Day 18 – 10/02/2018
Today we drove from Santa Rosa, NM to Holbrook, AZ. The drive was quite dramatic. We hit several thunder and lightning storms and even a bit of hail.
While driving through one of the thunder storms, it was raining so hard you could barely see. We came upon a guy riding a motorcycle with no jacket or helmet. He was covering his head with his hand and ducking down to get through the storm.
We stopped by several “Trader” stores to get some gifts for our kids and grandkids. It ended up taking us much longer to get to the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest than we had planned.
We first went to the Painted Desert. It was beautiful. It was overcast with dark storm clouds so we didn’t get to see the bright colors of the desert. But the storm clouds did add some nice drama to the view.
Next we followed the road south through the Petrified Forest. The first stop was Newspaper Rock which is a rock with a bunch of petroglyphs on it. It was absolutely fascinating.
Next stop was Blue Mesa. It was a big canyon with more beautiful rocks and colors.
While at Blue Mesa, Guen decided to take a peek at the landscape too.
Then we continued on to Badlands. This was my favorite spot. The rocks and canyons were just so rugged and interesting.
Next we went to the Agate Bridge which is a complete petrified tree that had fallen down across a river. We lucked out with some really nice rainbow shots here. There was also a nice looking building that was a restroom in the past.
The final stop was Crystal Forest which is just a large forest of petrified rocks. We got here just at sunset so the lighting was beautiful but dim.
It was nearly 6:00 pm so we made a mad dash to the gate to get out of the park before it closed. We got to enjoy the sunset on the way out.
The Traveling Maker 