Day 3. Grand Canyon.

Once again this is posted a day late because we stayed at a hotel with no internet. More on that later.

Today we visited Petroglyph National Monument in Alburquerque, New Mexico before starting our day. Not a very big historic site, but pretty interesting anyway. Many, many years ago an indian civilization carved primitive pictures into lava rocks. At first glance it appears that the designs were drawn on the rocks, but instead they were actually carved into the rocks. It's hard to belive that the drawings have stayed undisturbed for so many years. We continued on thru the desert still on the interstate and the scenery is really undescribeable. All the wide open spaces in a view that seems so pretty, but is really a harsh and unforgiving environment. We got off the interstate in Gallup, New Mexico, and had a little lunch at Cracker Barrel of all places. I know, drive 1500 miles to eat at a Cracker Barrel. We also crossed the continental divide. This was also a geography lesson for me. Water that falls on the east side of the divide flows into the Atlantic Ocean and water that falls on the west side of the divide flows into the Pacific Ocean. Bo did not belive the theory and he and Wolfie were going to drain some body fluids on each side of the line just to disprove it. They chose otherwise for unknown reasons. We stayed off the interstate and drove thru the uninhabited desert. I mean the real desert. No one lives out here, other than the occasional structure that seems to be seldom visited and has no utilities. Out in the middle of the large barren area is a place called the Hubbell Trading Post, also a National Historic Site. Contrary to a history lesson from Bo, this place has nothing to do with the Hubbell telescope. Anyway, this is an old indian trading post that many travelers visited this place to, you guessed it, trade. Many indians traveled great distances to trade here. One more interesting fact is that the original building is still in operation and locals still trade here. We then continued on trying to make our final destination for the day, the Grand Canyon. We stopped for a break in the desert in a little town in the bottom of Keams Canyon. We found a store that served hand dipped ice cream that advertised 28 flavors, but they only had 12??? This place is only occupied by Indians. While I was eating a chocolate chip ice cream cone, a couple of young Indian kids, age 3 and 4 walked up and ask me my name. I told her Scott then ask her what her name was. For some stupid Alabama reason, I expected her to say something like Soneshia, Running Water, or Wings of an Angel, but instead she simply said Crystal and the little boy replied Chris. None with any type of accent. I guess I was expecting an Indian accent, whatever that is.

Before we reached the Grand Canyon, we drove thru the Painted Desert. I was a little disappointed in the Painted Desert. Not what I thought it would be. Pretty, but it should not be a sole reason for visiting the area. Oh by the way, we found the heat. It is HOT! Like, Bo renamed the place Hell. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to live here. Maybe it was free land, but is still not enough reason for me to live here.

There was a rumor that we (America) never really landed on the moon, that it was filmed in the desert and it was all fake. I'm still straddling the fence on that theory, but after seeing the painted desert, I can see how someone could come up with the theory. This place looks like the moon, craters and all.

We made it to the Grand Canyon and watched the sunset. Beautiful, is all I can say. This is a must that everyone must see in their life. One hint, use the east entrance. No traffic and a great entrance road. After the sunset we coud not find a hotel anywhere. We had to drive an additional 30 miles to find a hotel. Well, we found one and paid $85.00 a night and got ripped off, but it was late and we needed a place to stay. We ate sandwiches for a late supper and called it a night. Write more tomorrow.