Our first stop in Arizona was Payson for a Rodeo, but please see a separate blog for that. From Payson, we travelled up to the Petrified Forest National Park, entering in the north and stopping first at Desert Inn, an amazing old building overlooking the Painted Desert. We walked about 2 miles into the desert to view the Onyx Bridge - a near perfect long petrified log. Along the walk there were petrified logs strewn about. Further on into the park we came across petroglyphs, crystallized petrified logs with vibrant colours, the blue mesa and the teppees, little hills that were just beautiful.
From there we headed to Flagstaff and a quick detour down to Sedona through the Coconino Forest. From there it was into the Grand Canyon. What an amazing place. Great scenery and some fabulous walks. We managed three miles and 2,040 ft down into the Canyon on the Angel Bright trail on day 1 and 1.5 miles down into the Canyon (1,020 ft) at South Kaibab on day 2. Day 3 we got up early to catch the sunrise before heading out of the park along the eastern entrance.
We stopped overnight in Monument Valley. Just amazing. It feels like we've been on a Western film set almost constantly since hitting Big Bend, Texas. It really is Cowboy and Indian country.