Current Location: Cortez, CO, N 37 20.961', W 108 33.525', elev. 6191 ft.

On Sunday morning, I woke up, grabbed some breakfast, and started heading south on I-17, but I quickly went off the main road, to avoid an accident backup, and also because my Dad wanted me to investigate the town of Sedona, AZ for him. I don't know, Dad, Sedona seems very touristy. I kept driving south, eventually hooking back up with I-17 and on into Phoenix. In Phoenix, I attended the Diamondbacks game against the Phillies at Bank One Ballpark. I parked for $7 and started walking towards the stadium, and met up with some really desperate scalpers. I ended up getting a $50 face value seat for $12 after a little bit of bargaining. My bargaining weapon was that I'd be able to get a cheap seat at the box office and wander around to better seats in the stadium.

Bank One Ballpark is a dome, but its the first dome I was glad to enter. As a purist, I generally don't feel baseball should be played inside on artificial surface. But in Arizona, it was 112 degrees Fahrenheit at 5 PM when the game started, so the indoor air conditioning was definitely welcome. I found my seat and settled in to watch the game a bit. I noticed that the team employs actual cheerleaders, young men and women who go around to the different sections getting people excited about the game. I also noticed that Bank One Ballpark has more disabled access seating than any other park, probably due to the high number of retirees in the area. Finally near the end of the game, which the D'Backs won 10-5, I did a final loop around the stadium and went to check out the pool in center field. I took a photo of the pool and got yelled at, because some mom thought I was taking photos of her kids. Whatever. View the photos here.

Phoenix look slike a nice town, easy to get around, but I didn't spend too much time there. i did get stuck in a tremendous traffic jam as the game was letting out. A freight train had arrived in town, near all the exits to the ballpark, and was thousands of feet long. It may have been over a mile. It just sat on the tracks for about half an hour, waiting to pull into a train depot, and in the meantime, it was blocking at least 8 streets where people were trying to leave the ballpark. When I finally did get to leave, it was about 8:30 PM, and I continued on south on I-17 until I reached the town of Casa Grande, were I stopped for the night.

Monday I continued south on I-17 heading close to Tucson. In Tucson I found Saguaro National Park (pronounced sa-wa-roh). Saguaro is a monument to the saguaro cactus tree, those famous cactus that grow arms. The trees live to be about 300 years old, and don't start sprouting those arms until they reach about 75 years old. Saguaro is arguably the most famous type of cactus, when you think of cactus, a picture of a saguaro is often what comes to mind. They may be famous and popular, but they actually only exist in a very small area in the whole world: the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona, and northern Sonora, Mexico. Not much to say about the national park, it is mostly a road through the Saguaro "forest". Here are the photos.

There was a lot I could have done in Tucson, but I was pretty sick of the desert and the heat, and definitely wanted to start heading back north into more temperate weather, so I met up with I-10 and headed east until I reached US 191, which I took north to US 70, in the town of Safford, AZ, which I took north and west to US 60, in the town of Globe, AZ, which I took north and east to Arizona 77 in the town of Show Low, AZ, which I took north, all the way back to I-40, in Holbrook, AZ, where I stopped for the night.

Tuesday, my first destination was Petrified Forest National Park, a desert monument containing many many interesting specimens of mineralized wood. Entering the park, it is made very clear that removal of objects from the park is a federal crime, and while this is true in any national park, in the Petrified Forest, there seems to be heavy enforcement, even vehicle checks. Petrified Wood can be found in every country, but the stuff in Arizona is some of the most beautiful and colorful. The northern end of the park includes part of the painted desert. The park road leads you right onto I-40. Here are the photos.

I continued east on I-40, meeting back up with US 191 only about 25 miles from the New Mexico border. I took US 191 north to the town of Chinle, AZ, in the heart of the Navajo nation, also passing into Mountain Daylight Time. Arizona is on Mountain Standard time the whole year, except the Navajo nation, which moves to Mountain Daylight Time when the rest of region does. Chinle is the gateway to Canyon De Chelly National Monument, which I investigated a bit, but not for too long, because of my ultimate destination for the day, which I'll get into in a minute. Here are the photos for Canyon De Chelly.

I continued north on US 191 until I reached the town of Mexican Water, AZ, where I headed east on US 160, taking me the Four Corners monument. Four Corners is one of just a few places in the world where 4 major territories all intersect. Four Corners (N 36 59.940', W 109 02.711', elev. 4856 ft.) is where Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado meet, and you can stand in all 4 states at the same time. Four corners is technically on Navajo land, and to enter the monument costs $3, but that is well worth it. I took a lot of photos in the monument, including of the monument itself, and looking into each state. Additionally, there are several booths selling Indian goods and foods. Four Corners is a very neat destination, and though it was close to closing time, there were quite a few tourists there. For some reason, some guy came up to me and asked "has anyone ever told you you look like Matt Groening? [the creator of The Simpsons]?". Can't say that anyone ever has, aside from that guy. I'm not even sure what Matt Groening looks like, but I do wish I had billions of dollars like him though. Here are the photos I took at Four Corners.

I continued east on US 160 until I reached the town of Cortez, CO, where I stopped for the night. I was very close to the Rocky Mountains, and the temperature was already much cooler and more comfortable.