Second Mesa and Winslow, Arizona, Friday, September 27, 2026
I had hoped to bring the group on a tour of the Hopi Pueblos, but my search for a guide proved futile. This was the first sign that the Hopi reputation as an assiduously private people was well deserved. We drove down from Chinle through a series of plains bordered by mesas and, after about ninety minutes, rose onto Second Mesa, home to several Hope villages. We had hoped to find a guide or at least advice at the “Hopi Cultural Center,” but the single staff member showed no interest in helping us. We next tried a large jewelry store. The elderly silversmith was lovely but said that we wouldn’t be able to see any of the interesting sites, and especially the village of Walpi, without a guide. So we gave up!
This brought us to Winslow, Arizona much earlier than planned…which proved to be an incredible stroke of fortune. Winslow today isn’t much to write home about: a narrow strip town best known for its “Take It Easy Park,” which celebrates Jackson Brown’s song of the same name: “I was standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona / Such a fine sight to see / It’s a girl, my lord, she’s in a flatbed Ford, / Slowin’ down to take a look at me.”
They have everything here: the hitchhiker, the flatbed Ford, and, alas, a statue of Glen Frey of the Eagles.
But our hotel, oh, that was something completely different.
The hotelier Fred Harvey had contracted with the Santa Fe Railroad to build a series of luxury hotels along the railroad’s route. Harvey entrusted the design of the property in Winslow to the architect Mary Colter, who had designed several buildings at Harvey’s concession at the Grant Canyon. The result was La Posada, considered Colter’s masterpiece.
Working with unlimited funds, Colter created a Spanish Colonial fantasy. But the hotel closed in 1957, was converted into a railroad administration and then abandoned. starting in 1997, Alan Affeldt, his wife Tina Mion, and a group of friends took on the monumental task of restoring the hotel. The result is astonishing. We all agreed that it was one of the finest hotels we had ever stayed in. Every detail is superb. This is one of the lobbies.
This is the original ballroom, converted into a wonderful lounge.
And to top off our experience, the restaurant is superb. The chef, Jesus Nuñez, has been nominated twice for a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Southwest.
As the Michelin Guide says: Worth a Detour!