We visited Karchner Caverns, near Benson, AZ. It is a limestone cavern discovered by two geology students in the 1970's. They convinced the landowner and the governor of Arizona to sell the land to the state of Arizona and establish it as a State Park. It helped that both the landowner and the governor had geology backgrounds.
Petroglyph National Monument is on the west side of Albuquerque. The images were made by Ancestral Puebloans between roughly 400 and 3000 years ago.
The rocks are basalt, a volcanic rock that oxidizes to the dark color over millions of years. The images are made by removing the oxidation layer.
 |
| Looking east across Albuquerque at the Sandia Mountains |
 |
| Looking west at the remnants of the volcanoes that made the rocks the petroglyohs are carved in. |
Tombstone is a town in southern Arizona that is home to the story of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday facing off against the Cowboys at the OK Corral. We stopped there and saw the live reenactment and strolled the dusty streets.
 |
| The Petrified Forest is in the Painted Desert. |
 |
| There are many petroglyphs within the park |
 |
| The petrified logs are incredible. They look just like wood. |
 |
| Many of the petrified logs are clearly broken segments of the same tree. |
 |
| Sunset in Holbrook Arizona |
Grand Canyon is always amazing to see. We took the road west to Hermit's Rest, a direction I had not previously been.
Badwater Basin in Death Valley is the lowest point in North America. It is normally dry.
When Badwater Basin fills with water it is called Lake Manly. There had been significant rain in the Death Valley area so we went there to see the lake.
Posts
All Comments
