Strange Travels

The group of seven under the sign for Bedrock, Ariz. Photo by Carolina Lopez.

Although I adore Phoenix with a good portion of my heart, this fall break weekend I took my search for the weird to the northern half of Arizona,  for a change of pace. I would like to give the impression that we are all free-spirits and decided at the spur of the moment to grab our bags and run, but we are not that daring. My friends and I had discussed casually for awhile how to best use our newly instated university fall break, but the plans were only loosely made. Up until Oct. 12, at 11 o’clock at night when the seven of us finally pulled out of the McDonald’s parking lot in our two separate cars, I was just hoping this whole thing would magically work out.

Our goal for the turn-around trip we were making was to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon, explore Flintstones Bedrock City, Ariz., and look around what was left of an abandoned gas station/zoo/hotel/trading post called Two Guns. In total, we were to spend over 10 hours in the car. Due to our late departure from Phoenix, we ended up only having a one hour cat nap before waking up to film the sunrise.

The Grand Canyon, as majestic as it is, does not hold much interest for the purpose of this blog- nature’s oddities cannot compare to what humans come up with.

Bedrock City is less than 30 minutes from the Grand Canyon National Park, off the side of the road. If you aren’t paying attention, you’ll miss the giant Fred Flintstone sign welcoming all to the park. For five dollars, we were able to explore the stone age cartoon with our cameras to our hearts content. Though the paint was dulling, and the site showed some obvious wear and tear, Bedrock has undeniable charm that brings a strange cheer the barren wasteland around it.

Bedrock has been open since the 1970’s,  but was only recently licensed by Hanna Barbera who have changed the park ever so slightly. Graffiti in some of the stone age houses and broken displays would detract from many things, but this kooky pit stop actually benefits from the deterioration. Despite the three families who were in the park with us at that time, Bedrock almost seemed like the set for a movie about the aftermath of an atomic bomb.

Two Guns, on the other hand, held so much promise but fell through.  An urban exploring destination with its own turn off on the highway just 30 miles from Flagstaff, I had dreamed of venturing there since high school. Unfortunately, we discovered it was going under renovations when we arrived. Instead, we circled back and explored Twin Arrows, an abandoned trading post off of I-40.

Twin Arrows has fallen into a terrible state of decay, with only the two arrows from which it gets its namesake still in relatively good condition. It looked like there had been squatters living inside the ruins at some point, as there was an old mattress, craft supplies, a broken mirror, and an abandoned novel. The roof was caved in at one point, and graffiti covered most of the walls.

Once we pulled off to investigate it, other people joined us in our urban exploring adventure. We were all vaguely aware of the potential for trouble with the law, but there was a sense of camaraderie for those who wandered the property. Arizona is weird. It takes the right kind of person to appreciate it.