3/23/2026 - Carty's Camp (Route 66)

 When we were leaving Needles, we back tracked the route 66 stuff we missed the day before.

On you left side of the road at 201 E Broadway St. you can see empty cabins, a former office building and to the left is the vacant service station.  This place was known as Carty's Camp.  It had a flat box shaped canopy that promoted, "Lunch, hot-cold drinks and Groceries and also gas, lubrication and batteries.

If you have seen Grapes of Wrath, you probably recognize this building.

William Carty and Dick Mansker opened it in 1923, before Route 66 was created.  William bought out Mansker and sold it to Howard Carmody in 1940.  At the time there was 28 cabins.

Carmody switched from Shell to Standard Oil.  When Howard left to enlist to the US Army in 1943, it was run by S. Stewart.  After the war Howard sold it to the Ames who ran it until 1971 with Chevron when they closed for good.

3/22/2026 - Wagon Wheel Restaurant (Route 66)

 

For the night we were staying in Needles, CA we went to a restaurant called Wagon Wheel Restaurant that is located on Route 66.  It was down the street from the hotel.  We walked around and saw a gift shop and dining area.  The food was good. I had a turkey sandwich.  The atmosphere was fun. A lot of Route 66 stuff around.

The Wagon Wheel Restaurant was not the original name. In the early 1950's the restaurant was called Lynn's Broiler. In 1978, it became Wagon Wheel Restaurant.

3/22/2026 - Needles (Route 66)

 In March 2026, my mom and I did a road trip to California to do Route 66.  We started the drive from the first town on the route and that is Needles also called "Gateway to California."

That night we stayed at a newer hotel that was on Route 66.  This mural was on the driveway of the hotel.

Here is my start of Route 66 adventure in California.  Please come join me.

2/14/2026 - Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area - Saguaro National Park (East)

 

While I was at the Saguaro National Park, I got this stamp for the Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Area.

2/14/2026 - Hug a Saguaro in Saguaro National Park on Valentine's Day

 For Valentine's Day my mom and me meet up with some friends at the Saguaro NP.  We are part of group called National Park Travelers Club. Somebody set up a meet-up of people that live around Tucson, AZ.

We meet up at the Rincon Mountain Visitor Center around ten.  We got our stamps and then got are cars to drive to a trail that we were going to walk called Freeman Homestead Nature Trail.

There were a lot of beautiful spots along the trail to see the desert with a lot of saguaros and other plants.

It was a nice trail to walk.  I had some hard times walking but I made through the whole trail.  Here is the group picture of us.

It was a fun Valentine's Day.

Saguaro National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

2/27/2026 - Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area - Marana, Arizona

 

This was a new place for us.  We have never been to The Marana Visitor Center in Marana, Arizona.  We learned a lot of things about the Santa Cruz Valley NHA and the Juan Bautista De Anza NHT.  I didn't realize there was some more history around the area of Marana.

The one of the reasons we went there is because they started caring the Santa Cruz Valley NHA stamp for your park passport.

Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area (U.S. National Park Service)

2/27/2026 - Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area - Mission Gardens

 

This is the second time going to Mission Gardens, but we didn't stay long.  We were pretty going for the new stamp they just put out there for Santa Cruz Valley NHA.

We will go back another time to look around again.

Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area (U.S. National Park Service)