Leaving the Grand Canyon, we stopped at a museum for a guided tour of a typical original Pebloen ruin. Then we drove south in Arizona to Picacho Peak State Park. Over this (mostly downhill) drive, the van got the best MPG (16!) of the trip so far.
Because we were enjoying the last bit of time we had in the Grand Canyon, we hit the road kinda late. From here on out, we’re going to be taking interstates just to make time going home. We have to swing by Val’s parents’ place in FL as they’ve been babysitting the cat while we’ve been gone. And Val has to teach class on the 8th, so we’d like to be back a bit before that to do laundry and decompress. Unfortunately, that schedule means lots of interstate driving.
So we had a great lecture about the history of inhabitants in the Grand Canyon. A park volunteer, Sara Officer, gave a great talk. I was very impressed with the talk and the overall setup and felt like I learned something today. I wish we had some more time to take advantage of some of the other interpretative programs in the National Park. They’re always well done and informative.
We got some great pictures from the Watchtower on the eastern edge of the park and then headed back down towards Flagstaff. We took I-17 down to I-10 and eventually camped at Picacho State Park. This was a great park. Tall saguaro cacti everywhere making for some great pictures. The park was set up on a bluff overlooking the interstate, so you got a pretty view at night, but without much noise. Someone was cooking some chili on a campfire, and I almost invited myself over for dinner. It smelled so good.