New Mexico Road Trip

OUR ROAD TRIP TO NEW MEXICO IN SEPTEMBER 2007

ROAD TRIP TO NEW MEXICO

We drove about 5000 kilometres through New Mexico, Arizona and Utah

Wupatki is not far from Grand Canyon Park. It was the first "ruin" of our trip, so impressed us greatly.	We descended a steep hill of narrow highway to arrive at the spectacular city of Sedona. Red hills surround the town.	Sculpture and statuary are everywhere in Sedona. The red hills are always in the background.	A stunning view from the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona.	The Painted Desert is an incredible landscape of red and white shades. It is part of the Petrified National Park.

Pictographs abound in this area. Early people scratched through the rock varnish to create images on flat surfaces.	The wind was whistling around us when we made the one mile circuit over the Petrified Forest. The trees look real although they are stone.	The tree looks like it was recently "bucked" by a logger's chainsaw! As the support under is was eroded, the weight caused the regular breaks.	We drove the original "Route 66" going east from Flagstaff. The Wigwam Motel has been famous since the 50's.	Our most southern destination was Silver City and the Gila Cave Dwellings. To see these from a distance for the first time was exciting.

We were able to climb up inside for a close-up look. A volunteer guide led us about for more than an hour. MUCH TALK!	Santa Fe is very much a tourist town. We wandered the streets of the old town for siveral hours. Above: Hacienda at Hotel Santa Fe	Art galleries and attractive curio shops abound in old town Santa Fe.	We enjoyed a visit to The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Gallery.	No trip would be complete without a visit to a quilt shop. This one in Albuquerque was amazing.

The pueblo ruin at Aztec is about the third largest, after Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon.	We were invited to wander among the ruins. Originally there were about 500 rooms.	The museum at Aztec held many amazing artifacts. This is a piece of original ladder with unusual lashings.	We crossed the "Great Divide" twice.	One morning we left early hoping to see the sunrise over fantastic, desert, rock formations. BUT no rocks! Instead, this.

This startling tower of rock greeted us on a turn across the desert. Why? Ask a geologist.	On the route north into Utah from Four Corners, this towered above the road. It was the first of many arches we were to see.	A geocache led us to La Posada Hotel built in 1930 but undergoing major renovations. Many celebs have visited. Architect, Mary Colter.	This gigantic model of a molecule was outside a research facility in New Mexico.	Someone with a sense of humour and a lot of spare cash fitted this dino into the warehouse wall. We found a cache nearby.

Sometimes simple caches turn out to be memorable. We walked right under these balanced rocks searching for a cache.	Arches National Park in Utah was a highlight of our road trip. Every turn brought a striking view. This is a not yet formed "balance rock"	Balance!	Many of the rock formations had names that fitted their shape. Here we have the "three gossips"	It looks impossible!