but it was a mixed bag. It was great for multiple families to be close together, still have our own individual space (and bathrooms!), and room for the kids to run around. They loved the playground, and the picnic tables were a good gathering spot.

If we were to do this trip over, I’d probably still stay there, because it worked for what we needed at the time. In other circumstances, though, I’d probably opt to stay somewhere that made me feel less like an intruder – or a hassle – and more like a guest.

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We received a media discount for our stay from The Canyon Motel and RV Park.

May 23, 2016May 23, 2016

Martha’s Vineyard Local Ingredients

I mostly know Martha’s Vineyard through podcasts. Of course, I’ve heard it mentioned on the news as a place where presidents and hoity-toity people go to vacation.

But the year-round residents are a close-knit community – one that, I learned from This American Life’s annual poultry slam episode, is sometimes plagued by roving bands of wild turkeys.

The most recent podcast to bring Martha’s Vineyard to my attention was The Moth. One of the storytellers is a farmer and chef-owner of a restaurant on the island with food sourced from the area and his neighbors. The menu changes daily and may include ingredients like the mussels his friend grows just off the nearby shore or shiitake mushrooms from a family farm down the street.

The restaurant is called Beach Plum, and they also have an inn and rental cottages. It sounds like a really lovely place to be.
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Photos by Gabriela Herman via Beach Plum Inn.

May 21, 2016July 7, 2016

Yuma Favorites: Part 2

It’s only a 3-hour drive from Phoenix to Yuma, but we still got a little punchy.

After one of the signs saying how many miles we had left, I told Phillip, “Yuma sweetie.”

At some point, we ended up singing “Yuma be right, I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for…”

I think we each found our lunatic.

Finally, we got in to our room at the Candlewood Suites Yuma. Even though we were a couple of tired lunatics, we couldn’t resist rifling through the kitchen to see what was in there. They had us supplied with pots and pans for the stove, popcorn for the microwave, and then Phillip made a discovery…

“Ooh! A toaster! I really want something to toast now.”

Even on trips like this when I plan to pick up food at local markets, I still end up traveling with a pretty serious stash of snacks. But I didn’t have anything particularly toasterable. (Chia-pomegranate Clif bars seemed like a bad idea.)

So while I explored Yuma the next day, I would also be on a quest for local produce – and something for Phillip to toast.

Hay Yu(ma)!

A world record holder for sunny days and the Winter Lettuce Capital of the World, Yuma also happens to be located at the confluence of the Gila and Colorado Rivers.

Because of the climate and access to water, agriculture has been important in the area for centuries. Long before Arizona was a U.S. territory, tribes along the Colorado River used the flooding cycle for farming.

Like Phoenix, Yuma has a growing season that’s kind of the reverse of most of the U.S., running from fall to spring. The hot summers mean agricultural workers pack up and move operations to Salinas, California (the summer lettuce capital) – also Yuma Jazz Company’s concerts move indoors, snowbirds fly home, businesses catering to visitors shut down or scale back sometime in the spring.

Yuma Garden Company

The Yuma Garden Company is full of dried herbs and teas in apothecary jars. Outside is a plant-filled patio with vegetables and citrus from the owners’ farm and tables for sitting and sipping tea. In April, there were also heaping baskets of tomatoes and peppers everywhere.

Their rustic boho space felt warm and established, even though they’d only been open 3 weeks when I visited.

I picked up grapefruit and a bunch of purple carrots.

Martha’s Gardens Date Farm

Just east of town is Martha’s Gardens, a date farm with a store/cafe and better date shakes than we had in Dateland itself. They informed me they could even add espresso shots. Sold. It was like a delicious, datey affogato.

They offer farm tours, but there’s a fee, a minimum of 10 people, and the schedule IRL may not match what’s online. We thought we were there past tour season, but, apparently, that’s not the case. And the sign-up book had spaces through at least June. (I peeked.) So…I guess…call ahead and keep your fingers crossed.

Field to Feast Farm Tours

The Visitors Bureau offers seasonal, hands-on agricultural experiences where you learn to harvest your own vegetables, tour a farm, and then enjoy a fresh-from-the-field lunch.

North End Eats

Speaking of lunch, here are a few options for food around the downtown area.

Lutes Casino

At one point in the Lutes Casino building’s 115-year history, it was an actual casino owned by R.H. Lutes. Currently, it’s an amiably-divey hamburger joint that claims to be “where the elite meet.” They serve salsa in syrup pitchers and have some weird food mashups. Want a hot dog on a cheeseburger? Or wrapped in a tortilla and fried?

My reply is no, but both are on the menu.

The special of the day was an Angus burger so good it made me think this might be where the elite meet after all.

They probably just don’t order the taco dog.

Das Bratwurst Haus

Das Bratwurst Haus is a German restaurant, apparently catering to the winter visitors. True to his German roots, Der Husband had to go check it out. And then required apfelkuchen, which is like a lovely hybrid between apple pie and cake.

North End Coffeehouse

Situated in half of the historic Gandolfo theater, North End Coffeehouse has their own roasting company, in-house baker, and is a welcoming spot to spend time.

Not only did they have some good, well-crafted coffee to remedy the weak brew from the hotel that morning, they had one bagel left.

I got it to-go, so Phillip could test out the toaster.

Breakfast

Our second morning in Yuma started with an herb bagel from North End Coffeehouse and sweet grapefruit from Yuma Garden Company. I also remembered reading a tip somewhere about doubling up on hotel coffee packets, so that helped to rectify the weak coffee situation.

Once we were fueled up and checked out, I wanted to show Phillip some of the historical sites I’d scoped out the day before.

Yuma-st Remember This

The Quechan Reservation

The Fort Yuma/Quechan Reservation straddles the Colorado River, extending into both California and Arizona – probably because the Quechan tribe was there before these state boundaries, before the need to transliterate their name as Quechan or Kwatsan or Kwtsaan, before the Spanish referred to them as the Yuma.

To learn about Quechan history and culture, check out the interpretive trails in Sunrise Point Park and the cultural center inside Quechan Casino.

I’d seen a sign for crafts (yes, please!) the day before, so Phillip and I went in search of the museum gift shop whose museum had to close due to structural damage.

We never did find it and, honestly, that was partly due to getting in an argument over directions. Real life isn’t all late-night Billy Joel and apfelkuchen.

I now have a better idea how to find the museum gift shop:

Go when it’s actually open (weekdays 8am-5pm).
Follow the signs north of Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge.
Don’t get in a fight with your significant other.
Look for a modular building next to the museum.

The Quechan Senior Center Gift Shop (472 Quechan Drive, Winterhaven) also has handcrafted items.

Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge

When automobiles were still a new thing and Colorado River steamboats a recent memory, a highway across the U.S. was a pretty big deal. The single lane steel bridge over the Yuma Crossing made a crucial connection, which earned it the impressive name “Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge.”

Also, bends in the river/the state line mean that you can go north over the bridge and end up in California without even realizing it.

A few other notes on historical sites in the area…

The St. Thomas Mission on Indian Hill has Saturday and Sunday Masses, or you can call (760) 572-0283 to arrange a visit at another time.

Territorial Prison – A former prison, then high school, now museum.
Pivot Point Interpretive Plaza was recommended for getting oriented. Maybe if I’d gone there first I wouldn’t have gotten lost on the way to the gift shop. Maybe.

Quartermaster Depot Museum – The railroad was also important in Yuma’s development, and trains haven’t stopped running.
The Yuma County Courthouse in my Good Roads book burned down in 1927. Since its blockier replacement was built on the same site, I still had to get a photo.

The Art Deco-ness of the Masonic Lodge catty-corner from the Courthouse caught my eye.

See Yuma Later

We took a different route home through the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. Its visitor center is really close to Martha’s Garden but not open on Saturdays. The Refuge itself, however, is always open. There are no gates and only one designated trail (in Palm Canyon, which we visited a few years ago).

We didn’t have time to hike this time, but we are already thinking about when we can return to the area. Maybe we’ll go back during next year’s ArtBeat or once Candlewood Suites finishes the renovations they have scheduled for this year. (We’ll also have to get in town early enough for the evening reception – apparently, they do a whole dinner on Mondays and Thursdays. I need to investigate.)

For this trip, we did stop along the road in Kofa long enough to listen to the quiet, look for desert blooms, and watch the evening light transform the Refuge’s jagged mountain ranges.

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Big thank yous to…

IHG/Candlewood Suites Yuma for hosting our stay, especially to General Manager Gel Lemmon and Director of Marketing John Lizarraga, who are both fabulous people who took time to fill me in on the area.
Ann Walker of the Yuma Visitors Bureau for providing a ton of great resources.
Brian Golding, Sr., EDA Director of the Quechan Indian Tribe for providing information on Quechan cultural sights.

Edited: A reference to “Candlewood” was changed to “Candlewood Suites” for clarity and per the request of IHG Corporate Communications.

May 6, 2016April 15, 2021

Yuma Favorites: Part 1

Since we arrived after dark, our first glimpse of the view out our window at Candlewood Suites Yuma was the sunrise lighting up puffy clouds and vibrant green farm fields. It was downright gorgeous.

Phillip needed to be at the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Yuma base at 0700, I got the coffeemaker going, and we got ready to head out.

On Base

Phillip, who is nearing the end of his seminary master’s program, had arranged to shadow a military chaplain in Yuma for a day. I’d meet back up with him, the chaplains, and a couple of their wives for lunch and a quick tour of the base.

The rest of the day, my mission would be to learn about this desert city in the southwesternmost corner of Arizona.

MCAS Yuma is typically closed to civilians, but they do hold an open house event once a year. It alternates between an air show and something called the Patriot Festival that features local bands, an obstacle course, singing competitions, and bouncy castles.

Art

Pottery

I found a couple pottery shops in the Brinley Avenue Historic District on the North End of town.

I visited Tomkins Pottery, which was filled with fabulous work by artist-owners Neely and George Tomkins. Their dog Joe helps them run the shop, and they also work out of the studio in back. A green honey/sugar bowl followed us home, but, really, I’d love one of everything there.

Across the street is Colorado River Pottery, the shop and studio of Jan Bentley.

Yuma Art Center

The Yuma Art Center has galleries to exhibit local art and is also an event space.

Historic Yuma Theatre

The Theatre next door has been a performance venue since 1912. It currently features plays, concerts, film screenings, workshops, and choir concerts – with two Art Deco mermaid murals always in the audience.

Artist Co-op

On the other side of the Theatre is the United Building, home of the North End Artist Co-op.

We met artists Larry Yanez, who was installing his art in one of the big storefront windows, and Judy Phillips, who graciously stopped what she was doing to answer questions and give us a full tour of the space, all the way back to the metal trash cans used for making raku pottery.

The co-op itself has 13 members, who are all local artists (many of them art educators) but they offer classes open to anyone. On Saturdays, members without their own studio space can come and work, share information and materials, and use the kilns and other tools.

Jazz

The Yuma Jazz Company quintet performs regularly around Yuma:

The Village Area at Yuma Palms Regional Center – free open-air concerts on a grassy area in the middle of the mall on winter/spring Thursday nights
Patio at Julieanna’s – Friday nights November to April (reservations recommended)
Lutes Summer Jazz Series (inside) – Friday nights in summer

Yuma Suite-y

I was super relieved when Phillip called to say one of the chaplains would give him a ride back to the hotel, because I was already there – kicked back in the recliner with a glass of wine – and not ready to move.

Candlewood Suites

The deal with Candlewood Suites is they’re an extended stay hotel designed for the type of do-it-yourselfers who probably clean up before housekeeping comes and would rather make breakfast exactly the way they want it than take their chances at a buffet.

So Candlewood Suites offers weekly housekeeping, a free laundromat, and full kitchens stocked with cooking/serving essentials. They have a bunch of stuff you can borrow if you’re looking for something beyond what’s in your room – crockpots, blenders, board games, wine glasses, movies, and barbecue tools for the grills on the patio. You can even purchase food onsite in the “Candlewood Cupboard.” It’s always open and operates on a self-pay/honor system.

Anyway, all that to say, we definitely could’ve just holed up in our room for the evening. But we had heard great things about a restaurant called Julieanna’s, so I pried myself out of the recliner, and we went to check it out.

It was worth it.

Julieanna’s

The locals we talked to raved about Julieanna’s Patio Cafe. It has a romantic yet relaxed atmosphere and a tropical motif. There are cozy booths inside and an expansive patio outside with mosaic tabletops, a macaw perch area, and a peacock strolling around.

The menu includes a selection of seafood entrees and appetizers, tasty-looking salads, as well as sandwiches and burgers. I ordered salmon served with sautéed spinach and heirloom tomatoes. In.sane.ly. good. Phillip opted for a classic French dip, which I can confirm was also delicious.

The servers were friendly, helpful, and accommodating without being overbearing.

Music

By the time we arrived, the macaws had already gone home for the day, and the Yuma Jazz Company was getting ready for their set on the patio. The peacock would randomly chime in while they played – so funny!

A video posted by stephanieliebold (@stephanieliebold) on May 6, 2016 at 1:45pm PDT

We enjoyed the quintet’s performance. They played several of their own compositions and gave a little background about what inspired each one, which made you feel more acquainted with new songs. It was all great except for a few too many reminders about the tip jar. After about the fifth one, I was rooting for more peacock cries.

Sunshine

Earlier in the day, I had made a wrong turn and ended up at a place called Catherine’s Cupcakery. So a chocolate strawberry cupcake was waiting for us in our room. Maybe it wasn’t really a wrong turn.

Back in the hotel lobby, we flipped through a couple of the fat binders of DVD selections and chose Little Miss Sunshine. (Why have I not seen that before?! So good.)

Settling in with our movie and cupcake was a great way to wind down from of our first day exploring Yuma.

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Part 2 is coming up in 2 weeks! In our next installment, we look for a museum gift shop without a museum, accidentally go to California, visit a date farm, and drive home through the Kofa wilderness. And, yes, there will be more Yuma puns! Yuma-ght as well get used to them!

Our stay was courtesy of IHG/Candlewood Suites Yuma. Opinions are my own and so are the puns. Pretty sure they don’t endorse those.

Edited: References to “Candlewood” changed to “Candlewood Suites” for clarity and per the request of IHG Corporate Communications.

April 21, 2016June 2, 2021

A Strategically Located Embassy

You’ve got some pretty impressive neighbors when you’re staying at the Embassy Suites Washington DC Convention Center. The President, for example, lives just down the street. The first night we were in town, we were wandering around after dinner and ended up strolling by the White House.

We actually stayed there twice (at the hotel, not the White House), since we were flying in and out of Washington DC with the Charlottesville portion of the trip sandwiched in the middle.

As the name would suggest, all of the rooms at the Embassy Suites are suites with 2 or 3 rooms. So the living room and kitchenette/wet bar is separate from the bedroom(s).

For our second stay, our room was a large corner suite with its own conference table. It felt like I should call a meeting. Or at least spread out a craft project.

While there is a microwave, coffeemaker, and mini fridge in all rooms, a hot, made-to-order breakfast in the adjoining Finn & Porter restaurant is included in your stay.

You pick out your ingredients, and they whip you up an omelet right there in front of you. They’ll also serve diced potatoes, bacon, etc. on the side, and you can help yourself to fruit and pastries. It was really good, and the restaurant has a nice warm atmosphere.

One morning, I finished breakfast and just sat next to the fireplace with my coffee for a bit, while outside the windows DC dwellers were rushing off to work.

Meanwhile, I didn’t even have to bus my own table. They take care of that. In fact, I was looking for a trash can to toss something on my way out and instead a server just held out his hand to take it for me.

In the evenings, there is a reception with snacks and beverages (alcohol is available with ID).

Really, the only thing that was a hassle was parking. And that’s a DC-wide issue. While there was only valet parking at the hotel, stopping to drop the car off or check in when you arrive had the triple-parked confusion of a busy airport’s arrivals curb.

Another strategy is to skip renting a car altogether, especially if you’ll be in DC during a peak season (like summer or National Cherry Blossom Festival). And especially if you stay somewhere centrally located enough for walking and transit access.

The Embassy Suites where we stayed is near the Metro and bus lines, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, and the majority of Washington DC’s main sights.

A few of the places we walked to from our hotel:

See what I mean about great neighbors?

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We received a media discount from Embassy Suites.