Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, Indian Reservation, Moab and Home

The last day in Arizona was spent in the Petrified Forest National Park, which is at the end of the Arizona side of Route 66 and is over 95,000 acres. Petrified wood has always fascinated me. I have had a rock collection since I was a kid, and have a couple of petrified wood pieces. It's amazing to me that wood can someday become rocks. Therefore, I was very excited to check out this park. There were so many colorful concentrations of petrified wood. some pieces looked like an entire tree, just laying on its side.

Most pieces were dark, so this one caught my eye.

On the trail at Crystal Forest .

Another area along the mile-long hike at Crystal Forest.

Puerco Ruins in the Petrified Forest. I especially liked this particular petroglyph- a stork and baby?

Puerco Ruins

Three tee-pees

We stopped at this little marker, explaining how Route 66 used to passed through the national park.

This old car was also at the marker.

The Painted Desert was fascinating. So many colors!

We drove through the Navajo Reservation from Holbrook (Petrified Forest) to Moab. It took most of the day. There was so much poverty! I saw this colorful house on the reservation. It haunted me. After about 20 miles, we turned around and drove back so I could stop and take some pictures. It was one of those times where I knew if I didn't get the shot, I would always regret it: The beauty of the red rocks against the poverty of reservation living.

Here's another that caught my eye. This van is attached to the building. Is this someone's home?

This shot was taken just at sunset, facing the east mountains just south of Moab. We talked about staying the night in Moab, but because of Spring Break, the little town was packed with people on the streets. We decided to press on. It was such a long day of driving. We arrived home just before 1 a.m. If we would have stayed there overnight, I would not have been able to be at the hospital at 1 p.m. the next day when my mother was admitted.

Sunset Crater Volcano, Wupoki Ruins, Meteor Crater

We hiked the Lenox Trail at Sunset Crater Volcano. It was very steep. No hikers are allowed into the volcano anymore, but the beauty of the black pebbly lava and tall pines was beautiful.

Top of Lenox Trail.

I was amazed at the mountains in Arizona. Every photo of the snow-covered mountains look like ink sketches.

We also walked another trail - this one was flat.

Wupoki Ruins

We had to crawl through this door in order to get into one of the rooms.

We checked out the Meteor Crater. It is over 50,000 years old! It's almost a mile in diameter and 550 feet deep. There's an American flag in the center. Astronauts used to use this area for training. The visitors center features an actual Apollo space test capsule. This was probably the most expensive place we visited, as it is now privately owned.

Sedona and Tuzigoot and Cottonwood

We stayed in Sedona, which is a small tourist town. I'm not a fan of tourist towns, preferring out of the way places with opportunities for photography. We had plenty of those on this trip.

 Blossoms in Sedona

Tuzigoot is a national monument near Cottonwood, Arizona and is a two-three story pueblo ruin. It was fascinating to see the remains of 12th century Sinagua Indians.

 We stopped at a couple of antique stores in Cottonwood. I was wandering around the second one and happened to look outside the back door. It was FULL of JUNK! I could hardly wait to grab my camera and head out. I could have stayed there all day. I just wish the light wasn't right overhead.

I wonder what this was - part of a carnival ride? I love the old torquoise and yellow.

Old Colors

The springs in this old jalopy reminded me of the old bed spring I used to sleep on.

Oak Creek Canyon - Coconino National Forest

The drive through Oak Creek Canyon was so beautiful. It was well worth the drive. The beauty of aspens and blue sky and snow.

The end of Oak Creek Canyon brought us into beautiful Flagstaff.

Mojave Desert

Our Route 66 "start" destination was Kingman, Arizona. After leaving Primm this morning (we ended up back at the mall as Mike forgot to pack ANY shirts...) we headed out. We drove through pieces of California in order to get to Kingman. We spent a few hours traversing the Mojave Desert, which has a beauty all its own.

The desert was full of Joshua Trees, in bloom.

We stopped at the "Route 66" tourist bureau to get some advice on how to travel the route and see the most.

We ate at Mr D's. They're famous for their homemade root beer - the BEST I've ever had. The sweet potato fries were delicious. 

We then drove through Seligman and discovered these wonderful old cars. Too bad it was the middle of the day and the light wasn't right for photos.

We drove past these wonderful old chairs, outside a small drive-in. I asked Mike to turn around so I could take some pictures. This turned out to be one of my favorite shots. We stayed the night in Williams.

Heading for Route 66

We left for a Spring Break vacation to Arizona. Mike wanted to go to the Planes of Fame Museum in Valle, so I researched what else we could do and suggested we follow the old Route 66 from one end of Arizona to another. We left the cold weather (and a blizzard the next day) behind and headed out. Made it to Primm, Nevada, just outside of Las Vegas. The GPS was my friend - I didn't have to be reading a map and could pay attention to the scenery.

Beautiful clouds as we headed into Nevada.

Primm has a great outlet mall. Mike didn't want to go, so I dropped him off at the hotel and went shopping by myself for a few hours.

Spring Growth

I took a walk around the yard this afternoon just before the second session of General Conference, using my macro lens again.

Lilac Buds

Interesting "leftover" leaves

Who would have known that dandelions have these beautiful sparkly curly-cues!

Indoor geranium - almost time to take it outside until fall.