Holiday Road Trip: More Parks

This time last year we were broken down in Haines Junction, YT, in –20 temperatures and barely 600 miles into our cross-country drive. This morning we arrived at the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest at sunrise. We started with a few very short hikes while we took in the early colors displayed by the scenery. The reds, golds, purples, and blues of the landscape were saturated in the early morning sun. I was surprised by the ancient pueblo remains and petroglyphs in the area.

The petrified forest yielded some interesting pictures of wildlife and mineral remains of fossilized trees.

By noon we were on our way of the last leg of our journey. We left the sunset in southeastern Arizona behind us for the southwest of New Mexico. We arrived very late in Las Cruces, NM and had some of our leftover beer from the night before.