The road to Monument Valley

The Road to Monument Valley. We went there in August, and the temperatures were in the 100's. This was taken at about 3:30, which gave us a couple of hours of daylight before actually entering Monument Valley to look around. The desert cooled down pretty fast, and the setting sun gave some amazing shades and colours.

A beach in the desert?

Well not exactly IN the desert, but bordered by the desert. One of the first times we went to the U.S. desert southwest, we believed we wouldn't see water for weeks on end. However, just a mere 3.5 hour drive from the Phoenix Arizona area, and we were on a beautiful (and huge) beach, localled called Rocky Point. It's by the town of Puerto Penasco, and is about a 45 minute drive from the Mexican/US border (on the Mexican side of the border). There are loads of Americans there, and the best time for us is mid-week, when the condos are virtually deserted. The weekends can become party central for some of the resorts there. We stayed at the Las Palmas a couple of times, and our kids really enjoyed the water slide. The beach is very, very nice. I'll put some pictures up here. What a way to enjoy the desert!

Arizona Mountains near Sunset

A view into the mountains looking northward from the Scottsdale Arizona area. There are so many wonderful golf courses in the Phoenix area, and so many Canadians!

Three Sisters Monument

The sun setting behind the three sisters monument in Monument valley Utah

Hard to see, but this is the painted desert. The colours were better in person, but you can seen the various layers all over the place. I would guess that this little hill in the distance was about 2 km away from where we took the picture

We found this little lizard running around in the painted desert. His (or her) stripes are like the stripes in the rock formations you see in the painted desert