Caves and Corners

While yesterday consisted mostly of miles upon miles of getting further west, today we did a lot of sightseeing.

We were a little better at packing up from our second Homewood Suites, and got on the road just a little bit later than we would have liked.

Today’s breakfast wasn’t as amazing as yesterday’s, but it did the job and we didn’t have to cook or do dishes.

Our first order of business was to scrap the idea of visiting the mining museum I had penciled in.  If there is one thing we have learned so far, it is less is more.  We just are not as fast as we should be and we need to operate as such. 

We headed west about an hour to Grants, NM.  We traveled down a somewhat winding road to an area with a few newer homes, two older, log buildings, and a parking area.

We paid our entrance fee, looked around the shop, used the facilities and headed out onto the first trail.  We opted to visit the Ice Cave first, which proved to be an excellent choice.  This trail is shorter, and is downhill to the cave and uphill back to the starting point.

The climate and terrain are just so different from home.  The ground here was littered with lava stone from the defunct volcano.  The same lava stone I have paid $40 per cubic yard for my yard. 

The Ice Cave remains around 31 degrees Fahrenheit all year round. 

We headed back up to the host building and cooled off for a moment before heading up the old volcano.  This was a little more work, but it was good to know our trek at the end would be all downhill.

 

Back down the hill we bought a souvenir or two, and found our water bottles and headed back out to the main highway to continue on our way.

We drove just a short bit to the Continental Divide.

 

And then to Walmart for lunch provisions.

Everyone plugged in to some media while we headed north to the spot where four states come together. 

It was hot.  Like well over 100 degrees.  We had to queue in a line where they requested you take just three photos and move on.  Our math said we were welcome to take 27 photos at the most, but we didn’t come close. 

I had no idea how windy the desert was. 

We headed into Arizona and back south/southwest toward Williams.  We stopped for dinner in Kayenta.

It would be two days until we realized AZ matched PST and not MST…  It caused a ton of confusion.

We saw more rock formations than you can shake a stick at and marveled at God’s creativity.

We rolled into our Motel 6 in Williams too late to swim.  Our sparse accommodations were fine, if not bland, and we all fell asleep as our heads hit the pillows.