Desert Gardens in Florence, AZ to Los Alamos, NM

Tuesday, February 17, 2016

Our new grandson is now 3 weeks old.  Nana, Dusty, needs a fix.  We are headed back to Los Alamos for a visit.

We took a route that took us through Superior and on to Globe.  Between Superior and Globe we went through a very scenic drive.

We had to stop and take pictures along our route.  This river picture was so pretty. Too bad it was into the sun.

You can see the road from a spot called "The Top of the World".  

Can you see the bridge in the middle of the picture?  We came down the windy road on the left side of the picture, crossed the bridge, then up the road on the right side of the picture.

Here is a closeup of the bridge.

This view is from the Becker Butte Lookout looking up the canyon into the sun.

This is also from Becker Butte Lookout looking downstream.  Wow this was a beautiful stop.

This is the road we will be taking once we leave the Becker Butte Lookout.

We stopped in Show Low for fuel.  This was the Visitors Center just across the street from the gas station.  Great looking building!

We drove through miles and miles of grass fields.  We are headed to the El Malpais National Monument.

After we got into New Mexico, Tic could see Mount Taylor.  It was still a very long ways away.

Suddenly these mountains/hill started appearing.  Very interesting color variances.

The formations are very interesting. 

Then there was a turnout for a "Natural Arch".  We hiked a short distance and here is the arch.

Here is the arch from a distance.  

These rocks are just bulging out and are colored different.  

This closeup of the arch is magnificent.  We were not allowed to get any closer.

The limestone walls had lots of character.

This little rock was on the pathway to the arch.  

We thought this looked like guardians standing watch.

Time to get back in the car.  We still have 2.5 to 3 hours to go.

Here we are headed towards Grants.

No more exciting pictures.  We arrived after 9 hours of driving.  Even though it was such a beautiful drive, we were glad to get there.