Adam's Blog July 15th, Day 10!

Today we only had a little distance to cover but a lot planned to see. We start out the day at the gas station where I hear two guys getting into a fight over who should have pulled in to pump. Now it was pretty busy there but the pump in front of me is empty, not really sure what all of that stank was about. We start the drove off to Arizona and can see some storm clouds out over the horizon. Keep these in mind as they play a role later. Things are pretty standard from this point for a while except for the directions telling us to cross the highway if possible via these little inlets that look like water pass through more than car pass throughs. We decide to stick with the slightly rough road rather than having to fold in the sideview mirrors to make it through.

After a little bit in Arizona we reach the Petrified Forest National Park. What a beautiful place this is! The painted desert vistas are breath taking. We find that we are some of the people talking the longest at each of the pull offs but are not deterred. How could we rush through such an amazing place? Even Gideon is finally moved to want to take pictures and keeps saying "Thank you God for painting the desert"and Abigail is finally inspired to take a break from Animal Crossing to enjoy the sights as well. We pass by the original alignment of Route 66 on or way down to the lower part of the park.

Here in the lower part of the park we are first greeted by some evidence of Native Americans in the form of an old pueblo. There is even some petroglyphs here that were impressive including one that marked the summer solstice. It truly is amazing what the native people were capable of and that they were even capable of surviving out here. I am pretty sure that I would have no luck at living out here. On our walk around the grounds we run into a really cool painted looking lizard as well sunning itself on one of the rails. We then move on to Newspaper Rock where there are a ton more petroglyphs.

From here the park turned more back into the painted desert and petrified wood. There were some beautiful strata with mixed blues, greys and reds, a primarily blue mesa area, cliff faces that are releasing tons of logs as they erode and areas where there are a lot of logs that we can walk right up to. Tons of pictures that will not do any of it justice later and we are on our way out of the park. We end up spending about three hours here and we didn't hike the longer trails!

We head out with the next major landmark to visit being The Corner in Winslow, AZ from The Eagles song. There is a mural, sculpture and park here now as well as any number of businesses using the line in their names. Here is where the storm starts to catch up with us and it begins to drizzle so we decide to slip Homolovi State Park. The major draw was seeing a pueblo and petroglyphs and the petrified forest already provided that. So away we go.

We pull out heading towards Flagstaff with the intention of stopping at Meteor Crater. Here is where the storm really catches up to us. On our drive out to the crater rim we see lighting strikes and can watch the wall of water start to encompass it. We turn around. While it does have indoor viewing I just don't feel safe standing on the highest point for miles around with a lightning storm bearing down on it and with that kind of rain you aren't going to see much.

In to Flagstaffwe go, check in and head out to dinner and a supply run. Dinner is at a pseudo-fast food mexican joint but boy is it good. Some excellent salsas and food in general here. Quick stop at Target for some goods and we are back at the hotel to update the website and get some rest. The first day of the Grand Canyon is up tomorrow and I am very excited.

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