Arizona

As if defined by state boundary, Arizona had beautiful weather!

Petrified Forest National Park comprises the Painted Desert, pueblo ruins, petroglyphs and a huge number of petrified logs. The trees are from the Triassic Period, 225 million years ago. As the trees died or were knocked down, they were buried by layers of sediment. The logs soaked up groundwater and silica from volcanic ash and crystallised into quartz. The different colours are created by different minerals. When polished, it looks stunning! We saw a coffee table of a petrified log for US$41,000 in a gallery.
Painted Desert.

Painted Desert Inn - it looks like an adobe house but the walls are made of petrified logs.

I always wanted to see Antelope Canyon and I finally had the chance! The slot canyon is 37m deep, 200m long and very narrow. The sandstone walls have been formed and polished by regular flash flooding. The inside is mostly dark, but where the light reaches the canyon walls, the colours and formations look absolutely stunning! It is hard to capture with a regular camera, nevertheless, here are some shots. Below, Kirsten at the upper entrance to the slot canyon.

Horseshoe Bend is a spectacular meander of the Colorado River between Lake Powell and Grand Canyon. They are planning to build railings along the top, which is not surprising. It was nerve-wracking to watch some tourists climb down the cliff for the best photos.

Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning ancestors, which was used for unknown native American people. These days, they prefer to call them "Ancestral Puebloans". In Arizona and New Mexico they are believed to be the ancestors of the Hopi, Navajo, Paiute and Zuni. The ruins at Navajo National Monument contain evidence of habitation between 1250 and 1300.

The locals were collecting pine nuts everywhere.

Canyon de Chelly has been inhabited intermittently for 5,000 years and still is the epicenter of Navajo culture. Tourists are only allowed to enter the canyon with a local guide, except for the walk to the White House Ruin, which was spectacular!

Kirsten can be seen in the middle of the image on the trail.

Some photographs of the landscapes we drove past.

A glimpse of Monument Valley.