Lyman Lake hike

Who knew? Arizona is in Mountain time all the time (although not ALL of Arizona, curious!)- so we gained an hour yesterday and never even knew it. This morning we had pancakes on the stove and then went on a little hike in the state park to see some petroglyphs. Always cool to see rock art from hundreds of years ago. This was unique to other places I have been as there were lots and you just had to keep your eyes peeled to find them. Fun.


petroglyph at Lyman Lake

Then we decided to go to Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Parks. Tim and I had been there before, and I taught Bryan the "We are Petrified if you please, we are petrified if you don't please" song. And have had it in my head since! We did the Crystal Forest trail and saw lots of colorful old wood. :) We also saw colorful hills and some more "badlands". Bryan and I agreed that THESE badlands were much cooler than the Badlands of the National Park. Of course, we may have been a bit jaded by the 114 degree temperate and long drive to Badlands... but this area is at least more colorful. We did get some cool souvenirs here though!

Our next adventure was in Canyon do Chelly (pronounced "shay") National Monument. This place is AWESOME!!!!!!! It is absolutely beautiful and so unique, as Navajo Indians still live on the ridge and in the canyon. And there are lots of insane, how-in-the-world-did-people-live-there cliff dwellings with huge rock art. I am telling you, go here some day. It is so pretty!!! Again, we saw lightning on the horizon and thus a pretty neat rainbow!

This night we spent on the ridge at Spider Rock Campground (privately run by Navajo) where we sat atop red dirt and among cool juniper trees. The fire was strong, the marshmallows were good, and we felt great. And - this was one of the rare nights that we were a tiny bit chilly! Imagine that!