We recently returned home from taking a one-way rental car on an adventure from Fort Myers, Florida, to Colorado Springs, CO. Like any road trip, you never really know at the beginning how all the details will fall into place, but you meander with a loose plan in mind, and eventually reach the destination. While some of the points of interested were planned ahead of time, others unfolded as the journey progressed, and all of theses came together as a memorable adventure. Below I have listed out, in linear order, the cities and attractions that stood out on this road trip, mostly along Route 40 (and part of iconic Route 66) headed West.
Natural Bridge, Alabama
Stretch your legs after a long drive with a 1 mile nature trail, and admire the beauty of Natural Bridge, the longest rock arch east of the Rockies. While you are there you can drink fresh water from a natural spring.
Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley, so you will see many tributes to the King throughout this town in murals, statues and literature about historic landmarks. There is a coffee shop called Crave where we enjoyed coffee and a warm pastry. Down the street is a charming, fantastic, 115 year old department store, called Reed’s. This is a fun and worthwhile town to visit.
Memphis, Tennessee
Joe and I always appreciate and like to visit a nice hotel lobby, so I was excited when he introduced me to the Peabody Hotel. In the morning we watched the famous Peabody Duck parade in the lobby (ducks literally ride the elevator down to the lobby and march to the central fountain where they spend the day until returning to their rooftop palace!). In the evening we enjoyed a glass of wine there before heading out to dinner, for dry ribs at the Rendezvous, just across the ally way. This Memphis restaurant has been an establishment since 1948, and with one taste of their dry rub ribs, it is easy to know why. They are fabulous!
Little Rock, Arkansas
After leaving Memphis, the next big stop along the way was to visit the Esse Purse Museum. I absolutely loved this museum, and wrote a more in depth blog post about it here. If you like fashion or purses at all, I highly recommend stopping here for about an hour. Another excellent place to check out, not far away, is the Old Mill. This is a free public attraction, a great place to relax or take photos, and the Old Mill was even featured briefly in the movie Gone with the Wind.
El Reno, Oklahoma
The reason we stopped in El Reno, Oklahoma was because I had found a list of America’s diners that have stood the test of time, and this modest little restaurant, Robert’s Grill, has been open since 1926. They are famous for their onion fried hamburgers, which we ordered, along with coney dogs, both were very good. This is a friendly and well loved place, and it has been a stop for travelers along Route 66 for nearly a century.
Amarillo, Texas
An easy stop along Route 40 is The Cadillac Ranch. This attraction was especially interesting to us because we had recently attended a lecture at the Toledo Museum of Art where Chip Lord was invited to speak. Lord was part of Ant Farm, the architecture and art group that implemented the Cadillac Ranch art installation, along with many other projects. Guests are invited to interact with the art and even spray paint it.
Raton, New Mexico
Just before reaching Raton, New Mexico there is a rest stop called Sierra Grand that provides a place to sleep for the night in your vehicle or camper. It is in the middle of nowhere, but it has nice facilities. In the morning we headed towards Raton, New Mexico and we saw the Capulin Volcano National Monument. In Raton’s downtown we ate a traditional New Mexico breakfast at Casa Lemus Inn Restaurant and admired the quaint western downtown.
Trinidad, Colorado
Trinidad was a fun town to stop in and explore for what was my first taste of Colorado culture. We found a nice coffee shop called The Cafe, located in the heart of the historic downtown.
Pueblo, Colorado
A lucky occurrence for us was that lunch time perfectly lined up with passing through Pueblo, Colorado, home of The Hangar. We enjoyed a delicious Reuben sandwich. Before long we were feeling full and headed out to our final destination city.
Colorado Springs, Colorado
We finally arrived in Colorado Springs. One of the highlights of our visit here was driving to the summit of Pikes Peak. While this drive is not for the faint of heart (you come very close to the mountain edge with NO guardrails), it was an amazing feeling to look down from the top of the mountain. We spent an afternoon in Manitou Springs which can keep a person entertained for hours with local shops, cafes, and even several free mineral water springs from which you can fill your water bottle. The same level of entertainment goes for downtown Colorado Springs where we enjoyed locally roasted coffee at The Perk Downtown. If you are interested in hiking, you can find trails for various levels of fitness at Helen Hunt Falls. We chose to do a hike that was only 1/3 mile, but with a 200 foot rise, providing a lovely view. There is a town called Cripple Creek not to far away that we drove to one evening. On the way back we saw a gorgeous mountain sunset.
This trip ended up covering 10 states, and much of it was territory I had never seen before. I enjoyed the adventure and hope to go out West again one day.
Colorado SpringsNew MexicoOklahomaroad tripTexasWest
