Before leaving Albuquerque, we headed to Piedras Marcades Canyon. I got a two mile hike in, discovering petroglyphs, while Thom got a checkup on the car. It was amazing to be a mile out into the desert. I couldn’t see or hear anything but nature for awhile. It was really cool to see the petroglyphs placed here by the Puebloans 500-700 years ago. Many are fading from the sun, wind, and rain, so it was good to see this piece of history before it’s gone.
Next up was the Petrified Forest National Park. This place blew my mind and far exceeded my expectations. It’s hard to imagine how the Grand Canyon could beat the multitude of views this park offered. We picnicked in the painted desert section of the park. For the second time today, I marveled at how the sun was beating down on me and felt delightfully warm, yet I wasn’t hot. I guess there’s something to that whole humidity thing being the problem.
We drove the 28 mile road through the park, stopping at overlooks and marveling at how each curve in the road seemed to bring about an entirely different landscape. Of special note was the Painted Desert, Newspaper Rock (where you could see hundreds of petroglyphs through binoculars), Blue Mesa, and the Crystal Forest. The drive was made even more fun by the Gold Rush Rally going on–we saw millions of dollars worth of sports cars including Corvettes, Lambos, Porsches, Ferraris, Mclarens, Ford GT, and maybe a Pagani Huarya. On the last leg of the park, we came upon a dust devil. I took a quick picture (which doesn’t do it justice) and then it traveled right over the car!
Continuing west, we were going right past Winslow AZ, so of course we had to pull off and take some pictures. Thom also made sure to get a pic of a “girl in a…Ford making eyes at me.” 🙂
We got checked into our Sky Dome at the Clear Sky Resort (coolest place ever) and then headed to the Grand Canyon South Rim for sunset and the annual Star Party. I had done some research and decided we wanted to go to Hopi Point for the sunset. We were going to have to find parking, get to one of the bus lines, and ride a bus over. However, in talking about our plans at the resort check-in, one of the guys gave us a code to get in the gate (so we could just drive to Hopi Point). We gathered picnic items and headed out to the canyon. I have to say, when we got out at our spot on the canyon, it was so beautiful that it was truly breathtaking. For an hour, we got to watch rain clouds go over parts of the canyon and we got to see various stellar moments of sunset (despite some heavy clouds). Since we drove, we got some pics of the Mustang at the canyon too…before heading off to enjoy the star presentations.
Standing Strength 