Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.
My friend Susan Kean and her partner George love to travel and recently did a driving trip from Southern California to Arizona, New Mexico and the Four Corners area of Colorado and Utah. I thank her for sharing her report and wonderful photos with The Intrepid Tourist. Her post appears in three parts.
Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona.
The next part of our adventure took us to the Chaco Culture National Cultural Park and then to somewhere I’ve always wanted to go… the Petrified Forest.
Chaco Canyon. Incredible stonework....over 1000 years old.
Chaco is another world heritage site. Center for Puebloans from 850-1200. It is thought to have been a religious center where people paid to come.
Petrified logs.
The petrified forest quartz logs were formed 225 million years ago!
La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona.
Our last night we spent at the most amazing hotel…La Posada in Winslow, Arizona, on both the Santa Fe railroad and Route 66. Built in 1929, it has recently been beautifully restored. It is oozing with history!
Extensive gift shop at La Posada.
This is what I call blueberry pancakes. Fluffy and delicious!
La Posada is one of the best hotels I've every stayed at! We enjoyed an incredible dinner and breakfast at the adjacent restaurant.
Montezuma's Castle, Arizona.
We made one stop on our way home…also one of my favorite places. Montezuma’s Castle… as they told us…not a castle and nothing to do with Montezuma! It is a most amazing five story structure built in a cliff around 1200 CE. They suggest that perhaps a group of Sinagua people lived there. They reached it with ladders… all their food and everything else was brought in that way. Apparently the old people were carried on their backs! Lots of unanswered questions about living like that!
Snow began falling on Hwy 17 on our way to Phoenix. We were leaving just in time! After all, it was January!
Read Part 1 (3/3/25) and Part 2 (3/10/25) at this blog for more of Susan's Southwest Road Trip.