The last few months have been a long and exhausting preparation for the move to Southern California where I will share a house with my son, Ron and his wife, Loretta.
Isn't it strange how we move into a town and a state and take it on as part of our identity? I have been 'Toni in Tucson' for 17 years and now I am changing into 'Toni in Encinitas'. Somehow it doesn't have the same poetic rhythm. But all the same I think it will be interesting and very different.
I am still planning to travel every summer--at least until my kids pry the keys from my gnarled and feeble hands.
As I returned from Ft Worth this fall I decided to further explore Arizona. I had somehow missed a large swath of the state in all my travels so it seemed time for me to see what Eastern Arizona had to offer.
I drove from Santa Fe, NM into Arizona on Interstate 40 then turned south and entered the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest.
This is only a small portion of the Painted Desert. It extends over 7,500 square miles across northeastern Arizona and contains the Petrified Forest National Park.
Remember the old western movies of cowboys, riding for days, running out of water, dashing madly toward a small muddy pool of fetid water that magically appeared through the dusty haze, throwing themselves into the brown muck, then sinking--slowly? If they were bad guys they just disappeared. If they were good guys then their horse saved them.
Daisy was enthralled.
Petrified Forest is the only National Park in the country with a portion of Historic Route 66 within its boundaries.
Was this someone who didn't make it across?
(I think it is time to check my tires.)
Petroglyphs were everywhere. Like teenagers with a spray paint can, tagging was common 2000 years ago as well.
Petroglyphs are created by chipping through the rock's natural black patina to reveal lighter colored sandstone beneath.
The images represent ideas rather than a language.
The exact meaning is unknown, but collaboration with contemporary American Indians provides insight into the significance of these glyphs. Modern groups interpret petroglyph themes to include family or clan symbols, territorial boundaries, important events, and spiritual meanings. The movements of the sun, moon and stars are also charted in a special group of glyphs used to manage ceremonial and agricultural calendars.
Here is one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs in the park. It is called Newspaper Rock and contains more than 650 images carved into these boulders.
These petroglyphs were created by ancestral Puebloan people.
Leaving the painted desert we began to climb until we were surrounded by forests of pine trees and refreshingly cool air.
After the horrendously hot summer in Ft Worth, I wanted to park here for at least a month.
The trip through Globe, Show Lo and the Salt Canyon, was beautiful. It took me a week but it could have been done in only a day or two--if one was in a hurry.
Some of the cooler areas are a mere hour from Tucson and a favorite for Tucsonians to escape the unbearably hot summers.
What a shame I had waited so long to explore this lovely area. Well, I will be back.
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