Driving to Albuqurque, NM

Today we headed out for Albuquerque, NM.  Nothing but scrub and rocks FOREVER!  I never knew there was so much open space in this country of ours. 

Our journey took us through two of the route 66 hot spots ; Winslow Arizona, and Gallup, New Mexico.  Ha ha ha, they really were bright spots in the never ending desert!  We also drove past the Cholla coal-fired power plant in Holbrook, Arizona that Rich did work for when it was being built in the 70's.  Kind of cool because it was one of his very first jobs with the firm, and he revisited just a few months before his retirement.  

After a few more hours we saw a sign for the Petrified Forest National Park. We definitely knew we were ready to see something different.  I'm so glad that we decided to stop.  It was really very interesting.  The mineral deposits, where the tree wood once was, were really beautiful.     We also saw an ancient Pueblo that once housed about 1200 people.  We walked around and were able to find many petroglyphs.  The road took us 28 miles around the park.  

We still had a long drive ahead of us so we were ready to get back on the highway.   Even though the park loop took us within a few car lengths from the interstate, there was no access.  So we had to keep on the frontage road that took us through yet another park, The Painted Desert.   This detour actually turned out for the best.  It was like a little Grand Canyon.  The rich colors of the striations were striking the way they stood out from the drab greys of the surrounding landscape.  The pictures really don't do it justice :(    

Once back on the highway we passed through some of the largest Indian reservations in the area. We were getting close to Albuquerque, within 5 miles, and still barren scrub land as far as we could see.  You would think we should be seeing some suburbs or something.  As soon as we came over a rise, there it was, sprawled out at the bottom of a mountain.  We were excited to have finally arrived!  It was a long day:)