Canyon de Chelly to Sedona

We had nearly five hours of driving ahead of us, plus stops we wanted to make, so we set out early for our drive to Clarkdale, near Sedona AZ...  Our first stop was Petrified Forest National Park which includes the Painted Desert.  We arrived around 10:00 A.M. and set out on the 45 minute drive through the park.  45 minutes with no stops, that is...  Our first stops were at viewpoints overlooking the Painted Desert.  The layers of rock that create the color were laid down over time, then weathered away.  All colors are created by iron and manganeses in the rock, which produces different colors depending on the climate conditions at the time it was deposited.  The day was cloudy but we still saw some beautiful colors.

Ed had spotted a photo in the visitor center of one of the landmarks on the map, the rusting hulk of a 1932 Studebaker abandoned on the roadside of famous Route 66, which bisects this park. The photo reminded him of one taken by his Dad during his move from Missouri to California in the late 1930's. That photo showed a similar car off the roadside in the desert. Could this possibly be the same car? When we get home, we'll have to dig up that photo and compare.

Our next stop was to hike among "badlands hills of bluish bentonite clay" on the short Blue Mesa Trail.  WOW!!!  A beautiful and amazing landscape! The "boulders" you see are chunks of petrified wood.

With an eye on the clock and the miles ahead, we finally pried ourselves away from this canyon. Further down the roads we began seeing more chunks of petrified wood. We took a little walk that shows some great examples of the fantastic colors, which come from the different minerals in the wood as it petrified into rock.

By the time we left the park it was too late to even consider a stop at Meteor Crater.  Worse yet, Colleen was devastated by the news that we didn't have time to stop at "Standing on the Corner Park" in Winslow, Arizona to see the bronze statue of Jackson Browne.  Ed tried to soften the blow by providing her a similar experience in Holbrook.

Standing on the corner in Holbrook Arizona
Such a strange sight to see
It's a girl, My Lord, with a dinosaur...

We arrived at our beautiful little airbnb accommodation in Clarkdale, AZ, near Sedona, late in the afternoon and enjoyed a simple dinner on our deck overlooking the Tuzigoot National Monument and miles of desert and mountains.  We will be here for four nights hiking among the red rocks.