We left the hotel in east Albuquerque around 9:15 AM MDT after partaking in another delicious (ha) hotel breakfast. We made really good time heading west on I-40 across western New Mexico, making it to the NM/AZ border by around 11:00!
The scenery the whole way was awesome. The area west of Albuquerque was much more desert-like than we'd seen at any point previous with ever-changing canyons, mesas, and beautifully-colored sandstone cliffs. The area around the state line was especially breathtaking with a huge series of rock outcroppings on either side of 40. Today's drive was definitely the coolest one yet!
About a half an hour into Arizona we stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park, which straddles I-40 perpendicularly and has nearly 30 miles of road to drive within the park. Mom and I really enjoyed taking in some awesome overlooks, seeing the Painted Desert's red sandstone as well as the grays, blues, and violet colors of the badlands south of 40. Of course, we also really enjoyed seeing the enormous amounts of petrified wood, many pieces of which contained rich reds, yellows, and purples in their stone - so cool! The big chunks of petrified trees from the Triassic period were strewn across the desert canyon floor having been slowly turned to stone after being buried in primordial swamps and silts. Check out all the photos to come in a separate post!
We spent about two and a half hours in the park before heading back for I-40. We passed through Winslow, AZ with "Take it Easy" blaring through the speakers, listening to the rest of the Eagles' greatest hits album as we kept on trucking toward Flagstaff. Oh, and I also learned that there is a dormant volcano crater north and east of Flagstaff, plus a huge meteor impact crater to the south and east of town. We didn't visit either, but both would probably be included in future trips!
Flagstaff itself was surprising - no more than twenty miles to the east of the city the terrain completely changes from arid desert to evergreen forests. The huge San Francisco Peaks border the city to the north, covered in big pine trees, and smaller mountains surround the city to the south and west. Mom noted that it looked like what she thought Colorado would be like, and I'd have to agree! Stopping for gas in Flagstaff I could tell that it was a popular outdoor sports location, as I counted 4 or 5 Jeep Wranglers, most with huge off-road tires and covered in mud, also gassing up. I think it would be a cool city to spend some time in later!
About thirty miles west of Flagstaff in Williams, AZ, we cut north on AZ-64 to head toward... the Grand Canyon! The drive was equally as beautiful as the beginning of the day had been - the forests surrounding Flagstaff melted into lower, more desert-like shrubs that stretched out to the horizon under clear blue skies with puffy white clouds. Eventually some more trees came back as we came out of the desert valley and approached our overnight spot for the next two nights, Tusayan. Tusayan serves as the hotel and restaurant outpost for the south rim of the Grand Canyon, but there's not much else here! We've noticed a huge international presence - lots of central and western Europeans. More than anything, though, we're both very excited to check out the canyon for most of the day tomorrow!!!
After grabbing a bite to eat in the hotel buffet restaurant we've pretty much turned in for the night, catching up on blogs/emails/Facebook, etc. Like I said, check out the exclusively Petrified Forest post full of photos coming up after this one!
Song of the Day: "Take it Easy" by The Eagles
Distance Driven Today: 431 miles
Total Distance Driven: 2,206 miles
Distance to Go: 518 miles
Song of the Day: "Take it Easy" by The Eagles
Distance Driven Today: 431 miles
Total Distance Driven: 2,206 miles
Distance to Go: 518 miles
No comments:
Post a Comment