La Posada hotel is a southwestern treasure, a cousin of many other fine historically significant buildings (including Union Station in downtown Los Angeles) that are still in use decades after first being built. Designed by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, architect of many of the buildings on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, this railroad hotel first opened in 1930. Colter gave La Posada the feel of an old Spanish hacienda and even created a fictitious history for the building. In the lobby you’ll see numerous pieces of original furniture, as well as reproductions of pieces once found in the hotel. After falling into disuse after World War II, the hotel was restored to its former glory in the late 1990s and has been an extraordinarily popular destination ever since. The nicest rooms, with period Art Deco and modernist furnishings but modern amenities, are the large units named for famous guests—Albert Einstein, Howard Hughes, and Harry Truman. Even the less expensive, smaller rooms are fine, decorated in the same retro fashion; just be aware that such rooms tend to be closer to the train tracks at the back of the hotel, and passing trains can be surprisingly loud. The hotel’s Turquoise Room is by far the best restaurant in the entire Four Corners region. La Posada is reason enough to overnight in Winslow. Even if you can’t stay, stop by to look at this beautiful place and its oasis-like gardens.