Route 66 in Arizona

Most Polar Bear Plunges that I am aware of take place in rivers, lakes, and oceans. Kingman’s is taking place at one of its community pools.

If you are not familiar with a Polar Bear Plunge, it is an event where brave, hardy souls take a dip in freezing water. Often, these events are held to raise awareness and funds for global warming, as fund-raising events for other charities, or just for fun.

The Kingman Polar Bear Plunge falls in the ‘just for fun’ category. The plunge will be held at exactly 12 noon on New Year’s Day at the Grandview Pool in downtown Kingman. This local event is free, and is open to all who wish to ring in the New Year by freezing.

Hot showers will be available to all plungers after the event. All participants will also receive a Polar Bear t-shirt. Hot chocolate & cider, popcorn, and other snacks will be available at the event.

Warning: Polar Bear Plunges are not for everyone. If you have a heart condition or heart-related problems, you should not participate in a Polar Bear Plunge. The extreme temperature change could be harmful. Consult with a physician before participating in a Polar Bear Plunge event. Many such events state that participation is at your own risk, and many may require participants to sign a waiver.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post called Christmas on Hualapai Mountain, about the winter wonderland that was being created at Hualapai Mountain Park on December 20.  I almost didn’t write this follow-up, since I wasn’t able to attend the event.  However, based on an article that was in our local paper yesterday, I felt compelled to do so.

I wanted to go to the event, but my husband had to work that day, and we wouldn’t have gotten there until towards the end of the event.  Turns out, it’s a good thing we didn’t go.  They were so overwhelmed with the turnout that cars were turned away.  It’s estimated that around 1500 people showed up for the event, and they were planning on a maximum of 1000.  At least, that’s the number of cups of hot chocolate they went through before running out.

Cars waited for at least an hour to get into the park, and many of them were turned away.  Some of the cars that were turned away had young kids that were wanting to see Santa.  Imagine having to tell your child that they couldn’t see Santa, when they were just that close.

This town is a small town and doesn’t have a mall.  Families would have had to go into Laughlin or Bullhead City to see a mall Santa.  I don’t recall Santa being at Wal-Mart this year either, so this may have been the only opportunity for a lot of local families and kids to visit Santa.

Being a small town, there’s not a lot of entertainment opportunities either.  So, when there’s a local event, the town turns out.  The organizers of this event shouldn’t have been surprised at the turnout.  And they really shouldn’t have turned away visitors, especially those with kids who wanted to see Santa.  I can understand them wanting to close the event as scheduled, but they turned away cars at least 1/2 hour before the event was scheduled to end.  They should have at least let the cars that were in line into the event.

Hopefully, if the organizers do this event again in the future, it will be planned better.

Why watch the ball drop in New York City when you can see the pine cone drop in Flagstaff, Arizona on New Year’s Eve? The giant pine cone atop the Weatherford Hotel in Flagstaff drops twice on New Year’s Eve. The first time it falls at 10:00pm local time, which is midnight in New York. The 10pm drop is to accommodate the families who want to ring in the New Year together. The ball, er, pine cone drops again at midnight local time, to officially usher in the New Year in Arizona.

The New Year’s Eve Pine Cone Drop began in 1999. Flagstaff’s giant pine cone is not the only unusual object that is dropped across the United States on New Year’s Eve. Atlanta drops a peach, Bethlehem PA drops a giant Peep (that marshmallow candy treat) made of fiberglass, Port Clinton Ohio lowers fiberglass walleye, and in Elmore Ohio, an 18 foot sausage welcomes the New Year.

It’s hard for me to talk about other NFL  teams since I am a die-hard Kansas City Chiefs fan.  However, since I recently moved from Kansas City to Arizona, I’m trying to follow the Arizona Cardinals.  Since the Cardinals are an NFC team, and the Chiefs are an AFC team, I can split my allegiance.  Besides, the Chiefs are terrible this year (again), and the Cardinals just won their division, so I might as well root for a winner.

The Cardinals clinched the NFC West division title a couple of weeks ago.  It’s the first division title for the Cardinals since they moved to Arizona from St. Louis, and the last division title for the team since 1975.   They have secured the home field advantage as well.

Besides securing the division title, the Cardinals had five players named to the NFL’s NFC Pro Bowl team.  The Pro Bowl will be played one week after the Super Bowl, on February 8, 2009 in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

The five players named to the NFC team are Kurt Warner, quarterback; wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin; safety Adrian Wilson and Sean Morey of special teams.  Warner, Fitzgerald, Boldin and Wilson have been named starters.  In addition to the five players, two additional Cardinals have been named as alternates: linebacker Karlos Dansby and defensive tackle Darnell Dockett.

This will mark  the first Pro Bowl since it began in 1970 that the starting quarterback and both starting wide receivers are from the same team.  Five players is the most the Cardinals have had named to the Pro Bowl since 1977, when seven St. Louis Cardinals were selected to the team.  The Cardinals have not had more than two players named to the Pro Bowl team since 1996.

Golden Valley Arizona may be getting a new swap meet.  Golden Valley is a small community located between Kingman and Bullhead City on Highway 68.  There’s already one swap meet in the town, but zoning has been approved for a second swap meet area. 

Dave’s Discount RV, at the corner of Highway 68 and Bacobi  Road, sold off its boat trailers, and got the necessary zoning permit for a swap meet on the property.   Many vendors line the roads of Golden Valley because the current swap meet doesn’t have room for them.  The new swap meet area will get these vendors off the roads and provide a safe environment for them to sell their merchandise.

The Movies, Kingman’s movie theater that is officially re-opening on Friday, will be opening its doors on Wednesday and Thursday for charity.  The theater will be showing some of the biggest theatrical hits of 2008, and all box office proceeds from these two nights will benefit local charities.

Theater manager Tom Daughtry figures that Kingmanites may have missed some of the more popular movies of this past year since there was no movie theater in Kingman during that time.  On Wednesday and Thursday, locals will have a chance to see “The Dark Knight”, “ Wall-E”, “3:10 to Yuma” and “The Bucket List”.

Tickets for the special  showings will be $5 for adults for all showings, and $4.50 for children and seniors.  The beneficiary of Wednesday’s box office proceeds will be the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kingman.  Thursday’s charity is Code 3: Clothe The Kids.

The theater opens officially on Friday.  Tickets will be $5.50 for adults for all shows before 5:30pm and $7.50 otherwise.  The movies that will be showing at the four-screen theater will be “The Day The Earth Stood Still” with Keanu Reeves, the teen vampire love story “Twilight”, Disney’s “Bolt”, and Jim Carrey’s “Yes Man.”

Finally, after almost a year, the movies are coming back to Kingman.  A movie theater is one thing we’ve missed in town.   The closest theaters right now are in Laughlin, Nevada; a good 30 minute drive at best.

Cinemark had a four-screen complex here until earlier this year when they shut it down, with the intention of building a multi-screen Cineplex.  So far, those plans have not come to fruition. 

A savvy businessman saw the need, and is filling it.  Tom Daughtry, with the help of Brenden Theaters, is reopening The Movies, on Stockton Hill Road in Kingman.  Brenden Theaters operates a theater at the Avi Casino in Laughlin.The theater was originally slated to open yesterday, to coincide with the opening of “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, scheduled to be one of the theater’s first titles.  However,  some heavy rains a couple of weeks ago caused some water damage to the building when they were repairing the air conditioner, so the opening had to be delayed a week.

As of now, the theater is set to open on schedule on December 19.  Ticket prices are reasonable, $7.50 for adults, $4.50 for children and $5.50 for matinees.

As far as I know, Cinemark is still planning to come back to town, but the shopping center where they plan to have their cinema hasn’t been built yet. 

The town of Kingman is getting another Walgreens drug store.  We already have one on Stockton Hill Road, but sometime next year, we will have a second one at the corner of Stockton Hill Road and Andy Devine Avenue (Route 66).Word is that Bencor Development, the company that builds the stores and leases them to Walgreens, has purchased a significant stretch of Route 66 frontage, from Hall Street to Stockton Hill Road.Four empty buildings will have to be demolished in order for the Walgreens to be built. These buildings are the Imperial Motel; two smaller buildings that at one time housed furniture stores, and the Hot Rod Café at the corner of Route 66 and Stockton Hill Road. 

The Imperial Motel closed in October.  I’m not sure when the furniture stores closed. One was still operating when we moved to town in August; I’m not sure about the second one.  The Hot Rod Café opened in January of 2007; it closed sometime early this year.  I’m not sure exactly when – the café’s last health inspection was January 31 of 2008, and the building was empty when we visited Kingman on July 4.  The building had been several other restaurants prior to The Hot Rod Café.Bencor Development has not yet secured the necessary permits to demolish the existing buildings.  They hope to have the new store open by the fall of 2009.  This store is supposed to be in addition to the current store, and not relocation.

Hualapai Mountain Park turns into Santa’s Hualapai Wonderland on Saturday, December 20, from 3:00 – 7:00pm Arizona time.  There will be 50,000 lights on display, hay rides, strolling carolers, and hot cocoa available.  The cost to visit Santa’s Hualapai Wonderland is $5 per car.  The park is southeast of Kingman.

The public can visit the park at anytime and enjoy the decorations, but the special celebration will be held on December 20 only.

A photographer will be available that day to take pictures of the children or families with Santa.  Pictures will be $5 for a child, or $10 for families.

Contact the park at 877-757-0915 for more information.

Hualapai Mountain Park was created in the early 1930’s.  Hualapai means “Pine Tree Fork”.  The park was named for the Hualapai Indian tribe who once lived here.

To get to Hualapai Mountain Park, turn south onto Hualapai Mountain Road from Route 66/Andy Devine Avenue.  Stay on Hualapai Mountain Road for 14 miles until you get to the park.  The road winds up the mountain, and there may be ice on the road and cold winds in winter.

We’ve been to this steakhouse two or three times now.  It’s really good.  Their sirloin is one of the best steaks I’ve had in a long time.  If the steakhouse is good, I get my steaks cooked medium, and they do it perfectly.  The prime rib is also very good, but it goes fast, so you have to get there early.  They start serving the prime rib at 5pm.  They have many other cuts of steak as well, and they also serve pork chops, seafood, and chicken.

Sides include baked potato, rice, baked sweet potato, sweet potato fries, regular fries and vegetables.  My husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so he always gets the baked potato with butter and sour cream.  I’ve had the sweet potato fries and the baked sweet potato.  The sweet potato fries are good, but not as good as Mr. Dz Diner .  The baked sweet potato comes with butter and cinnamon sugar, but the potato I had was sweet enough without the sugar.

Entrees come with a choice of soup or salad.  The soup varies, so ask your server what the soup of the day is.  The ravioli soup is very different, but good.  The broccoli cheese soup is excellent.  The salads are fresh and crisp.  Meals also come with a loaf of hot, dark bread with a wonderful cinnamon butter.

We haven’t been there for lunch yet, but we plan to go there some afternoon, not for lunch per se, but for appetizers, as many of the appetizers look scrumptious.  Usually, though, the meal fills us up, so we never get an appetizer before-hand.

The Kingman Co. Steakhouse is located on Stockton Hill Road, right off of I40, so there’s easy access if you’re just passing through Kingman on the interstate.  If you’re looking for a good steak, I’d recommend Kingman Co. Steakhouse.