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| I spent one day going thru the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. I discovered one thing while there...the wood does not burn well so don't even bother trying to start a campfire! |
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| If I had been successful with the campfire, my plans were to cook this baby! |
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| One view from the north rim of the Grand Canyon. |
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| Some views, like this one, make my feet tingle. |
After leaving Taos, New Mexico, I continued west into Arizona. Since I limit the number of miles I drive each day while towing my rig, I stopped in Holbrook, Arizona and spent two nights there. On the day in between, I visited the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. The next morning, I was on my way again, this time for northern Arizona.
I camped for a couple of weeks at Jacob Lake. I chose this location because it was centrally located between the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the Vermillion Cliffs and Zion National Park in Utah. I suspect all three of these locations will end up as subject matter for some of my paintings.
When I went to Zion National Park, I was surprised that, even though I have an annual pass for all the National Parks, they charged me an additional $15 fee since my truck, which has dual rear wheels, is considered "oversized". At first, I thought the additional fee was unfair but it didn't take long for me to understand why the fee was necessary. What I didn't know was that there are two tunnels on the drive thru the park. If you enter from the east, as I did, the first tunnel you encounter isn't very long and is wide enough for "oversized" vehicles so, no problem there. The second tunnel, the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, is a different story. It's 1.2 miles long and isn't wide enough for two way traffic when an oversized vehicle is passing through. So, when I arrived at the entrance to the tunnel, they stopped me as well as the traffic which was entering the tunnel from the west. Once the traffic in the tunnel had cleared, I was given these instructions and then allowed to enter. "Drive no faster than 25 miles per hour, drive down the center of the road, turn on your headlights and remove your sunglasses." Driving 25 miles per hour through a tunnel that's 1.2 miles long takes a little over two minutes. So, for over two minutes on that day, I "owned" the Mount Carmel Tunnel in Zion National Park! That, to me, is well worth $15!
The Vermillion Cliffs are beautiful. Since I was in the area for two weeks, I got to see the Cliffs at different times of the day and under different weather conditions. I'm anxious to see what compositions I can come up with.
The Grand Canyon is spectacular from any vantage point. This was my first time on the north rim and I don't regret coming here but I would say I was a little disappointed in the limited number of places where you can actually view the Canyon. You can see it from the Visitor's Center as well as Point Imperial and also Cape Royal. Along the road that goes to Cape Royal, there are a few "pull outs" where you can view the Canyon. Had I not visited the north rim, I would have always wondered what I'd missed but I'm certain that on my next trip, you'll find me wandering the edges of the canyon on the south rim.
Once the two weeks were up and knowing that cold weather was right around the corner, (We had a light snowfall one night at Jacob Lake and it was still September!) I hitched up and headed south. I'm now outside of Tombstone...but I'll tell you more about that next time!
