The Petrified Forest

 The art of the Petrified Forest 

thanks to a phone App.

The real deal.

Petrified Forest National Park

 is in northeastern Arizona, 

and named for the large deposits of petrified wood.

The park covers about 230 square miles.
After the Southwest became part of the U.S,
 explorers continued to look for good 
east-west routes along the the 35th parallel. 
In 1853, a crew led by U.S. Army Lieutenant Ariel Whipple surveyed along a sandy wash
 in the northern part of the Petrified Forest.
 It became a wagon route, 
and then part of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad
 and other later railroads. 
In 1926, it became a part of Route 66, 
until it was decommissioned in 1985.

 Amazing "petrified" logs 

scattered all over the park.

 A barren- 

almost "moon like" landscape.

This is what a log looks like close up.

The fallen logs are HUGE.

Dinner later with the "guys"

 laughing over YouTube funnies.
A fun day of exploring in Arizona.

Grand Canyon - Part 2

There is something about making sure you stay at the 

Grand Canyon till the day is over.

There are glimpses 

of the changing palette to come.

 The sky changes depending on the angle

 and the particular spot that you 

watch the diorama changing view.

I would imagine that the weather 

and the cloud cover greatly 

changes this daily event passing.

 The colors in the sky can be as dramatic 

as the changes of the colors 

on the elevations of the canyon.
Research led us to Hopi Point 
as one of the best places 
to see the colors change of the canyon.

But, we were cold and clambered back

 to our cars to escape the wind.

 The colors were transfixing 

as we drove out with the hundreds 

of other night sky seekers.

Memory- etching vistas.

Kaleidoscope  views.

Timeless.

Epic.

Truly Grand.

The Canyon at Sunset.

The Grand Canyon- Part 1

 In these COVID19 days of quarantine- 

I am thinking back to our trip to the Grand Canyon.

This was in Feb 2020- 

but somehow right now, 
that seems like a life-time ago.

So today, a bit of time to relive that great trip.

The Grand Canyon was carved by the 

Colorado River in Arizona. 

It is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, 

and attains a depth of over a mile - 6, 093 feet.

The Pueblo people considered the 
Grand Canyon a holy site, 

and made pilgrimages to it. 
The first European known

 to have viewed the Grand Canyon 

was Garcia Lopez de Cardenas from Spain 

who arrived in 1540.

U. S. President Theodore Roosevelt

 visited the Grand Canyon in 1903,

and established the 

Grand Canyon Game Reserve in 1906.

Later the National Parks Association 

was begun,

 but land and mining claim holders would block this

 to become a U.S. National Park for 11 years.

Finally on Feb. 26, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson

 signed it into law as the 17th National Park.

I was last here in the summer of 1984.

I never saw anything of the Grand Canyon.

There was a temperature inversion 

and the whole canyon was

filled with fog. 

Even walking to the edge,

 I never saw anything of it.

We bought postcards to see it.

This visit was not disappointing.

It was a clear, brilliant blue sky day.

The colors changed throughout the day

and some spots were splashed

 with the white of snow.

Judging distance becomes altered a bit.

Its seems like the layers were just 

scooped on top of each other,

 then leveled out with a knife.

John at the rim.

John and Council of Presidents comrades-

Dave, Paul and Greg.

Connie with Pat, Cindy and Edith.

John and Connie

We visited the Grand Canyon together,

stayed in Williams, Arizona 

and we laughed a whole lot together.

My friend Pat- 

the other leader for Visual Faith Ministry

Fun to hang out 

and experience life together. 

We were thankful to see the beauty

 of the Canyon together and are

blessed by many fun memories.

On this days of isolation, it is fun to

"revisit" the trip.