| 3 Amarillo |
| Canyon de Chelly 4 |
| Index |
April 11th, 2013:El Malpais, Western New Mexico, and the Hubbell Trading Post, Arizona.
Continuing West on I-40 the next morning, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center for El Malpais National Monument. We wandered around the exhibit area a bit and even viewed a short, award-winning film on this very scenic area.
After seeing the film and looking at the exhibits, we decided to take a short driving tour in El Malpais. The drive we took was mostly due South and gave us a foretaste of things to come later on our tour including a scenic outcrop of rock overlooking a huge wall of deeply eroded rock to the West.
Just before turning back to return to I-40, we stopped and took another short walk back into a rocky canyon. There we saw our very first rock arch of the trip, plus an interesting rock formation that reminded Monika of elephants. (Look closely for the shape of three elephants outlined in the rock wall below!)
Continuing West on I-40 to Gallup, New Mexico, we had lunch and then veered first North and then West to reach the Hubbell Trading Post just across the border in Arizona. We arrived at 4:30 p.m. and they closed at 5:00 p.m., so we had barely enough time to view the historic interior of the trading post, which is still in operation, and purchase a painting, a doll, and an “Old Timer” pocket knife for just under $100.
Curving northwards, we finally rolled into Chinle, Arizona, just outside Canyon de Chelly, just before sunset. There we stopped for the night so that we could see Canyon de Chelly the next morning.
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