~ Jewels Of God's Earth, Grand Canyon Roamy~

Mercy, when God decide to quiet the streams & uncover the earth beneath, He gave AZ. beauty beyond ones imagination.

I do not know where to begin. We have traveled all over this world & are now focusing on the USA & sights we didn't get to enjoy in all our many trips across country.






Roamy & I had to sit down we were so awe struck with the majestic sights ...












Unless you are a professional photographer with the proper cameras, there is no way one can EVER capture the beauty of the Grand Canyon ... but I tried.









A few years ago my son, Emery, walked the entire canyon with Indra. I remember him sharing with us this awesome place, but
could NEVER have imagined what I had missed thus far.











The trees have such unique structures & barks ...
















Juliet & Roamy needed a touristy pic.
Aren't they just charming? Look at that scenery behind them.











Peaks & valleys, to the mid-right the river W AA YYY down there, if you look hard.












Now Roamy got really brave & conned Harold into rock climbing ... uh-oh! I see trouble coming. Roamy didn't realize Harold is a little stinker sometimes.
Harold put Roamy's climbing ropes securely on
him.













Juliet & I were worried sick that Roamy would take a fall ... with a wee bit of help, I'd say! HAROLD FORD!!!!















Thank goodness Roamy's rope kept him safe. Roamy had a special look for that
Harold, let me tell you.











After a full day of spectacular beauty, it
was time to move along on our travels.












The meteor crater is an unbelievable sight.
Who would think this big hole in the ground -- 570 feet deep and 4,100 feet (1.25 kilometers) across -- was blown into existence 50,000 years ago by an asteroid roughly 130 feet (40 meters) wide, is still there. Time has not hurt it one bit.

Did you know that the Apollo space mission astronauts took their first moon steps right here in northern Arizona? Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and other astronauts trained for the moon landing at Arizona’s Meteor Crater. You can not only see the massive impact crater itself, but learn all about the space program at the park’s interactive visitor center. It boasts the most extensive collection of exhibits & artifacts related to the solar system. There is a lot to learn and a lot to see at this world-class space exploration attraction.

In January 1963, a group of astronauts were taken to Flagstaff, Arizona. From there, they visited a number of sites in the area where it was believed that the terrain resembled that of the moon. These sites include Sunset Crater, parts of the Grand Canyon, and the Barringer Meteorite Crater, known also as Meteor Crater.

The Barringer crater was chosen for the most extensive training because of its resemblance to the moon’s surface with its many craters of different sizes.

In the hot desert sun, astronauts put on their heavy space suits and practiced collecting soil and rock samples from the canyon floor using specialized lunar tools. Astronauts continued to train here until the mid-1970′s.

The Homol'ovi cluster of archaeological sites includes seven separate pueblo ruins built by various prehistoric people, including ancestors of the Hopi people, between approximately 1260-1400 AD.










This fertile area is on a flood plain of the Little Colorado River, and the inhabitants grew cotton, beans, corn and squash. The people of this period are called Hisat'sinom, which is the Hopi word for "long-ago people".







They are often referred to as Anasazi, as the Navajo guides who helped nineteenth-century anthropologists and archaeologists called them. However, the word "Anasazi" is Navajo for "enemies of our ancestors", and the present-day Hopi population prefer to refer to them as the Hisat'sinom.

Roamy was fascinated with this Indian history.




This is where I shed tears again ... such beauty escapes description. Harold said he had never heard me say 'Oh, my God' so many times in one day. IN ABSOLUTE
AWE, MOVING, a beauty of God's art.










I remember my Mother in the late 1930s visiting this on one of her several trips around the USA. She had a small dome cloche filled with sand from here, that we kids always enjoyed looking at & listening to her tell of this trip.







The colors are beyond ones imagination.














Swirls of pinks, blues, greens, tans, yellows, salmons, lavender ...












We ventured on to the Petrified Forest.

Stepping back in time, over 3 million years, and follow the trail of majestic petrified redwood giants arrayed before you in a fascinating grove in beautiful California wine country.

Once these fields were filled with wood
that has been pilfered & is now protected
by law.


Juliet told Roamy this was better than any gem ... she loved standing on sparkley stones. I hope he appreciates her not being materialistic.
















The tee-pee peaks are in the Petrified Forest. They resemble haystacks or teepee, thus the name.










This link will give you a wonderful history of the camels that first were brought to this region as pack animals, hence turned loose.

Route 66 was meant to serve two purposes.It was intended as an all-weather highway to bring goods and services between Chicago and L.A., and to be an economic engine for small-town America.





Juliet & Roamy were amazed at how Harold's parents traveled this road from OK. to Fresno, CA & then to WA. ST., as did many Okies in the Dust Bowl, in the late 1930s.










This is just one of the kinds of vehicles the Okies drove west in.













Juliet just had to have her picture taken with this antique car.


Here is a wonderful piece on the history of Route 66 ...
http://www.azcentral.com/travel/articles/2011/07/05/20110705arizona-route-66-highway-history.html



Heigh-ho, merry-o! Phoenix, here we come!
Giddy -up, old paint.

Tomorrow visiting a soldier
theroaminggnome2011.blogspot.com