Glass sculptures in the garden

I went to the gardens.
There were pretty, pretty things there.  Sculptures by Dale Chihuly.

Alongside desert landscape, they were very striking.

chihuly - Video Maker

Petroglyphs in the desert

People used to live in the Painted Desert.  They've left behind some marks of their presence.
Petroglyphs.

These are some of the best preserved petroglyphs in the U.S.  They're around 1000 years old, so most of their meanings are lost.
Maybe they were solar calendar markings.
Maybe they were messages to other migrating tribes.
Maybe they commemorated important events.

Maybe one day we'll figure it out.

Painted desert

I saw the Painted Desert National Park once a long while ago, before I had done much traveling and seen much of the world's wonders.  I was blown away then by the color and vastness of the desert at that time.

I wondered if it would still be so amazing the second time around.

I was not disappointed.

Desert View Watchtower

The Watchtower was built in 1932 by Mary Colter.  She had the architectural vision to re-create indigenous, historic buildings. 
For inspiration she traveled around, visiting ruins of the region before drawing up her designs.

The Watchtower is modeled after ancient stone towers, though this one has a steel frame hidden beneath the limestone.


The inside was then painted by a Hopi artist with symbols and petroglyphs.

From any distance, the Watchtower is worth seeing.

Saguaro mountain

They're like sentinels, standing tall all over this mountain.

Desert landscape

It's deserty out there, isn't it?

Superstition mountains

The Superstition Mountains, home of stories stretched beyond the reaches of history.  They are the setting of religious shrines for Pimas and Apaches, of sanctuary for Apaches who refused to go to reservations, of violence between frontier prospectors, of treasure hunting for those who know the tales, and of a formidable rugged beauty.












The ruggedness of the mountain range means much of the region is still untouched wilderness.

With rumors of gold and treasure yet to be found, the mountain range still turns normal people into treasure hunting crazies.
I just thought they were pretty desert mountains.