On the drive to Flagstaff, Arizona, we stopped at the Painted Desert which also contains a petrified forest. Unfortunately, due to time restraints, we couldn't go the full length of this park to see the forest, but did stop and see the desert and a building restored from the Old Route 66 era.
This adobe style building used to serve customers on the hot, searing, desert roads a refreshing cold drink or ice cream. It had a full menu of fast foods from back in the 50's. Many of the menu items were priced at $.10-.20!
Now the building serves as a Ranger Station and museum/book store.
These little guys were all over. It looked similar to a Pine Lizard and was long and fast!
Have you ever wondered where different sites get their name? This one should not puzzle you at all. It is the grandest of the grand and such a marvel that even though we've been there 3 times now, we still stand in awe of God's wonderful creation here on earth for our pleasure.
I'm going to try a different tactic for the next few blogs that will have a large amount of pictures. I will post some as medium size and most as small. If you click on the first one after reading (if you want to bother :-) about the pictures themselves, you can view them in full size and use the right or left arrow key to plow through them all. It is just too hard to leave this one or that one out.
It took about 2 hours to drive into the canyon. The original plan was to visit the south rim this day and the north rim the next. More about how that all went later...
And here we are. Revisiting a portion of the hike we did 8 years ago. We hiked with a group from the north rim to the south rim with a 2 night stay in Phantom Ranch by the Colorado River. The views are so spectacular. 
The picture here to the left shows a mule train that has just ascended from Phantom Ranch. We encountered large groups of not very well prepared visitors on the path. I wonder about the wisdom of some parents at times.
This is a shot of me from the lower path to show some of the elevation. To the right is a squirrel that was very adept at posing and begging for food. All the squirrels along this path were quite friendly and fat.
We weren't sure what this bird was but it also was begging and friendly. Now the picture to the right shows a deep gorge that was part of our original hike in 2006. Even I have to admit I'm not physically able to do that kind of activity again. :-(
Here is a condor who was hunting for water. There was a small puddle it spotted from overhead and it circled and landed on a wall. The crowds surrounded it but it cautiously jumped to the ground to sip before taking flight. To the right is El Tovar Lodge.
The next trip in we decided we must take this train to where ever it goes.
This sign says no ATV vehicles allowed. Really? What about this drops off into a deep abyss does anyone not understand you don't want to go there, period?
And then we rode off into the sunset. God couldn't have given us a nicer ending to a nicer day!
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