Hélène and I travel a lot. So I know that petrified wood can be found all around the world. But I have never seen... never heard of... an entire petrified forest, except the one in Arizona. It's the sheer volume of petrified wood that overwhelms the visitor. It's not a petrified tree or two or three. It's a whole petrified forest! Trees collapsed in every direction... and were buried in...

Colors! Here's the same scene, zoomed for the collapsed ridge: Sometimes I like to play with shapes and colors: ... and the original:

Either landscapes are really hard to photograph... or I'm a lousy photographer... or both... In any case, I don't do very well, and as a result am kinda apprehensive every time I try. The " Apache Trail " is... gorgeous. Lots of gorges. Ha ha... We also climbed up (and up and up and up... ) to the ancient pueblo at Tonto National Monument. It's very cool... but not very photogenic. Don't...

Hélène and I have been on the road for the last two weeks, with her sister (Collette) and Collette's husband Jean-Pierre. The couple has never been to the Southwest before, so we tried to give them a Grand Tour. I bought a top-box for our baggage, damn near as big as our little car. I of course took a ton of photos, which I'll post here. ---------- Our first stop was Taliesin West , Frank...