The Blue Spruce Lodge is a little run down around the heels, but my husband and I stayed there during a Route 66 trip to California last fall and found it clean and comfortable.

The furniture is old but serviceable, and the neon sign out front is absolutely gorgeous. The owners were very nice, although we wound up having to pay cash for the room because their credit-card machine was down the evening we were there. No big deal; that's why God made ATM cards, and I'm sure they got the problem fixed as soon as they could.

Our only complaint was with the neighbors. Like many motels of its age and type, the Blue Spruce has had to resort to renting a certain number of rooms by the week to make ends meet. Of course this practice sometimes results in less-than-ideal clientele; the night we were there, our next-door neighbors were spraying lacquer on cedar art projects in the parking lot, which we found amusing. Even funnier was their salespitch; they were eager to show us... more