National Volcanic Monument

Lava Cast Forest 

A one mile stroll through a lava flow

as far as the eye can see.

 Lots of things now growing there.

 Love the trees.

 It's a lovely stroll on a paved surface.

 It did a lot of damage and there are big holes

where trees used to be.

 Beautiful paintbrush amongst the lava.

Found a poser.

Grand Portage National Monument

This is very cool as it's a reenactment and reconstruction of

the fort and supply depot between the Ojibwe and fur traders.

 People dressed in period costume and

are very happy to share their knowledge.

 Lots of cool pelts for your stroking pleasure.

And some of them are soooo soft I can see why they were en vogue.

How cool - letters and documents.

Makes me swoon.

We arrived at the end of the day and things were starting

to close up but there were still enough

people to chat up and find interesting things.

Stopped by to see Montezuma's Castle

on the way out of town - heading to the Grand Canyon.

This is basically a 5 story apartment building

with about 45 rooms built around 1100-1300 BC.

 It was believed to be Aztec in origin hence the

name Montezuma.

Teddy Roosevelt made it a National Monument @1906.

 You can't go up there and seriously check out those

ladders and think why? would you want to but some slick

show offs that aren't afraid heights would scamper right on up.

 It really is quite breathtaking.

 Which is why I have about 100 pictures of this castle

built into a mountain that hasn't moved in a couple thousand years.

Oh and as we headed up to the Williams Arizona

snow began to fall.

 The temperature dropped to 32....

Thankfully now the snow has stopped, there is a light rain

and the temperature has risen to a balmy 38.

Ghost Town, Jerome & Tuzigoot

Headed down the road to check out

the local ghost town.

Had a saw mill, junk yard and didn't see a ghost.

 Copper mines are everywhere and this one

was a ghost town too.

 Main Street in Jerome. 

This is a blast furnace more or less.

 Isn't he cute.....

And enjoyed an ice cream......

 There is a business in there - glassblowing.

But how cool seriously.

They said one day it just fell down.

 Tuzigoot is a National Monument.

This pueblo is a couple of stories and was built in the 12th century.

 This is a bird's eye view of all the rooms in the 

 pueblo - this is the back side and.....

 These rooms run down the front side.

Because the pueblo wasn't preserved for years

the roof and some of the structure collapsed over the years.

It's a really cool place to visit and you can roam through one room

to walk up to the big square on the top.

White Sands National Monument

Just and FYI...all National Parks are FREE this week

celebrating National Parks week.

If you haven't been you need to check one out. 

They're amazing.

This park has LOTS AND LOTS of white sand.

Huge dunes.

That people actually slide down on coasters.

We didn't do that because we didn't find out where to actually get

the coasters until we were leaving the park.

However, there is vegetation there as well.

 Trying to get the RV against a big dune.

Needed a bigger dune.

 Those are the San Andreas mountains in the background.

 There are always a lot of winds, so therefore the

roads have lots of sand.

It was fun, pretty.