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August - 15th - 2004
I had
never been through the southwest, and especially the canyons and the
native American pueblos, the petrified forest and of course, Kitts Peak 40
miles from Tucson and the mile high telescopes viewing the
universe.
I rented a car and my sister
and I left Tucson and drove to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, staying there
over night and spending the day viewing the sights and visiting the art
galleries.
Santa Fe
Nice Neighbor Hoods
Yvonne & the Church!
Lots of Home Made Items
Downtown Markets
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Route 66 Casino and Lunch
Route 66
Yvonne Looking for a Jack Pot!
Then to the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. We spent the night in a motel.
Road Side Business
Buffalo are Really Bison!
Checking out the Donkeys.
Painted Desert
This was one of the few pictures
of the Painted Desert we actually got to see before the clouds came in and
there was a shower!
Variegated levels of mineral deposits in the Painted Desert.
Petrified Forest
After the clouds and showers coming from the Painted Desert, we
were lucky at the Petrified Forest, sunny and only one rain cloud on the
upper left!
This is a great close up of a petrified log and as you can see,
the rings are very clear!
Meteor Crater - 50,000 Years Old
Meteor Crater is 50,000 years old and is a mile across and 500
feet deep!
Buildings in the Middle of the Crater.
Chuck on the Rim of the Crater!
Yvonne on the Rim of the Crater!
Walnut Canyon National Park
Walnut Canyon National Park outside of Flagstaff!
Very Steep Steps to the Walk Way!
A telephoto lens was used to capture ruins on the
opposite canyon wall!
A great shot, if you stepped off the path, it was
a drop of over 500 feet in some places, and even father when up the canyon
wall! Wonder how they managed their children and so on. The
women had to walk down to the river everyday with clay pots and bring the
water back to drink and cook!
We then went to the Sunset Crater Volcano.
Sunset Crater Volcano
Sunset
Crater Volcano is north of Flagstaff about 30 miles and is located in the Wupatki
National Monument Park. It erupted around 1,000 CE and it took over
150 years for the lava to cool. The eruption caused damage for miles
and the Native Americans living in the region had to move due to the plant
and water being damaged. See the fantastic remains of the buildings
they lived in before the eruptions after this section!
Wupatki Native Americans Park
Walnut Canyon National Park outside of Flagstaff!
Winding Road to Sedona
Then back to Tucson and we drove to Kitt Peak, a fantastic
drive, 12 miles and one mile high! Kitt Peak has around 23
telescopes, the largest sun telescope in the world, and they are building
a large array radio telescope near the top. Fantastic views but not
a drive for the faint hearted.
Kitt Peak & Telescopes
Lunch at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa
Then we drove to Flagstaff, stopping at the Route 66 Casino for the Buffet.
As we drove along Route 66 we stopped to see some buffalo and Donkeys. Donkeys are so sweet and love to be petted, at least some do!
Early the next
morning we went to view the Meteor Crater.
Then we went to the Walnut Canyon National Park
with fantastic cliff pueblos.
We then drove to the park of the
Wupatki Native Americans with fantastic stone buildings constructed around
1000 CE. We spent over night in Flagstaff.
The next day we were off to Sedona. A great drive through the canyons and fantastic
views. We stopped for shopping in Sedona and then left in the
afternoon. Unfortunately, we hit a horrible rain storm and the
visibility was almost nil. We couldn't stop as traffic was bumper to
bumper. The water was over half a foot deep at one point and on the
freeway to Phoenix, some over passes were flooded and we drove at five
miles an hour for an hour and a half. Traffic was backed up for
miles.
We got back from our long drive from Arizona to New Mexico and back again. We decided to treat ourselves with a nice lunch at the Marriott!
Created on: 2004.08.15
Updated on: 2020.10.21