On our trip to Santa Fe in July ’14 we first stopped in Benson to see the museum at Kartchner Caverns. The McDonalds that we call the “Dinosaur McDonalds” because of the easily recognizable statue out front is right at the Kartchner Caverns exit on I-10, making it a very convenient place to eat lunch on your way east from Tucson. But on July 2, the first day of our research trip gathering details for an historical thriller novel about spies in the Southwest during World War 2, we also discovered that everybody had the same idea. I’ve been to this restaurant many times but never have I seen it so crowded. You could barely get waited on. It was a good thing we weren’t in a hurry and had time to kill. The room at the Comfort Inn wasn’t ready yet. We even got back in the long line to order dessert. But we were also surprised that the McDonalds menu was reduced since our last stop here two years ago on our way back and forth to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in 2012. Now they don’t serve strawberry lemonade. which was a mainstay of our earlier trip. They don’t even have chocolate dipped cones!
Lunch at McDonalds