New Mexico & The Petrified Forest
Let me take you on an adventure. We had the opportunity to travel cross country from Kentucky to Washington and, of course, I chose the route to make the most of it. We traveled down to Texas through Amarillo, over to New Mexico, Arizona, Grand Canyon, up to Utah through Moab and on to Washington through the northeastern corner of Oregon. On this post I will be showing you photos of New Mexico and the Petrified Forest. Later we will get to the Grand Canyon, Hopi Reservation, Utah and on.
Let me just say, I left a piece of my heart in the desert. I absolutely love it out there. It is massive and beautiful and simple. This trip and these deserts are what inspired my blog and the name wings in the desert. It definitely reached all the way down in the fabrics of my being and danced across my heritage and Indian roots from some of my ancestors. Also, as a side note, I never cared for turquoise before this trip and now I see it in the light of the desert from where it is pulled and it is an absolute beautiful stone. I bought myself a turquoise bracelet from Pat, a little old Navajo man with a roadside stand on the slope down from the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon. Such neat experiences. I hope to get back out to the desert soon and spend some quality time with it.
Driving into Albuquerque from Texas on I-40 is absolutely beautiful. You go from desert plains with trains rolling through to sweeping mountains on both sides. The city lies just through the mountains. Albuquerque is not a huge city. It is a comfortable size with everything laid out in a grid. The old city square has a beautiful old church, Mexican restaurant where the waitresses dress in traditional Mexican senorita dress with black skirts, white tops and red flowers in their hair, lots of shops and park center. Absolutely lovely. I would love to live near this old towne center and walk the streets at night enjoying the shops. Of all the places we have traveled Matt and I both agree this is our favorite city, as far as a place to stop and live in for a while.
After Albuquerque we moved on west via I-40 into Arizona stopping at The Petrified Forest. A neat and cheap day exploring the deserts that we were driving by so quickly, The Painted Desert, badlands, Blue Mesa, old Route 66, petrified wood and more. A very interesting and beautiful place. You can drive through at your own pace and get out and hike as much as you would like.
You should definitely make the trip to the desert and stop along the way to see these sites. Stay tuned. My next post will continue with us on this journey into the Grand Canyon, Hopi Reservation and Moab, Utah to the Arches National Park.