Days 1 - 3

FAKE OUT. Bearizona closed 15 minutes early. Our roadtrip was over before it began. 

Day 1

Our first day of driving was just that. A day of driving. We'd hoped to distract ourselves with Bearizona, but in retrospect we probably couldn't spare the time.

Day 1 route

 We got to our campground in Sedona, AZ right as the sun was setting. Brendan (being from LA) was excited to see snow on our drive, until he realized it would also be in our campground. We have come to realize Melon is a city dog at heart and does not understand camping. She was restless all night, which caused us both to wake up groggily. Admittedly, the presence of snow in our campsite didn't help.

Day 2

We woke up and were finally able to see the campground. White snow on red rocks is very very pretty.

View from the tent (zoomed in about 50 feet)

After leaving the campsite we drove a few miles south to Sedona for coffee. We'd heard it was very pretty, and that was true. Sedona, from the brief impression we got, is a quaint new-agey tourist destination. Just as we were deciding whether to go to the Sedona Crystal Vortex or get photos taken of our auras, Brendan discovered that he could play his silly (read: awesome -Brendan) game on his phone where he captures landmarks using his phone's GPS. This was a turning point in the trip. Brendan insists that the game will help identify local landmarks more easily. Ashley thinks that time might be better spent actually looking at the landmarks and not at his phone screen.

Here's a picture of Sedona.

You can almost see the Crystal Vortex in the distance

Leaving Sedona, we drove north back through Flagstaff, then east along I-40 to the GIANT METEOR CRATER.

There are lots of signs like this starting miles away. The crater even has its own AM radio station.

Despite being a National Natural Landmark, the crater is privately owned, hence all the kitsch. The crater itself is the real deal though.

Wikipedia's pictures of the crater may be better, but this one is mine damn it.

There isn't a lot more to say about the crater except that it has its own Subway, and Brendan was very excited about it (the crater). Also the view from the museum (read: giant gift shop) attached to the crater of the surrounding desert was almost as amazing as the crater itself.

The long road out to the crater

After leaving, we drove further east to Petrified Forest National Park, which doesn't resemble a forest very much at all. What it DOES resemble is 200 million year old downed trees turned into quartz crystal due to the process of petrification (cop out, just read wikipedia).

Petrified wood (there's a joke in there somewhere)

Another really cool part of the National Park are the petroglyphs left by former inhabitants of the region.

Also the Triassic Museum, which was not left by the native inhabitants, but the National Parks Service.

Also in the national park is the painted desert, which didn't photograph so well with our camera phones.  So we just took a photo of ourselves in front of it.

There's a desert somewhere in the background

Map of day 2

Day 3 (today)

Map of day 3

The day started with Brendan leading a tour of Gallup's historical landmarks. About midway through the tour, he revealed (or it was discovered) that the tour was being led by Brendan's mobile game, and he was actually capturing the town of Gallup. We left Gallup shortly after.

The internet said this park was a monument to Navajo code talkers. Not entirely sure how that relates to this metal sculpture of what appears to be an orchestra rehearsal, with the word AGENDA on all the music stands.

Gallup's Memory Lane, complete with memories. Did we mention the park was barren, frigid, and windy?

Next, we stopped for gas in Albuquerque and drove around a little. The town has a nice southwestern charm, which we fell in love with. That is, until we went to our next destination which completely out charmed it.

Santa Friggin Fe

Santa Fe is incredibly easy to fall in love with. We're staying at a motel on the outskirts, and aside from the shirtless man yelling outside (actually, while typing out this blog, he was picked up by a lone police officer (what a horrible job)) we're yet to find a fault. The town has the feel of a themed amusement park. There are art and art galleries everywhere. Tons of kids stopped to pet Melon. Everyone has been super friendly (even the cop who came to get the yelling guy). No complaints yet.

Guys seriously, check out Santa Fe.

We're camping tomorrow night, so likely that means no more updates for a couple days again. Tomorrow we're on to:

Roswell(!!!)

then camping in Carlsbad

then day 5

Carlsbad caverns

driving to Austin TX

Dan

???

Profit!

See you soon,

Melon