Route 66 Beer Floats and Big Bopper Burgers on the Arizona Frontier.

By Debi Lander

Wearing my just-purchased authentic Stetson cowboy hat, I'd been poking around Pete's Gas Station Museum on Route 66 in Williams, Arizona, when some-thing cool and colorful caught my eye: A beautiful pink and white 1955 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria shone enticingly from its parking spot in front of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor up the street.

Its license plate read "Ice Krem," and the shop was fittingly named Twisters. Fifties music wafted out the screen door. It was the cherry on my sundae of exploring the town's old Western streets. I just had to go inside.

The thought of a root beer float sounded mighty good. No soft serve here! At Twisters 50's Soda Fountain, the summertime favorite is called the "Route 66 Beer Float." The soda jerk fixed my concoction using authentic, full-fat ice cream--with extra root beer on the side for an additional dose when the foam died down.

Other items on the soda fountain menu include a cherry phosphate for $2.66, a Suicide Coke made with chocolate, cherry, and vanilla syrups ($3.66), and the Kid Cone for (you guessed it) just 66 cents.

Lunch choices start with the half-pound Big Bopper burger, a Betty Boop ham and Swiss on wheat, and the Roy Rogers roast beef with provolone on wheat. And soda is not the only beverage being poured around here! Twisters' full-service bar includes 20-plus imported, domestic, and microbrew beers on tap.