Need a ROUTE 66 fix? Need a GRAND CANYON fix? Need a CAMPING fix? Need a FOOD fix or a MUSIC fix? Get Yer Kicks in Williams, AZ, just one hour from the GRAND CANYON.
Twice in the past year, we made a stop in Williams, AZ, with our teardrop trailer. We had a great time both times, enough to say that from now on, Williams will remain on our must-do list when heading up from our current home in Phoenix, AZ, to Grand Canyon National Park.
The town of Williams, AZ is a really great place to visit on your way to or from the south entrance of the Grand Canyon. We enjoyed it’s cozy, eclectic, old-town feel . . .
it’s restaurants (Cruiser’s Route 66 Cafe) . . .
it’s musicĀ (Vincent Z performing at Cruiser’s Route 66 Cafe) . . .
it’s plentiful gift shops . . .
and even the shoot-em-up cowboy showdown that erupted in the streets (promptly at scheduled show times throughout the day) . . .
We were even entertained by our friend, Dave, while we waited for our food to arrive at Cruiser’s Restaurant . . .
One more great thing in Williams, AZ, is you can wander over to the Grand Canyon Railway railroad station and treat yourself to a comfortable, scenic ride to the Grand Canyon by train. They have all kinds of events going on, including the popular Christmastime “Polar Express” ride (something I think I’ll make a point of doing sometime!). Check out the Grand Canyon Railway event page for more info.
We were in Williams, AZ, on the polar opposite of Christmastime . . . on July 4th, 2015, when we met up with other teardrop trailer and vintage trailer owners at a camping meetup at Kaibab Lake Campground. Kaibab Lake Campground is part of the Kaibab National Forest, which has a rather large footprint at the foothills of the Grand Canyon and beyond.
This campground is quite large and can accommodate anything from tents to large RVs. If you check out my previous blog post about the 4th of July trip, the photos of cool vintage and teardrop trailers give you a feel for the site layouts and terrain at the campground.
You can fish and kayak on Lake Kaibab, but in July, the lake was significantly lower than usual due to a dry summer. There is a boat ramp and a fishing pier, although the fishing pier at Kaibab Lake Campground led you out to a grassy area instead of to actual water. Remember to bring your bicycles, so if the fishing scene is a bust, you can at least enjoy tooling around plenty of roadway within the campground itself.
Downtown Williams held a great, old-fashioned 4th of July parade when we were there (plenty of pictures on my last blog post), exactly the kind of thing we were into with our vintage-inspired trailer.
In October 2015, we were back in Williams again when our friends from England came for a visit. This time, we camped an hour away in Grand Canyon National Park for a night, at Mather Campground at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Honestly, we didn’t care for the campsite itself (#147) at Mather Campground.Ā We were stuck in a parking pad that was really just a slight bulge in the roadway, a pullover really, with a few large rocks around it. Muddy. Muddy. Muddy.
We did, however, score a great view of a family of elk passing through the site across the way from us, and also scored some close-up pictures while hiding behind trees and bushes.
And we even saw this . . .
Again in October, we took in the splendor of Grand Canyon National Park, snapping photos, and looking down upon hiking trails in her belly that we planned to tackle some day.
Overall, Williams, AZ, is a great place to situate yourself for a week while you check out some of what you’ve seen here and plenty more–like Flagstaff, AZ, (40 minutes away by car) or Sedona, AZ, (1 hour, 20 minutes away by car) both easy day trips from Williams.
All you have to do now is get out and enjoy it all!
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Happy trails, y’all!
Teardrop Adventures 
Way cool! We’ll be driving right past here in June, gonna have to stop and check it out š
Absolutely! Plan it around one of your meals for the day and take a stroll ’round town. š
Love that town. It was a sleepy hunk of nothin’ when I was living in Flagstaff, then reinvented itself as the “Gateway to the Grand Canyon” when the interstate took away their tourism dollars. Years ago, m’ boys and I were “robbed” on the train.
Seems the town did reinvent, but not by that “Gateway” name . . . that was my own doing. š But it really is a gateway, now, in my opinion.
Au contraire. This is at the top of the town’s website:/Users/kendavis/Desktop/logo.png
Au contraire…at the top of the town’s website, it proudly states:
Experience Williams
Gateway to the Grand Canyon
Ha ha! Okay. I wrote this post recently without looking at the Williams page, so didn’t notice that. Guess their efforts are paying off, then. š ASIDE: I really am brilliant at coming up with these things. I came up with the theory of relativity, too, but Einstein claims to have done so before me. I’m not buying it. š
I particularly liked your “City by the Bay” for San Francisco and “City of Lights” for Paris š Seriously, great blog and keep up the good work!
Thanks, Ken! And “Damn you!” for coming up with more appropriate analogies than I. (Just kidding, of course. You DID earn several Emmy’s, so I expect it of you.) š
May the “Valley of the Sun” continue to be kind to Mark and the future member of NY Times best seller list!
From your lips to God’s ears.