Day 24 - Monday, June 23, 2008

Day 24



Show Low, Arizona to Holbrock, Arizona



After leaving Show Low, we went through more of the Sitgreaves National Forest, which bills itself as the "land of many uses." Most of its uses for us was with eyeballs, although we did stop to take one small hike.



We took Rt. 260 East to Rt. 61 N and then 180A North to the Petrified Forest. It was another scenice byway and we enjoyed a drive with big puffy white clouds pinned in a deep blue sky, while tiny bulbous trees rolled past us over desert hills and grassland plains.


We spent the entire day driving through the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert National Park and stopping at overviews and taking short hikes.

Coming in from the south, we watched the introductory movie at the first ranger station and then got the CD for the self-guided tour. We loved all 23 glorious, miraculous miles of it, especially the Blue Mesa, the Peutro Peublo ruins and petroglyphs, and Newspaper rock with more petroglyphs. Each stop was more impressive, more stunning than the last.

I could have easily spent another day or two there -- watching the different parts of the park unfold under different light and times of day. But the humans had to move on. There is so much to see here in this part of the world, and even a month doesn't do it justice.

We drove to Holbrock afterwards to spend the night.