b'APACHE DEATH CAVE cabins. You can explore this cave, located on Route 66,and bigger than both Sedona and Flagstaff. It was a This cave gets its name from the story of an Apachebut watch out for the ghosts. place where big names like Bob Hope, John Wayne, raiding party who killed all but three people in aAlbert Einstein and even the Crown Prince of Japan Navajo camp, taking three girls prisoner in 1878.ARIZONA METEOR CRATER came to visit but in 1957 it closed and spent the next The Navajo response was to send men to get revenge,Just outside of Winslow is this international travel40 years as a joyless office building.but they lost the trail. Actually, the Apaches haddestination. Its the site of a 50,000-year-old encounter completed a further raid so were still around.with space that draws thousands of visitors each year.In the early 1990s it rose again from the ashes with Scouts found them from the smoke of their fire inAt the park, you will learn about the discovery of thethe help of local historians, determined to save it an underground cave. After killing the guards, thesite and the scientists who worked to find the finalfrom the wrecking ball, and a man named Allan Navajo lit fires at the opening to the cave, causing it toresting place of the massive piece of space matter thatAffeldt along with some of his friends. The gardens be filled withhit our planet. A lookout point is available for youare beautiful and its location beside the train tracks smoke. Ato gaze across the 4,000-foot wide crater, and guidedallows train lovers to sit and watch the trains go by. lone Apachetours are given daily.The dining room serves excellent food.man escaped from theAn RV park with modern restrooms and showers The rooms fiery barrieris also on site. Daily tours provide furtherare filled with and beggedinformation on the events that created the crater.hundreds, for mercy.MeteorCrater.com if not The Navajo,thousands, Apache Death Cave as perROCK ART RANCH of art pieces tradition,Every year, thousands of archaeologists andthat make proposed thearchaeology students travel to the Rock Art Ranchthis hotel customary payment of goods and stock in exchangeto explore and study one of the biggest and best- shine.for forgiveness. The spokesman agreed, and it seemedpreserved collections of ancient petroglyphs, inThe whole that the Apaches lives would be spared. the world. In this self-guided tour, you can travelsecond down into the canyon and see where the originalfloor isRock Art RanchHowever, when the Navajo asked about the threeArizonians lived, all while enjoying the beautifullike an art girls that they had taken prisoner, the Apacheoasis of a creek, separate from the traditionalmuseum spokesman hesitated, which confirmed the NavajosArizona desert. with lots of worst fears; the girls had already met their end. provocative art. 303 E. 2nd Street,On the Corner in Winslow: Steven Maguire, flickr.com/photos/34256811@N08/48053276897The ranch also features the Anasazi Museum, home928-289-4366, LaPosada.orgEnraged, the Navajo shot their guns into the caveof multiple artifacts from thousands of years ago, and and added more fuel to the fire. It wasnt long untilinformation about the glyphs and people who livedTHE HUBBELL BUILDINGsmoke and the sound of the Apache singing theirthere.Few places have a comparable collection ofIt was once the premier trading post company of death songs filled the air. this ancient art form. Tours of the ranch are availablethe American southwest territories and now as year-round except Sundays. Hours are not specifiedWinslows Chamber of Commerce/Visitor Center, When the songs faded and the smoke cleared, theand reservations are required. 928-386-5047 this location is a historic destination unto itself. Navajo broke through the charred horse-corpseYoull find historic displays, great architecture, barrier. They retrieved their goods and strippedLA POSADA HOTEL information about Winslow, the region and theoff the valuables of the 42 Apaches that suffocatedThe hotel was built beside the Santa Fe Railway instate.Open Monday through Friday from 9 am toinside of the cave. From that point on, no Apache1929 so all the passenger trains between LA and5 pm and Saturday from 9 am to 3pm athas used that cave for any reason. Apaches wouldChicago stopped here. The hotel had a lot to offer 523 W. 2nd Street, 928- 289-2434, never again raid the Navajo people. Even today,its guests from the choice of three dining rooms toWinslowArizona.org some say the area is cursed. fancy lounges, gardens, a greenhouse, tennis courts and museum-quality furniture. In theLocal tribes would warn would-be pioneers about the1950s Winslow was a hot spotcave, saying that the land around it was cursed, but it was often passed off as silly superstition by the settlers. The pioneers who lived there would later report hearing disembodied groans and ghostly footsteps outside their ArizonaRealCountry.com March 2020 29'