Today was a chill day for us, we booked two nights at the El Rancho so we would have a full day to recharge.
The El Rancho Hotel is an historic hotel built in 1936 by R.E. Griffith, whose brother was a movie director. The hotel quickly became a favorite spot for Hollywood movie productions. The list of iconic stars who have stayed here is immense, but I’ll name drop a few, John Wayne, Katherin Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lucille Ball, Errol Flynn, Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas, and Humphrey Bogart. And a top favorite, Ronald Reagan (hand over my heart), who stayed in a suite that was eventually named after him, The Ronald Reagan Presidential Suite, guess where we stayed 😉. Yes, that’s right, I showered where our 40th President did, I know they’ve renovated a bit since the 1940’s, but I still think it’s pretty neat.
Okay, more about the hotel, as I said above numerous stars have stayed here over the years, each room/suite is named after them. Additionally, they have the John Wayne suite, which is the largest and has a couple of separate rooms and a large working fireplace. The hotel is designed in a typical western motif, and photos of all the stars line the walls and the second-floor balcony. The spot is very popular for Route 66 travelers and was quite busy the two days we stayed. If I have one complaint it would be that they shut off the heat for the season, and baby it was cold. Luckily, they supply space heaters which made all the difference.
We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and decided to drive about 10 minutes out to Red Rock Park. At the park you have a bird’s eye view of Church Rock, a large landmark made from sandstone. It’s amazing how these things are out in the middle of nowhere.
We left the park and took a little ride on one of the routes that circle around Gallup as we were trying to find the old uranium mines. Back in 1979, this area had a uranium spill, which was the largest release of radioactive material in U.S. history. Leave it to big businesses to ruin our environment. If you run into me after we get home, I hope you notice my beautiful new glow. 😁
After our little jaunt, we hit the car wash to try and get the 2,000 plus miles of bugs and grim off the car. It looks better, but I’ll be spending a good day detailing her after we get home. 😩
Since it was Sunday, most places were closed. We did find one spot open, which advertised authentic Native American jewelry and crafts. While some was authentic, quite a bit was made in China, etc. Listen shop owners, if I want cheap knock off stuff, I’ll go get it at Walmart! So disappointing. ☹️
Back to the hotel for a nice early dinner and then off to bed. Tomorrow we’re heading out to go stand on a corner.
See you down the road.
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