Days 24 - 26: Homolovi State Park - Winslow, Arizona

 Day 24: Flagstaff, Arizona to Homolovi State Park, Winslow Arizona

• Miles: ~60 miles
• Left: 10:30 AM, Arrived: 11:45AM 
• One Pit Stope
• Weather: Sunny, High in the 60s

Day 24: We were in no rush to leave since we only had an hour drive to Homolovi State Park.  We took the dogs to Kamp K9, made instant oats for breakfast, followed by showers. We were packed, hooked up, dumped & on road by 10:45AM.

We made one stop at Twin Arrows, an old Route 66 roadside attraction that now only has one arrow & buildings are all graffiti’d. Kind of sad IMHO.

Only one of the Arrows still stands

The old service station - sad relics from the Mother Road

Steve found an empty bottle of Route 66 beer 
and was really happy about it, LOL 

We got to the state park at 11:45AM, too early to go to camp but was able to get registered than we went to Homolovi II to explore the ancient Pueblo’s from ~1300-1400. We walked the dogs up to the archaeologic site about 1/2 mile & Sammie walked all of it.  Arizona has such interesting history & so much of it is still preserved & protected.  

Homolovi II - Built around 1330 AD

One of the preserved rooms

Our Casita way in the distance

Old ceramic pottery shards from the 1300's

We got to our site by 1PM. Good level site (#51) with electric, water & a covered picnic table.  The campground has a new bath & shower house. Sites have some good separation but very out in the open. Campground ended up full even though I only booked the site a couple of weeks ago & there were plenty of sites open at the time. There were 3 other Casitas in the campground the first night we were there.  

We had lunch at camp than I spent the afternoon food prepping while Steve setup both of his scopes. Another Dark Sky location so hopefully he will have some good night imaging while here.  I made barley & NYT veggie chili for dinner - good!

Homolovi Campground

Homolovi Campground

Homolovi Campground

Homolovi Campground

The setup

Sunset

Day 25: I slept great overnight. It was the perfect temp for me but Steve got cold. Coffee & pancakes for breakfast - so good, cooked them in butter - yum!

We walked the trail from the campground to visitor center with the dogs. Sammie made it all the way to the visitor center, over 1 mile but had to get into stroller on the way back to camp.  We had to go back on the road since the trail to the visitor center was sandy & I wouldn’t have been able to push Sammie in the stroller.  

Sammie did so good on this trail

Info about the park at the Visitor Center

From Arizona State Parks website: "Homolovi” is Hopi for “Place of the Little Hills” — the traditional name for Winslow, Arizona. Homolovi State Park now serves as a center of research for the late migration period of the Hopi from the 1200s to the late 1300s. While archaeologists study the sites and confer with the Hopi to unravel the history of Homolovi, Arizona State Parks provides the opportunity for visitors to visit the sites and use park facilities including a visitor center and museum, various trails and a campground. Several covered picnic tables are located throughout the park. Pullouts provide the opportunity to observe wildlife in this park of over 4,000 acres at an elevation of 4,900 feet.

Once back at camp we took showers.  The shower house was built in 2025 & they were nice with plenty of hot water.  We then went into Winslow for lunch.  Winslow is famous for the Eagles song Take it Easy and the town erected a life size mural commemorating the song.  Another cool thing that Winslow recently installed was a musical rumble strip that when you drive over it at ~ 35 mph it hums the tune Take it Easy. Of course we went over it multiple times.  It's on Route 66 across from the 9/11 memorial going into town. Very cool!

We tried the Flatbed Ford Cafe but the server & kitchen were over worked & said it would be 30 at least a minute wait.  So after using their WiFi we found another place to try around the corner - Relic Road Brewing which was a great choice. I got a Flagstaff beer - Mother Road IPA and a Ruben with a side salad. Everything was really good.  Steve got the southwest burger with chips. The chips were homemade. They were a spiralized potato & then put on a skewer. Really creative & very good.  Will have to try that when we get home.  

After lunch we walked around a bit. The Standing on the Corner was busy. It seemed like a couple of tour buses may have been in town as several folks had lanyards.  We planned to go the next day for breakfast before heading to Meteor Crater.  

Best chips! 

Great place for lunch

Back at camp, I slept off my IPA then took a bike ride around the park.  I rode to Homolovi II & then to the visitor center where I hiked to Sunset Cemetery which was a Mormon cemetery in the late 1800's.  I then biked back towards camp and was going to ride to Homolovi I but the gate was already closed since it was 5PM. Instead I went back to camp & hung out the rest of the day.

Sunset Cemetery Trail

Sunset Cemetery

Sunset, Arizona Historic Marker

Day 26: We went into Winslow early to get a few pictures of Standing on the Corner.  The Standing on the Corner building is actually a facade. After getting a few pics we tried to have breakfast but it seemed the morning spots nearby were all closed on Tuesdays. We went to Denny’s instead and probably save $20, LOL. 

Standing on the Corner Facade

Best to go later in the day when the sun is higher

The Mother Road

After breakfast we went to Meteor Crater.  If I had been planning better, we would have stopped here on our way from Flagstaff to Homolovi since it is right in the middle of the two.  We did get in for free again with our ASTC membership. We watched the 10 minute movie than took the guided walk. Pretty cool hole in the ground! Arizona has so much going on.  We also did the flight simulator which was cheesy but fun. Afterwards Steve got his camera then we went on the self guided walk to take lots of photos.  We had a cup of coffee at the Meteor Crater Mining Company. Love the creative names! Very relevant as Barringer formed a mining company to find the large meteor but never did since it dissipated on impact.  We spent about 2.5 hours here. The lot was full when we left.

Lots of Astronauts have trained here

Arizona & it's holes in the ground!

This crater is huge

Another Selfie

We made a Walmart stop on our way back to camp then had lunch.  The pups did great being left alone for 6 hours.  Sammie has been doing better for now.  

Another cool thing about this area is the Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains - they are so long, some at least a mile long.  At night, they have red flashing lights on the top of the cars.  So many trains crossing the land along I-40. Steve was able to image all 3 nights here.  Again, the weather was amazing for the middle of March. 

Belle being both naughty & cute!

• Homolovi State Park Campground - Winslow, Arizona
• Rating 5/5
• Double wide asphalt drive & pea pebble tent pad
• Campsite: 51
• $40 / night no discount
• Electric & Water. Back in
• Easy access to Winslow
• Quiet overnight, dark skies
• Sunny low to mid 80’s highs, lows in 40’s
• New bathrooms & showers  - Hot water
• Road conditions: Good

Next Stop: Petrified Forest, Holbrook, Arizona