On Our Way

Ok, so first of all, did whoever it was that created state borders decide on the California/Arizona border by where the saguaro's begin growing?! I've never seen a live saguaro in my whole life and as soon as we crossed the border we were in an entire forest of them! 

As David can attest, I get quite excited about little things like that, so there was a lot of oooing and ahhhing for a good thirty minutes as I pointed out saguaro after saguaro. He was obliging and continued to respond with the appropriate enthusiasm for me long after most anyone would find necessary - he's a good hubby like that :) 

And of course, as soon as opportunity presented itself, we had to stop and take a picture of myself and my new found love.

The rugged mountains were also quite unexpected.

As is most always the case, plans never seem to go as planned, and as we watched the weather and drove through the scorching 110˚ heat, we knew that our 'Lost Dutchman' campground, with great trails and plenty of folklore, would have to be abandoned for the more practical and much less glamorous KOA cabin with AC. It turned out to be cute and mostly cool, and exactly what we needed :) 

We celebrated our arrival with a delicious dinner of salmon and 

corn-on-the-cob.

After three successful events for David, and with the advice of a girl who grew up on the reservation, we took the long way to Albuquerque. We were immediately rewarded with sights of nature that took our breath away, and considering that we may never pass this way again, it was well worth the twenty mile dirt - and sometimes treacherous - road we found ourselves on for part of the journey.

This giant flower bloomed only on the dirt road section, and at times dotted the rocky hills all around us.

We made it to camp in the beautiful - and much cooler - white mountains of northeast Arizona... 

where we again celebrated with a satisfying dinner. I wonder if I'll still be as excited as I am now about cooking dinner over the fire when we're done with this whole thing ;)

One of the things that I had really been looking forward to since we began planning this journey was visiting the petrified forest. Let me just say, it was nothing like I expected. It sits in the middle of the fields of a high desert grasslands at seven thousand feet. David and I kept feeling like we were on that barren stretch of highway 80 from Lyman to Green River that looks like you've somehow, magically landed on Mars. The petrified wood did not disappoint though,

and we did find a flower.

We had planned on backpacking into the forest and staying the night there, but alas, the heat and wind were so strong, our plans had to again be discarded. We arrived in Albuquerque, following the heat wave, and have plopped down in another KOA with air conditioning. This one has an air conditioner that seems to rattle excessively loud though, which makes it hard to imagine that we are out in nature.

So we got up early today to try and beat the heat and take a hike through the petroglyphs monument park. We didn't beat the heat, and the trail was like the sand of a beach - without the ocean crashing nearby. We saw the tracks of all kinds of critters - things with little feet and long tails that dragged in the sand, tiny feet that made thousands of tiny prints, and a slithering snake track.

Note the rattle on the tail of this petroglyph. Eeeek!