Life

Day 2 Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, and Las Vegas.

Rob and I woke up to another beautiful day in New Mexico. We ate breakfast and packed up to go on to the Grand Canyon with hopefully passing the Painted Desert on our way.

I was kind of exhausted - physically, but mentally I was so excited.

Check out those bags... sexy. We begin driving and had a long way ahead of us because while we were driving to Arizona we ultimately had to end up in Las Vegas where we had hotel reservations at the Stratosphere. To get to the Grand Canyon it was an 8.5 hour drive and then from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas was probably another 5 hour drive. So we had a long driving day ahead of us.

However, the drive was not boring - the scenery was stimulating and Rob and I still had much to talk about and lot of music to listen to.

Then we arrive in Arizona. This is where plans changed. We saw an exit for the Painted Desert that we assumed we would pass on the freeway and be able to just get out of the car and take pictures and not have to stop. The Painted Desert is a national park that is at 28 mile loop that takes you around the Painted Desert, so what was supposed to be a 10/15 minute stop turned into a $10, 3 hour stop. I am not complaining, it was totally worth it but we had to nix our Grand Canyon plans for the day. We instead thought drive to Las Vegas tonight after the Painted Desert and then get up early and drive back to the Grand Canyon

Those are some pictures of the Painted Desert and a link if you want to read more about it. The most interesting thing I read about it is that at any part of the day the colors are different due to the amount and quality of the sunlight hitting it. Regardless, the time we went it was beautiful. This part of the painted desert was what you saw when you initially come in (there are two entrances we entered on the eastern side and it spills you out somewhere else, I forget). Then there were areas such as Blue Mesa and the TeePees. We saw all kinds of rock formations that looked like animals, faces, and old men. I wish we could have had more time to go hike the trails and spend an entire day there.

Then we came to the petrified wood. For some reason I had it in my head that it was wood that turned to metal while Rob thought it was something likened to drift wood. But really it's an entirely involved process that basically turns the wood to stone over periods of millions of years. The process can be found here. It's an interesting process and it also involves the painted desert/petrified forest being covered in water at some point. To think of that while being there kind of blew my mind. The petrified wood was beautiful - colorful and smooth.

After looking at a lot of wood and rocks we decided to head out. Before we stopped at the Painted Desert Park we saw signs for the Meteor Crater in Winslow, Arizona (sound familiar???). We figured we could fit it in since we weren't going to the Grand Canyon. Yeah, we got there, and found out admission was $15/person. To look at a big hole and view a video, $15. We couldn't get over it since we still had many more days on our trip and instead just googled it on my phone and looked at the pictures on there. Granted we couldn't appreciate the size of it like we could if we were there but for $30, you've got to be kidding me, if there were aliens or something in there that would be a different story. Official website of the visitors center is here.

After that we were starting to lose daylight so we made our way to Vegas. We figured going to Vegas and coming upon all the lights after so much darkness in the desert would be very cool. Little did we expect a sunset like this on our way.

I never knew that the hoover dam was on our way to Las Vegas so that was a pleasant surprise, and so were the speed limits (5mph) and the security check. The Hoover Dam was awesome to see at night.

Then... Las Vegas. Wow. What a place. Rob and I realized you can't do Las Vegas in one night but the hotel was cheap ($25/night) and we just wanted to take in the city, the lights, the sounds, and the amusement rides without any pressure and were successful. We rode the rides on top of the Stratosphere. Talk about a rush. You are on top of the tallest structure in Las Vegas on rides that dangle you and throw you over the edge and propel you even higher in the sky. Unbelievable experience.

Rob and I did gamble, $10 and wound up winning $20 but bought two beers $5 a piece - so much for cheap drinks while you gamble - and dinner at McDonalds and figured the rest would pay for overpriced coffee in the morning. The Stratosphere was ok, the room we had was an "upgrade" but was still subpar to my expectations (the bed was hard, etc.) but totally worth the $25/night for a on the strip Las Vegas hotel.