Summer Road Trip: Get Your Kitsch on Route 66

A road trip along America’s original highway, the iconic Route 66, offers an educational and entertaining look into the nation’s history and love affair with all things kitschy.

My daughter and I hopped on Route 66 in Oklahoma, visiting POPS Soda Ranch in Arcadia, which offers 700 flavors of soda and a photo opportunity with the world’s largest soda bottle.

In Amarillo, Texas, we participated in public art at Cadillac Ranch, the Stonehenge of cars, where you can leave your mark with spray paint.

But my favorite stretch was Tucumcari, New Mexico, with its vintage motels, murals and desert landscapes.

— Aisling Maki, KQ Communications