Takin' It Easy

We are spending the night in Winslow, Arizona.

I couldn't resist standing on the corner!

Wood to Stone

We visited park number 34 on our quest to see all the national parks.

 Petrified Forest National Park is amazing.

The park has petrified logs lying on the ground in many places.

Another lesser known feature of the park, but just as beautiful,

 is the colorful painted desert at the north end.

The park also has the Blue Mesa area where erosion has created blue, gray & maroon layers in the mesas and given them an "elephant skin" texture.

And of course you see the logs turned to stone.

Broken cross-sections of the logs reveal agate, jasper & quartz.

Journey back on time at Petrified Forest National Park.

Balloon Glow

We spent our last night at Fiesta watching a balloon glow & fireworks.

It is really something incredible to see hundreds of balloons lit in the first hour after sunset.

The pilots sychronize their burners and all of the balloons are lit up at once.

One of the balloons we hadn't sen yet was the beagle.  

He was magnificiant.

Here is a shot from beneath the beagle balloon. He's also enormous!

After the glow was a wonderful fireworks display. 

This was part of the ground fireworks.

What a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend!

Up, Up and Away!

Up before dawn to see the mass ascension of over 550 hot air ballons as they lifted off from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Balloons glowed in the pre-dawn darkness.

We were allowed to get up close & personal with the balloons & pilots.

As the morning sun broke over the mountains, we marveled at the sea of balloons inflating right before our eyes.  It was a rainbow of colors!

And then the special shapes started popping up.

Jester's smile loomed above us.

Pink elephants floated by.

Whales swam silently overhead.

We saw angry birds,

Toothy beavers,

And a frog prince!

Witches flew by,

Wise old owls perched above us,

And yes, even pigs fly, here at the Balloon Fiesta!

This is truley a bucket list destination.

You cant't help but smile!

Acoma Pueblo Sky City

We are in New Mexico, checking off another item from my bucket list, the Balloon Fiesta.

We'll see the balloons in a few days, but in the mean time, we visited Sky City.

Sky City is the home of the Acoma Pueblo people, based 370 feet above the desert floor on a mesa.

There are both historical & modern adobe homes on the mesa.  Some Acomas still live on the mesa,making it the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America.

There are over 300 structures made of adobe (mud brick) and sandstone.

The mission was built in the 1600's.

Sky City is a mix of old & modern architecture.

Although we took a bus to the top of the mesa, our Pueblo guide gave us the option of climbing down the carved stairs when we left.  It was exhilarating to climb down between the canyon walls placing our feet on the steps & our hands in the hand holds like generations of Pueblos have done for hundreds of years.

Kayaking the River

We are having Indian summer weather,

one last hurrah of sunshine & warm temps before Fall takes over.

My oldest grandchild, Liddy reminded me that we haven't been kayaking all year.

So we decided it was a perfect day for floating down the river.

Grandpa was our transport helper, dropping us off & picking us up.

Thanks Grandpa!

It was her first float on the river.

Previously she had kayaked the much smaller creek along our property,

but she did fine and led the way.

Before long, she was paddling under overhanging trees and shooting the rapids,

her favorite part.

Our adventure included exploring a few islands in the river too!

 She didn't know we were making memories,

we were just having fun!

Summer Flowers