At last the final chapter!  Here we cover our final days from Albuquerque New Mexico to Chinle Arizona to Needles California to home. 

We headed for Acoma for a first stop.  We wanted to see the new visitor center (very nice) and hopefully do some pot shopping, but unfortunately the majority of the pottery makers were away preparing for a big show in Santa Fe and we didn’t have time for the trip up to Sky City.  It was a lovely drive nonetheless, with wide vistas and dramatic weather to remind us of some of the things we love about the southwest.

We got to Chinle in time to drive the south rim of Canyon de Chelly to its most famous landmark, Spider Rock:

… and in the morning we made our way to Monument Valley. These are places we would love to linger despite having visited them a couple of times already.  But they remain magical no matter how much time you have.

Here was our welcome back to California, but unlike our experience east, at least it was a dry heat 🙂

As always after a long time away, after 8631,5 miles, 28 states and 2 countries, there’s just no place like home. Binky is sure glad life is back to normal.

Accessibility

Since we stayed in two very similar but different brands of motels the final two nights, let’s do a side by side comparison! On the left will be the Best Western Canyon de Chelly Inn in Chinle. On the right will be the Motel 6 in Needles.

Both offered dedicated handicapped parking directly in front of our room, and doors that stayed open:

 

Score — Chinle Best Western: 1, Needles Motel 6: 1

Chinle had two beds to Needle’s one, but correspondingly sized rooms meant neither had the advantage on overall maneuvering room:

 

However in Chinle there was an awkward hard left turn into the bathroom, giving Needles the nod for access to the bathroom.

Score — Chinle Best Western: 1, Needles Motel 6: 2

For the bathroom, once again Chinle Best Western  to the left, Needles Motel 6 to the right.

 

 

Toilet goes decisively to Needles for grab bars and seriously unfettered access.

Sink/counter: Chinle has a counter but a deep apron that your knees run into. Needles lacked a counter but again wins in accessibility. Point Needles!

Shower: Chinle’s enclosure not fully roll-in, though in John’s case the low lip still allows for the front wheelchairs wheels to go over and facilitate transfer to a shower bench. But it can’t match the Needles wide open continuous floor, the built-in bench, the extra grab bar. Plus, the designers of the Best Western’s stylish shower forgot to include any place for soap or shampoo.  I had to balance them on the end of the grab bar!

 

Needles surges ahead — Chinle Best Western: 1, Needles Motel 6: 5

Two final items.  The Chinle Best Western was the first facility on the trip to raise the toilet seat to ease sitting and standing:

But the Needles Motel 6 responds with an accessible pool!

 

Final score — Chinle Best Western: 2, Needles Motel6: 6

The Motel 6 was the real surprise, given the rates were less than half the Best Western.