Oct 4th Fly Alaska Air to Kansas City and Kickoff Dinner Take a late morning flight with us from Portland Airport (our favorite for its easy, relaxed check-in) to Kansas City. Our company bus will be waiting to take us for a short drive to Clinton, where we'll enjoy a buffet dinner at Dietz Family Buffet, locally known for its fantastic selection of home-style comfort foods! Check into our hotel for an overnight stay. D

Oct 5th Caves, Lambert’s Café Famous Throwed Rolls and a Trip to Oz Fantastic Caverns is the only cave in North America to offer a complete ride-through experience and is part of the many show caves in Missouri. The narrated tour takes about 1 hour and is held in a Jeep-drawn tram. The trams drive along the path left behind from an ancient underground river. Watch for hot-throwed rolls flying through the air during our hosted lunch at Lambert café. After lunch, we’re off to see the Wizard in Miami, Oklahoma. This is home to the Coleman Theatre, a historic performance venue located on Route 66. Built in 1929 for George Coleman, a local mining magnate, it has a distinctive Spanish Colonial Revival exterior, and an elaborate Louis XV interior, and today it will be the place you see a live production of “The Wizard of Oz”. That’s right, Dorothy, we ain't in Kansas anymore! Check into our hotel for a one night stay. B,L

Oct 6th Route 66 “The Mother Road” Experience, Big Texan Steakhouse Experience the Mother Road at Oklahoma’s Route 66 Museum . The museum offers a personal journey through the history of the nation’s most revered highway. Encounter the iconic ideas, images, and myths of Mother Road. Learn about the dreams and the labor needed to make the road a reality. Experience the Dust Bowl as thousands streamed along the road, away from drought and despair, and towards the “land of promise.” Listen to the sounds of the Big Band era, when the roar of the big trucks and the welcome home cries to returning soldiers dominated the road. Sit at the counter or a booth in the 1950s diner and feel the open road as America’s families vacationed along the length of Route 66. You just might overhear the family’s chatter as they eat their lunch. The museum also offers changing special exhibits focusing on the Route 66 experience.Since its opening the Big Texan has become one of the most iconic stops on Route 66. Famous for great steaks and West Texas charm, founder R.J. Lee sought out to create the ultimate Texas experience for travels along the America’s Mother Road. His legacy lives on and still continues to grow to this day! You'll love all the kitcsh here. Don;t miss the huge gift shop and the Slug Bug ranch. B,L

Oct 7th The Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe Your ride on the Turquoise Trail, a national scenic Byway, to Santa Fe begins at Tinkertown. It took artist Ross Ward over 40 years to carve, collect, and lovingly construct it. His miniature wood-carved figures were first part of a traveling exhibit, driven to county fairs and carnivals in the 1960s and ’70s. Today, over 50,000 glass bottles form rambling walls that surround a 22-room museum. Wagon wheels, old-fashioned storefronts, and wacky western memorabilia all make Tinkertown’s exterior as fabulous as the wonders within. Hollywood loved the trail too, filming “Young Guns with Emilio Estevez and “Wild Hogs” with John Travolta, among others. You’re sure to recognize some, like the funky town of Madrid, our lunch stop. Continue into Santa Fe for a trolley tour and free time to explore Old Town, shop, and have dinner. It is just a short 1-hour drive to your hotel for the next two nights, just 10 minutes from the Balloon Fiesta Park. B

Oct 8th Morning Glow and Flight of Nations Mass Ascension, Get up at the crack of dawn We’ll take you to our exclusive heated hospitality tent overlooking the entire Balloon Fiesta Park. Hot coffee and a light breakfast will be offered, and from here, you can watch the morning balloon glow when balloons are inflated but not launched, so they shine as the sunrise colors the sky. Followed by the choreographed Mass Ascension, as waves of hundreds of balloons inflate, launch, and float up into the dawn light. After all the excitement, spend time on the launch field. Here, you can grab hot breakfast items at one of the many vendors, watch the chainsaw carvers, visit the Artisans Tent and Balloon Discovery Center, and explore everything Balloon Fiesta has to offer. Return to our hotel with time to freshen up for our afternoon activities. This afternoon, visit the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, along with exhibits, it is also home to more than 20 murals by great Pueblo artists. These vibrant works of art vividly convey the role of the seasons, dance, harvest, agriculture, and animals in Pueblo life. Don’t miss the iconic Indian Pueblo Kitchen for lunch. It offers an unforgettable Indigenous dining experience that showcases creative, Native American culinary artistry and celebrated Pueblo hospitality. Tour Casa San Ysidro: The Gutiérrez/Minge House is a charming historic house museum, affectionately known as “Casa,” the property is home to one of the most comprehensive collections of New Mexican art and furnishings. The Minge Collection includes architectural elements, furniture, religious art, household tools and hardware, jewelry, Hispanic and Pueblo weavings and pottery, a transportation collection, and historic photographs.

Oct 9th Special Shape Mass Balloon Launch, Sky City Pueblo & Code Talker Museum One additional morning at Ballon Fiesta with the feature of Special Shape Balloons in a mass ascension. We’ll continue directly after the event to the Acoma Pueblo for a tour of Sky City Mesa. The Acoma Pueblo is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in North America. The guided tour will begin with a short ride to the top of the 367-foot-high sandstone mesa to the historic pueblo village of Sky City and San Esteban del Rey Mission. Tribal Members lead the walking tours, sharing Acoma's unique Native American history and culture through the oral presentations that have been passed down for many, many centuries. Local artisans sell their crafts during the tour. Next stop on our journey today is the Navajo Code Talker Museum and Cultural Center in Gallup, where a Tribal Guide will give us a tour. Next find yourself standing on the corner in Winslow, AZ, before enjoying sunset at the Little Painted Desert. L

Oct 10th Return flight home from Phoenix Return on a late afternoon flight to Seattle Airport, where we will transfer you back to your original pick-up locations. B