Recently my family went on a vacation to some of the most amazing natural parks like The Grand Canyon, Powell Dam, Monument Valley, The Petrified Forrest and the Painted Desert. One place that wasn’t on our agenda was one of the best parts of the trip for all of the wrong reasons. Just down from The Grand Canyon was a tourist attraction that I made us stop at.
Flintstones Bedrock City Arizona is the ultimate tourist roadside attraction that is truly craptacular! It’s both amazing and a total train wreck at the same time. On the outside there are signs with the cast of characters that identify the buildings like Wilma’s Laundry and Fred’s Diner. There is a campground and trailer park. There is a gift shop with some Flintstones t-shirts and mugs and the usual junk that you find at a roadside gift shop.
The real magic or tragedy of Bedrock City is the actual town of Bedrock that is nestled behind the walls surrounding the place. For only five bucks you are transported to the town of Bedrock that is a true sight to behold. The area has sadly fallen into disrepair and while that was sad it was still amazing for all of the wrong reasons. Think of if you were to build a reproduction of Bedrock and had $100 bucks and only had about ten reference pictures and then hired an artist that was not the best and you have this attraction.
Don’t get me wrong, I truly was impressed with it because the entire thing was handmade and there is was a lot of love and time that went into making it. What makes it so great is the fact that it’s not perfect or on model. It give the place a very quaint charm and feel. For those of us that grew up on The Flintstones it’s the cartoon come to life sort of. The best part of it is the buildings that looked surprisingly good and accurate.
With my family waiting VERY patiently in the van I ran around the place like a madman taking picture and thankfully I was the only person in the area. Most of the buildings were themed on the inside with them and that is where it got weird and amazing.
It’s rare to see attractions like this anymore because families rarely take road trips anymore because of Theme Parks and busy schedules. Most people fly to a destination and that is a real shame because when I was growing up we traveled cross country twice in a trailer and I always pestered my dad to stop at every roadside attraction there was. He rarely would but I highly suggest that if your going to the Grand Canyon that you need to stop by The Flintstones Bedrock City while it’s still there. Currently the property is for sale (2 million dollars by the way) by the family that owns it.
While it may not be the fanciest stop on a road trip, the one thing that it does is offer a glimpse to the past of when families went on a road trip and would visit roadside attractions along Route 66 and other destinations. It was a rare look at a bygone era that was one of the greatest thing that I went to on our trip and a chance to be a kid again visiting a roadside attraction that brought one of my favorite cartoons to life.
Below are the picture of The Flintstones Bedrock Arizona starting from the outside to the actual park area that you have to pay to get into. Sadly there was no goatasaurus to be seen.
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