Day 37 – Victorville, CA. to Santa Monica, CA. (End of the wonderful Route 66)

Hi Folks….

So it’s Day 37, and end of the road today, well at least the route 66 one is anyway.

But before we get to that we did a little stop off in San Bernardino to visit the 1st McDonald’s restaurant which is now a museum.

And around outside…..

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This was around the back and don’t know what it has to do with Mcdonalds but looked good..

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And this prat again….

And inside was just like an Aladdin’s cave, where people from around the world have donated their much loved memorabilia to this fascinating place.

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From England.. (spot the 5 pound note)

From Canada…

And other stuff like this old Wurlitizer Juke box, (which incidentally is what I used to install and repair back in the UK)

And of course these daft mirrors again!

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And we were so glad we stopped by here as we got talking to the guy running this place, and we told him about our route 66 trip, and he told us that if we continue with the original route 66 from his place, it was almost 4 hours drive to Pasadena (due to major roadworks and diversions), then a further 3.5 hours from there to Santa Monica.

I thought BS…. BUT NO. we went with his advice to bypass the part to Pasadena via the Interstate, but I wanted to keep to the route via East Hollywood and Beverley Hills. And this was our 1st taster in driving through Los Angeles and surrounding areas!

But gradually making it through..

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Spot the Cellulitis sign.. lovely.

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And that’s your lot for this area! Traffic BAD BAD BAD and more terrible roads than Texas and Colorado put together!

Now I will take this opportunity to apologise for the late posting of this day, but it is with good reason you see….

When we came to the end of route 66 as followed in my EZ66 book, the actual sign is on a busy cross junction with no where to stop or park.

And as you can see from google maps it ain’t pretty….

But when you google the route 66 end sign in Santa Monica you now you get this:

and that’s because in 2009 the route 66 Alliance partnered up with the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation to mount an unofficial “End of the Trail” sign.

I guess it’s safer, there is parking on the beach nearby and makes a great day or evening to walk along the pier, grab some food and have a drink.

We actually went back to Santa Monica to take the following pictures on Friday 26th, hence the delay in posting.

So here’s our end of the Route 66 pictures! – Hope you like them.

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Now these girls took a real shine to this feature on the wooden planks, so much so they took so many pixs and checking the phones for the perfect one, then back on again…

in the end I gave up and took a picture with them on it! – And besides they look better than me anyway!

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AND.. before we end this one, on our travels I have seen in many food places this so called ‘frozen custard’..

Now people who know me best, also know that I love custard. Hot OR Cold, on it’s own or with a variety of deserts, cake, fruit, I mean I’d even have it on toast! -( umm must try that.)

And I have to be very Biased here, but the UK makes the best custard and from the region where we lived in the UK.

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And thinking I was going to get this…

Or even this…

But got this…

But they got stunning sunsets here though.. so I will let them off.

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So this post will officially mark the end of our route 66 trip, we then proceeded to our over night stay on the Queen Mary ship which has been docked at Long Beach, California since 1967.

So I will devote the Queen Mary Pix to Day 38 as there was lots, and just a fascinating vessel to see and picture it.

So there it is Bye Bye Route 66…