Day 17

This was written on Monday evening, May 24^th, but never got a chance to send it before we left our Albuquerque motel…

We awoke to a sunny Monday morning and the freezing cold weather was gone. We grabbed the shuttle and headed down to see what we really couldn’t see the night before because of the unbelievable cold. The views of the Grand Canyon this morning deserves a HUGE, ‘Oh my goodness!’ I can truly see how it got its name, as it is truly one of the grandest sights ever! We saw a California Condor tucked inside a tree a long ways down into the canyon and a snake along a walking trail look-out. We spent a couple of hours, before leaving the park and lodge check-out time of 11am. I know there are a few things I’ve consistently said but what God has created in the beauty of what we’ve seen over the past 17 days, requires more praise to our Lord than I can even begin to mention.

Further east we headed! As we drove we spotted a coyote crossing the road. There is never a dull moment and always a reason to have your camera ready! David didn’t feel so hot this morning when we left the Grand Canyon so he took a break and napped while I drove for a change. In fact, we stopped in Flagstaff, AZ for lunch and he stayed in the van and slept right through it. I think the ‘stopped’ vehicle not moving through the winding canyons, mountains and valleys, did him wonders, as he was feeling much better when we stopped at Meteor Crater a few hours later up the road. We were thoroughly impressed with what we saw but even more of how this place was a family run business, being run like a national park. For those of you that don’t know of this, check it out @ www.meteorcrater.com

We made our way another hour or so up the road to our final site seeing destination at the Petrified Forest. On the miles of land that covers this site, we were able to walk along trails and get up close and touch the findings. It is really something how these huge trees had turned into rock. We thought the logs would look more like actual rock but were amazed at how they looked like real wood. We were basically in an area called the ‘Painted Desert’.

We found ourselves on historic Route 66 a time or two throughout the rest of the evening. It ran parallel with the new Interstate. I have such wonderful childhood memories of trips from MI to CA, that seeing so many trains traveling in the west was a welcomed view! Another common thread throughout our travels west, was seeing Indian Reservations, which made for a very unique terrain as well. We ended our evening in Albuquerque, NM.

Posted by: Cheryl