This morning we got up early to head back out to the Petrified National Forest Park. It gets mighty hot here during the day, although it is in the mid 40's at night. And can I just say, the lack of trees here means NO shade!

Well, fighting the early bird for the worm paid off. We were able to hike a trail and had a nice breeze, and saw some amazing wood rock. This very old petrified wood is hard like rock, but at times has the feel of plastic. When you find shards on the ground, you get the feeling the Indians could have used the pieces as cutting tools.

In some pieces, you can find every color of the rainbow. Pretty awesome!
In some places, the wood rock is strewn about. Everything you think is a rock in this picture is really the petrified wood.

We didn't see too much wildlife, it is the desert. But we did see this cute little guy, and a bunch of his buddies.

And even if we are in the desert, God provides for the need to see beauty in little ways,

and in big ways! Keep in mind, we haven't gotten to the Painted Desert, yet.

In 1250 - 1300, Native Americans lived in this area. They were gracious enough to leave some evidence of their lives. These are petroglyphs in Petrified National Forest.

Aside from the bird and his flock, we did manage to see a few cute lizards. Very colorful and very fast! This guy was a bit camera shy.

After seeing the colorful lizard, we gazed upon a colorful landscape. The pictures don't show it, but as with the petrified wood, there is every color of the rainbow in these rocks. It is just gorgeous.

All day today, we have been in the four corner area. Traveling through the North-Western part of New Mexico, we drove through a Navajo Indian Reservation. On the reservation, there are rock formations, standing by themselves. These were very captivating since they looked like some kind of castle that you would see in The Lord of the Ring movies.

While seeing all of this beauty today, there were some special people back home that are on our mind. These dear friends are having some hard times come upon them, either with a loss of a loved one, or having someone dear involved in an accident. We are so blessed to be able to have the experience of this trip, but please know we are praying for you and thinking of you every day. And we will soon be home(a bit over a week) to give hugs, cry, laugh, and chat together.

Have a terrific tomorrow and we hope those in the mid-Atlantic have enough clothes lines to hang everything out to dry!

Eagles

Here is a glimpse of Arizona! What a pretty day we had, not a cloud in the sky. This part of Arizona gets, on average, 9 inches of rain a year. So lots of sunshine, and again, very dry - do you know you don't need coasters out here? Drinks do not condensate!
Today's first stop was Meteor Crater. So many thousands of years ago, a meteorite crashed into the earth and created this crater.

For your reading pleasure, you can read some interesting facts about the crater. It was pretty neat to see. It really is big, but it is hard to get perspective as to just how big when your standing at the side. But knowing the depth is greater than the Washington Monument is tall helps!

While we have been in Arizona, we have been shadowing Route 66. A couple of nights ago, we ate at a restaurant right on Route 66. Today, we passed this:

How adorable! Of course the boys wanted to stay in the wigwams, but our day just wasn't over yet.

We had more to see at:

Wood turned to rock: a little water, a little sand and sediment, a whole lot of time!

Next to the Petrified National Forest is the Painted Desert.

We didn't have time to see much of either park, so we will be going back tomorrow. If what we saw today was any indication, we have more Wow moments ahead.

We are in week four of this terrific trip. While we are having fun and seeing some great things, we do miss home and the people we love. Living out of a suitcase is a bit old, as is changing hotels every night.

The things we are seeing and the experiences we are having, make it worth the packing and unpacking. We now understand the whole "it's a dry heat" thing. And the boys are learning more about the geography of this country than they could sitting at home.

We are also learning that people in Rhode Island must be really happy because they don't leave their state! That is the only state we have left to find for the license plate game. :)

Oh, and are you wondering why in the world this post is titled "Eagles"? Well, we went through Winslow, Arizona today. Hubby kept saying he had a certain song going through his head! On the way to Winslow, there is a billboard inviting you to stand on a corner! How cute!

Today the weather was "grand", and we had a "grand" drive to:
Wow!

Of course pictures, as usual do not do what we saw justice. And while we were enjoying the "grand" vista and the panoramic picture, we also took in the little sites. Like this cactus. We certainly don't see these growing in the wild back home!

What surprised us all was the amount of pine trees(Utah Junipers, Pinyon Pines, Ponderosa Pines) leading up to the grand canyon and on the rim of the grand canyon.

You could stand in one spot and look all over. When you think you have seen everything, you notice something else. What you are looking at is so big, it's pretty neat when you pick out little things to notice also. For instance, this rock balancing on top of another rock. Ok, this isn't exactly a little thing, but it is small compared to it's surroundings.

This is what you see all aroung the rim. Blue sky, sandy soil, and pine trees.

The Grand Caanyon is really something to see. Of course, we only saw a fraction of it. But what we saw was really great!

Here are the boys, watching the sun set over the canyon. Seeing things like this really makes you think, puts life back into perspective.

Last picture for today, here is the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon. The river responsible for the canyon itself(God is never mentioned in the creation of the canyon. Hmmmm). The rive is 300 feet wide if you can believe it. Certainly does not look like 300 feet, but then we are a good ways away! Of course Dempsey and Palmer were all for taking a "quick" walk to the canyon floor. "Dad, it's only a mile down!" We're now in the hotel, so I think you know what the answer was. :)

Build-a-brick

Saturday was a Dempsey and Palmer day! Can you guess where? This is some of what we saw:

Did you guess yet? If so, did you guess Legoland, California? What bettter place for Dempsey and Palmer to be(except Denmark!!). This was a surprise for them. We didn't tell them until the night before we were going. They were really tired from the Channel Islands, but they had really big smiles. :)

They found a brochure at our hotel that included a map. In about 5 minutes, Palmer had a route through the park all figured out(Grandma and Grandpa can relate to that!).

The displays that are all over the park are really neat. They have a miniature DC that was neat to see. Aghhh, home!

They also had replicas of NYC, New Orleans, San Francisco, Mount Rushmore, the Eiffel Tower, and, the Taj Mahal. Legoland is a really neat place. And good news for those of us in the East. They are currently building a Legoland in Florida!

Viva Las Vegas

On our way to Las Vegas, we saw more mountains. They were brown, like most of the mountains in California, but there were some Joshua trees around. So we are getting back to a little green(we miss green!).


And just when you thought you were getting nowwhere, look at us!

After a lot of not much to look at, we made it to Las Vegas. While there, we were able to have dinner with my cousin and her husband. A big thank you to them for suggesting we go to one of the restaurants in the Bellagio for dinner. What a beautiful hotel!

These are a couple of the displays they had. The hotel was decorated for autumn with tons of real plants.

When you first walk in the front, you are greeted with this gorgeous ceiling art piece by Dale Chihuly, a big name in glass blowing art. Grandma, he had(or still has) a piece we saw at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

The Bellagio also has dancing water shows in front of the hotel. This was a very cool thing for us to see. You'll see the Eiffel Tower in the background. We know someone special that works there!

And lastly, this is the view of the sunrise out or our hotel room(really nice). And so, with a new day began a new opportunity to see something different this country has to offer.

Hello from Arizona!

We began our day, of course in Las Vegas. But a short hop, skip, and jump away is one of the most impressive works of man I have seen. Thank you to my cousin who strongly recommended we see Hoover Dam on a Monday instead of Sunday as originally planned! Wow! By 11:00 it was very crowded. I can't even imagine what it would have been like on a Sunday.


It is incredible how this massive comcrete dam was built. It stands taller than the Washington Monument and the St. Louis Arch(we were just there 3 weeks ago!).

We took a tour of the inside of the dam. There are elevators and tunnels leading to the power plant and inner workings of the dam. Here, Dempsey and Palmer look over 9 of the 17 generators they have at the plant.

Here is a fun picture - we were at an air vent in the dam. We stuck our hands and cameras out of the vent, pointed upwards, and click!

I caught Palmer and Dempsey walking through one of the tunnels in the dam. The tunnels stand a little over 5 feet tall(I was OK, hubby ducked his head).

Here's a look at one of the tunnels that runs the length of the dam. Why does it curve? Think of the shape of the dam, it curves too.

And here is something you won't see in the east! On the up side, it is estimated the dam could withstand an 8.5 earthquake.

Traffic can become quite congested across the dam. A two lane road plus lots of pedestrains equals major hold-ups. So, there is a dam by-pass being built. What a good idea, and what a nice looking bridge. I'm sure local people are anxious for the completion of this project!

Here Dempsey looks out over the dam. Notice in the background the white and brown rock? The water is usually half way up the white rock. This area has been experiencing a 5-6 year long drought. This could cause major trouble for a lot of people in the coming years, including us in the east, too.

Half way across the dam, you enter Arizona or Nevada, depending on which way you arre going. Since we were headed East, we entered Arizona, our 13th new state. Can you name then all? In order? Maybe there will be a little prize to the first person whom we see that can name all the states we will go through, in order, with or without duplicates, your choice!