From Holbrook to San Antonio

November 6-9,
We left Holbrook, Az. to go back to Albuquerque for some good Mexican food. We spent the afternoon in Old Town, shopping and eating. Albuquerque and Santa Fe are two of my favorite cities. The next morning we started the long ride to San Antonio, spending most of the day on Rt 285 from I-40 to I-10. As we thought it was a very unpicturesque ride. The landscape went from stubby bushes and dead grass to no bushes and dead grass. The few small town that we saw were mostly deserted with empty gas stations, restaurants amd stores. But we covered over 400 miles and spent the night in Ft. Stockton, Tx.
The next morning, we made the left to get back on I-10. We drove for a mile or so, thinking this was a long entrance ramp. Soon a barrier appeared and a dirt path to the highway. So, IF we missed the real entrance ramp we were not the first. We'll never know---we have no intention of ever being there again.
I-10 proved only slightly more interesting than 285, with not many more towns. The highlight was seeing AJ's tour truck heading back to Nashville. When we were in Vegas, we had seen the ads for his November performance. Unfortunatedly, AJ was now where to be found.

Painted Desert Inn

November 6,
Now a historic landmark, The Painted Desert Inn must have been quite the stop for travelers on the old Rt. 66. Picture 2 is the dining room, with some of the furniture fully restored. Pic 3 is ceiling in the store area, painted glass. The fourth pic is the basement area. There were many doors, windows and patios, all offering beautiful views of the desert surrounding the Inn.

Painted Desert

November 6,
The park road ends at the Painted Desert. Going through the rest of the park we had seen some beautiful landscapes. But as we got into the Painted desert area, the colors became more intense and brighter.

Rt. 66

November 6,
The road through the Petrified Forest crosses ove the original Rt. 66. A rusty old car, a vintage grill adn some signs commerate the crossing. Rt 66 in many places is now I-40. However, in some place like Albuquerque, a real section of Rt 66 still exists complete with the neon from the good old days.

Petrified Forest V

November 6,
The ruins shown here are from a hundred room pueblo built in the 1200s. As many as 1200 people may have lived there near The Puerco River, growing crops and hunting animals. The second pic is of the Kiva-a ceremonial place. The last picture is one of the petroglyphs seen at the site. One of the people I was with said that it portrays a stork bringing a baby.

Petrified Forest IV

Novembere 6,
Hundreds of petroglyphs are seen on Newspaper Rock. The top two pics are of Newspaper Rock and third pic is a rock, quite far away on the hill. The fourth pic is a rock in the pile with a explanation I don't know but wish I did.
There were also petroglyphs at the Puerco Pueblo.

Petrified Forest III

November 6,
Jasper Forest(top pic)---Hundreds of petrified logs, once buried in the bluff, have been freed by erosion and lay scattered across the valley. In pic 2 is a log still encased in the sandstone, we saw it as we drove by. Pic 3 shows The Agate Bridge. In 1911, the Park Service put supports under the log, which were replaced by th cement to keep the log from breaking apart. Today, the Park Service allows nature to take it's course which means the bridge would no longer be there. The fourth pic shows exactly that, the large logs, seen on top of the hills form a sort of pedestal under them. However over time the pedestal erodes sending the logs down the hill.

Petrified Forest II

November 6,
We drove though some beautiful landscapes littered with petrified logs of various sizes. We stopped at The Crystal Forest where many of the logs had crystals in them, though many were taken by earlier tourist before the strict regulations were in place. On the way out of The Crystal Forest I saw the yellow flower(pic 4). The butterflies were only about1/2 inch long.

Petrified Forest

Novembere 6,
Giant Logs Trail is behind the Visitors Center. It features some of the largest and most colorful logs in the park. I had not thought that the petrified wood could be so vividly colored. There is a gift shop before the entrance that sells polished slices of petrified wood for thousands. They showed one as a table-gorgeous.

Squirrels and Jays

November 1-4
When we went to the Grand Canyon, the Abert Squirrel was mentioned as one of the species living in that area. We were told that they lived in the Ponderosa Pines near the Village. We saw deer by the train tracks and elk in a couple of places, but no squirrels. The next morning, however, at the campground, there they were. We were never able to get a count-they move too quickly but they slowed enough for pictures.
The other beautiful resident of the campground was the Stellar's Jay. The interior variety has white forehead streaks but the iridescent blue was the same when the sun hit their feathers. One morning a flock of at least 30 birds was flitting around the pines........