Planning a vacation takes lots of time and energy, but when you want to travel the country for a whole month you have to think about where you want to go for 31 days or so and that does take a bit of work. Alan put hours into this 6,000 mile driving vacation that took us in 31 days from Palm Bay, Florida to Colorado Springs, Colorado to Northern Arizona, back to the Beaches of South Walton in the Florida Panhandle and finally back home to Brevard County.

In getting organized for the trip we had a number of supplies to purchase, but he biggest purchase for the cross country excursion was the Garmin Nuvi 1450 GPS and a Nikon D3100 digital camera.  Next, we developed a vacation packing list and began thinking and planning our trip around the idea of “what kind of traveler are you?” Food on a 30 day trip is a big issue for us because we want to avoid fast food and maintain our regimen of healthy eating so we planned lots of raw food snacks for a long road trip. We also found Google docs and maps indispensable in our vacation planning for the long trip out west.

Additional trip considerations included safety issues. We did discuss safety before we started the trip, but it was not until we got on the road that we became cognizant of several more important and simple safety travel tips. Since we were traveling in the cooler months of Autumn where the temperatures would vary significantly along the way, proper head warmers travel gear was another priority.

Because there are so many details to planning a long trip, to help out our visitors we are posting our personal Southwest vacation itinerary. This trip itinerary which starts in Florida with a destination of Colorado Springs then on to  Northern Arizona and back to Florida is listed from start to finish below. Feel free to use it, change it and make it your own. Also, here’s a travel tip – you may want to brush up on some geological terms before you head out West.

Day 1
Drive from Palm Bay, Florida drive to Chattanooga, TN
Stay: Super 8
Eat: Cracker Barrel Macon, GA; N’awlins S. Broad Street, Chattanooga
Travel Tip: Look for Cracker Barrels they have consistently good food and service were ever you go. Here’s a special shout out to  the Macon Georgia Cracker Barrel for their exceptional customer service.

Day 2
Drive from Chattanooga, TN to Columbia, MO
Stay: Howard Johnson’s I-70 and Hwy 63
Eat: The Main Squeeze downtown
Travel tip: the morning traffic between Chattanooga and Nashville is very congested – start out early.

Day 3
Drive from Columbia, Missouri to Hays, Kansas.
Stay: Super 8 3730 Vine Street
Eat: The Golden Corral Buffet & Grill Hays, KS
Visit: Ellis County Historical Society Museum, Prairie Museum of Art and History
Travel tip: Don’t be in such a hurry to get to your next destination that you miss some great points of interest along the way – be flexible that’s how we got to enjoy the Prairie Museum in Colbert, KS. The travel through Kansas was more impressive than we expected.

Days 4-7
Drive from Hays, Kansas to Colorado Springs, CO (arrive early afternoon on Day 4)
Stay: We stayed with friends
Visit: Garden of the Gods, Drive up to Cripple Creek to view Aspens, Glen Erie Conference Center to view big horn sheep, Garden of the Gods is worth seeing twice – at least early morning and  at sunset.
Travel tip: Take preventative measures as you move into high elevations and avoid elevation sickness.

Day 8
Drive from Colorado Springs to Durango, CO
Stay: Knights Inn 3515 Main Ave.
Eat: Linda’s Local Food cafe
Visit: Mesa Verde National Park, Hot Springs in Pagosa, CO

Days 9-12
Drive from Durango, CO to Marble Canyon, AZ (travel the scenic Wolf Creek Pass at 10, 857 ft elevation)
Stay: Cliff Dwellers Lodge
Eat: Cliff Dwellers Lodge
Visit:  Grand Canyon North Rim, Colorado River Rafting in Glen Canyon, Lee’s Ferry, The Navajo Bridge, Kaibab Plateau

Days 13-18
Drive from Marble Canyon, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ
Stay: Howard Johnson’s 198 E. Lucky Lane
Eat: Wildflower Bread Company, Morning Glory Cafe, Taco Locos, Sizzler, Diablo Burger
Visit: Museum of Northern Arizona, Grand Canyon South Rim, Sunset Crater, Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, Cathedral Rock, Chapel of the Holy Cross, Slide Rock  State Park

Days 19-23
Drive from Flagstaff, AZ to Winslow, AZ
Stay: La Posada 303 E. 2nd Street Route 66, Winslow
Eat: The Turqoiuse Room (Excellent and lunch is very reasonable), The Falcon (mediocre)
Visit: Grand Canyon Railway, Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert, star gazing at Clear Creek, Meteor Crater,  historic downtown Winslow

Day 24
Drive from Winslow, Arizona to Clinton, Oklahoma
Stay: Super 8 at exit 65A off I-40.
Travel tip: This hotel was a little pricey without a coupon. Make sure you get to the tourist info center before 5:00 PM. If you want a non-smoking room, ask for a non-smoking room that does not have any smoking rooms adjacent to it.
Eat:

Day 25
Drive from Clinton, OK to Jackson, Mississippi
Stay:  We had a coupon, but our experience at the Executive Inn and Suites on Highway 49 South in Richland was not that great but the staff was kind and did their best to make things right.
Travel tip: Get the hotel coupon booklet at a tourist information center.stay in hotels that have other hotels close-by, that way you at least know they have competition to keep up appearances.

Days 26-31
Drive from Jackson, Mississippi to Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Stay: Contact Beach Properties of Florida and ask for a walk-in special.
Eat: The Taco Bar in Seaside and from our own kitchen.
Visit: The beach, Hike or bike ride in Topsail State Park, canoe at Grayton Beach State Park, stroll the shops in Seaside, Rosemary and other small venues on 30A east and west.
Travel tip: Unless you have limitless vacation funds plan to eat in a lot, that’s why you have a kitchen where you’re staying. Plan some simple meals and go to Publix before you check into to your house or condo. South Walton beach has no fast food restaurants.

Day 31
Drive from Santa Rosa Beach, FL to Palm Bay, FL
Stay: In our own bed

Total distance traveled in 31 days – 6,126 miles.

As we began cruising down Main Avenue in Durango we eyeballed several motels that were in the tourist information booklet and stopped at one to check out a room. For $70 per night + tax and a view of the parking lot on our first stop we decided to drive out Main Ave a little further to see what we might find. It worked well to call a few of the hotels that were marked with the $ sign in the tourist information booklet. We decided to drive to the Knights Inn on N. Main Avenue formerly called the Alpine Inn.

As we drove into the parking lot we were impressed – it did not look like a Knights Inn, if you know what I mean. It was quaint, had some curb appeal, and at least the rooms on the second floor were facing the mountains. For 2 queen size beds facing the mountain she quoted us $67. After she quoted us the price I inquired about the AAA rate and she dropped it another $7 making the room $60 plus about $5 tax.

As is our routine, especially when staying in $ hotels, we asked to see a room. It definitely met our expectations: It was large, neat and clean, and offered the amenities of a mini frig, microwave and wi-fi (a must for travel blogging). They also offered a small continental style breakfast of packaged sweet rolls, donuts, bananas, coffee and tea.

Just so you know there is another Knights Inn in midtown, also located on Main Ave and positioned a bit closer to the historic downtown area. The Alpine Inn which was recently bought out by Knights Inn is a little further out, but just a few minutes drive from the Durango historic downtown area. If you are in need of a cheap, clean hotel in Durango, Colorado the Knights Inn on Main Ave fit the bill for us. It may also fit the bill for you too.

At the end of our month long vacation out to Colorado and Arizona we decided to spend a week in the Santa Rosa Beach, Dune Allen Beach area that is just about 30 minutes east of Destin Florida. The beaches up here in the panhandle of Florida are about as pristine as you can get with sugar white sand and the emerald green colored waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We choose to end our vacation this way (at the beach in a familiar area) because we needed some time to relax after spending more than 3 weeks of taking long drives every day to see some of the incredible geological treasures of the American Southwest.

While we normally like to spend lots of leisure time on vacation, we kind of broke our traditional mold as the relaxed traveler because there was just so much to see. Even though we spent 22 days in the Southwest it was really only long enough to make plans as to what we would do on our next vacation. There were many days that we wanted to do or see several things (like 5 or 6 things), but only had time to do a few. Even when you spend a month on the road, you still have to be somewhat choosy as to what you visit because you simply can’t do everything. That being the case, we really did need to relax a little and the beaches of South Walton County fits the bill like no other place in our home state.

After rolling into Rosemary Beach late in the afternoon of October 21, we thought it would be easy to quickly find a place to stay just by talking to a few vacation rental companies or calling around to the condos or vacation rental homes that had signs out in front of them and obviously weren’t occupied. By the end of October, the 30A strip along the Gulf of Mexico in South Walton County starts to slow down quite a bit and we thought we could get a super bargain being that we were willing renters with cash in hand. However, after a few phone calls and talks with rental agents we figured out that we underestimated our budget for 6 nights by quite a bit and we either had to decide to spend more money or decide to spend our last 6 nights in a hotel.

When you come to this area to vacation and you are this close to the beach, spending your nights in a hotel isn’t really an option. There really aren’t any hotels on the beach except up in Panama City Beach or near Interstate 10 which is 25 mile away. So, if you want to enjoy all that the beaches along 30A such as Seaside, Watercolor, Alys Beach, Seacrest Beach, Grayton Beach and more have to offer, you simply pay the price. The price we ended up paying was about 30% more than we budgeted, but it turned out that we had a beautiful 4 bedroom townhouse for 6 nights that was within about 150 yards from the beach, and it was actually the least amount we have paid to stay here in the 3 times we have been to the area.

The View From our Dune Allen Beach Townhouse Rental

While here in Dune Allen Beach we spent a lot of time catching up on finishing blog posts that had piled up because we were always out doing something while out west, and the rest of the time we relaxed on the beach or in our townhouse, or went to our favorite taco bar, or went to the boardwalk at Deer Lake State Park. While we did spend some time away from our vacation rental, we didn’t plan any excursions or drive any further than about 6 or 8 miles to get to where we wanted to go for the day.

Bud and Alley’s Taco Bar in Seaside

Whether you want to end your vacation in a relaxed manner or take your whole vacation and lounge on the beach and under the Florida sun, there is no better place to relax than the beaches along the famous 30A in South Walton County. You will probably fall in love with 30A just as we have.

Every traveler knows the drill. You’ve been on the road for several hours and it’s time for the proverbial potty break. Finding a decent bathroom is always a challenge but if you are traveling through Kentucky on I-24 we think we have found the nicest, cleanest, public bathrooms available in the state. In fact you’ll feel so at home, or rather you’ll feel like you’re at grandma’s house, you might decide to extend your bathroom break and just hang out for a while. That’s what we did.

The bathroom we rate as number 1 in all of our travels is in kind of an unexpected place, Paducah, Kentucky. Once the hunting grounds of the Chickasaw Indians, according to aboutpaducah.com the White Haven Welcome Center on I-24 is the only historic house in America that has been restored as an interstate tourist rest stop. It should also be noted for having the prettiest and cleanest bathrooms in all of Kentucky – at least of all the one’s we stopped at.

What really impressed me were the 3 vases of fresh cut flowers in the ladies room – mixed bouquets of zinnia, azalea, cockscomb and fragrant roses blessed the counter tops. The workman cleaning the bathrooms told me the ladies who tend the flower gardens on the property are the same ones who adorn the bathrooms with fresh cut flowers from same gardens. Flowers are always a beautiful touch, but so unexpected at an interstate rest area. According to Alan even the men’s facilities were privy to several whiskey bottles filled with water and a single stem.

After you use the facilities, you may want to take a breather on the cast iron bench in the flower garden, enjoy the birds, the blooms and the shade trees before heading out again. You will feel refreshed and ready to continue your journey after visiting the clean restrooms and visitors center in Paducah Kentucky.

According to their website “The  mission of The Museum of Northern Arizona is to inspire a sense of love and responsibility for the beauty and diversity of the Colorado Plateau through collecting, studying, interpreting, and preserving the region’s natural and cultural heritage.”  If you want a quick primer on understanding the geological, anthropological and ethnological aspects of the area, take a few hours or even a half day out of your trip and educate yourself and your family on the different attributes of Northern part of this beautiful state. This way when your kids begin asking you all kinds of curiosity questions about the wonderful Northern Arizona characteristics they will be seeing and experiencing, you and they will already have the answers.

The museum is extremely well organized and what makes it great is you can find out a lot or a little about North Arizona depending on how much time you have. We spent about 2 hours there and were able to make it through the entire museum. If we lived in Flagstaff we both agreed we would become members and visit frequently so we could take in more of the information that the museum offers about the area.

The museum has exhibits related to 4 main areas of interest: geology, biology, anthropology and art. MNA has exceptional exhibits of the various Indian people and cultures of the Colorado Plateau. These displays document 12,000 years of occupation by the native people in this region including the Anasazi, Hopi, Zuni and Navajo Indians: from their daily lifestyles to their spiritual beliefs and practices to their art. A highlight of this exhibit is the life size depiction of a Hopi Kiva room used for spiritual rituals and a central focus of these Indian cultures.

The geology exhibit features a large graphic of all the geological periods from the beginning of Earth’s history up to the present. Both kids and adults will enjoy the hands on exhibits of various rocks, fossils and even a meteorite. A highlight of this exhibit is a life size model of a dinosaur skeleton – the Dilophosaurus, a carnivorous dinosaur whose fossils were found in northern Arizona.

There is much more to see and experience at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Don’t miss the exceptional native American art, rugs, and jewelry on display and the museum store where you can begin your Southwestern souvenir collection. MNA is located at 3101 N. Ft. Valley Rd. Flagstaff, AZ 86001 and is open 9 am – 5 pm daily. The cost for adults is $7 and for children 6 and under get in for free. Check out the Museum of Northern Arizona website for more details about exhibits, hours, costs etc. Before you tour the canyons, rivers, reservations, and deserts begin your tour of the Southwest at MNA.

Here are the restaurants we ate at while in Flagstaff:

Sizzler at 3540 East Route 66 was the first place we went after arriving in town. They got our business because they have a salad and food bar plus we had a $2 off coupon. The lunch salad bar is under $7 and you can get it before 4 PM. The Dinner salad/food bar begins at 4Pm and is about $1 more. Definitely a good deal, because it’s all you can eat, chose the healthy items,  but it’s not local food. Unfortunately, you can’t have everything all the time. The service was good, the salad/food bar could have been fresher and neater, but all in all it was a decent meal.

Diablo Burger on the Square at 120 N. Leroux Street was a must try. Alan had read about it and learned that all the meats they use are local and from humanely treated animals without hormones and antibiotics. We call this clean meat and if having a hankering for animal flesh which we do occasionally, it is the best option. They also have an all local vegan burger they call “The Netzky” that is made for them by a local catering company. It’s a bit pricey at $10.50, but was a quality vegan burger not like the package kind you usual find in restaurants. Both the vegetarian and 100% local, hormone and antibiotic free beef burgers ($8.50-$11.25) were delish and the service was excellent. All burgers come with an over abundance of homemade french fries. Alan liked it so much he wrote a separate post on the place.

Tacos Locos is a roomy and authentic Baja style family owned foods joint at the corner of Phoenix and Beaver street. If we can’t do local foods we try to support small, family owned establishments. We were drawn to Tacos Locos for 2 reasons: we wanted to some authentic Mexican food and we needed an Internet connection and we scored big on both. It has easily accessible outlets and a wi-fi connection that worked, plus the food was really good. We both got tacos and chips and salsa. I’m not sure what they do to them, but they were some of the best tacos we have ever had. Good is all I can say – we were both impressed with the fresh flavor and would have gone back except that we ran out of time.

Macy’s European Coffeehouse, Bakery & Vegetarian Restaurant at 14 South Beaver Street was enjoyable and with a definite European flair. We were drawn to it because of the mixed reviews, wi-fi and the location next door to the laundromat. While we were doing our laundry one day, we needed a place to blog, wait and have a snack. Neither of us had a full meal at Macy’s but the Molasses Cookie and toasted pumpkin bagel were both excellent. The employee at the counter seemed a little confused when I asked for my bagel to be toasted, but he got it done and even directed me to the day old pumpkin bagel for 72 cents which we both agreed when toasted would taste great – it did. I enjoyed my brief conversation with him over the effects of microwaves on food and Alan said the Molasses cookie hit the spot for him. We wanted to go back as the salad items in the menu looked tasty but we ran out of time. One little tip for Macy’s – tidy up a bit more (bathroom, tables and counters) and make it a little more homey for your guests.

Wildflower Bread Company in the Aspen Place at the Sawmill on the corner of Butler and Lone Tree deserved a separate review due to the many qualities of this fine bistro. But simply put, we loved the food, the service, the atmosphere, the amenities and especially the price. Would you move across country just to be closer to your favorite restaurant?

There were other Flagstaff restaurants and eateries that we wanted to experience, like the Himalayan Grill at S. Milton Ave and the vegetarian Morning Glory Cafe on South San Fransisco Street. We might have made it to the Himalayan Grill if they had been answering their phone on the day we were planning on going. As Providence would have it they did not answer all morning and early afternoon so when we arrived at 2:30 PM to catch a late lunch the doors were locked. That’s how Wildflower got our business.

What we did discover about Flagstaff was that they have a number of quality restaurants, eateries and bistros that won’t break the bank whether you are a local, a student or traveling through, give some of these places a try.

I had the Blake burger with homemade Hatch Chile mayo, roasted green chiles and sharp cheddar and it was probably one of the best burgers I have ever eaten, and then comes the french fries. You have never eaten french fries like this anywhere in the world. They are Belgian style fries called Frites and are double fried in peanut oil and seasoned with Herbes de Provence. They are simply the most outrageously delicious fries I can ever remember consuming and once in your life you should try them. Honestly, they are that good and you get a monster basket of them of which I took a third back to our motel room and ate them the next day. If I were a Conehead and not interested in eating healthy, I would eat them in mass quantities.

Diablo burgers are not cheap and if you get anything on yours, it will cost you a minimum of $11 with tax, but that does include that ginormous serving of fries as well. They also serve a vegetarian burger for those that have sworn off meat for life. I didn’t get the veggie burger because I decided if I were going to eat any meat again it would be here, and it was well worth it.

Diablo Burger is a little hard to find and not even your GPS knows where it is (at least ours didn’t). It is located at 120 N Leroux St which is actually on the corner of Leroux street and East Birch Ave, but that still isn’t enough information to find it. You have to either walk down the alley off of East Birch Street or Leroux Street or walk through the shopping mall that sits on the corner to get to Diablo Burger. It is behind the small mall and it is a pretty small restaurant with few available seats inside and a few seats outside. Also, bring cash only because they are so into local, they don’t take credit cards.

If you are jonesin for a burger or want to jump off the vegetarian wagon for one meal, eat at Diablo Burger in Flagstaff. Your taste buds will have a serious party.

Was I wrong about this being just another fast food bistro. First of all, from what I can tell from their website they are locally owned as in they are based in Arizona and as of now appear to only have locales in Arizona. Secondly, their food was amazing. With so many really unique and delicious sounding menu items I went for the “Wildflower Two” option where you can select half a gourmet sandwich with a small soup or salad. Preferring vegetarian or vegan cuisine I chose the  Roasted Sweet Potato sandwich with fig confit and the Wildflower Salad for $7.49. Alan selected the hot Portobello Picnic sandwich which hosts roasted portobello, eggplant and zucchini and more between toasted rye to create an absolutely delicious combination of flavors.

The Wildflower Salad is worth its own separate review. All I can do is rave about this salad. Fresh greens; unusual add in’s like jicama, sunflower seeds and dried lavender; along with standard salad veggies like carrots, tomatoes, and red onion; all this tossed in Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette. Usually when I forget to ask for “dressing on the side” in a place like this the salad is smothered in the dressing which overpowers all the fresh veggie flavors. Not at Wildflower. Apparently they have trained their prep staff well – the salad was perfectly balanced between all the flavors and the lavender flowers were the icing on the cake so to speak.

OK, I could go on and on about this place and can only say, Panera Bread Company you better get your act together because if Wildflower comes to the East Coast you’re in big trouble. A few more kudos for Wildflower — It was clean (even the bathrooms); great, friendly and fast service; and the decor and overall atmosphere complete with indoor and outdoor fireplaces makes it feel cozy and comfortable – like a place you want to meet with your friends.

I don’t know how they manage to perform on this level and just to be sure it was not a fluke we went back again the following evening. They were busy and once again they delivered in every way. The big bonus for us is that not only do they have free wi fi, their designer planned that every booth and table be equipped with at least one electrical outlet. As bloggers we are constantly looking for “the” table that has “the” outlet.

At Wildflower it seems they have thought of everything. They are also all about community support and charitable giving. Seems like Wildflower Bread Company really does care – about food quality, service, atmosphere and community. Doesn’t get much better than that.

What do you get when you take a 150 foot ball of iron-nickel alloy and hurl it at the dry Arizona desert at 26,000 mile per hour? You get the best preserved meteor impact site on Earth known as Meteor Crater Arizona. While there are a few more proven meteor impact sites on Earth, none is as well preserved as Meteor Crater. In fact, it is so authentic to craters on the moon that NASA actually came here in the 1960′s to train Apollo astronauts for their lunar excursions.

Meteor Crater is located about half way between Flagstaff and Winslow Arizona and just 5 miles off of I-40. Because it is on private land, it is rather expensive at $15 for each adult ticket, but it is worth seeing (Use your AAA card to get $2 off per person). The land where the crater sits is owned by the Daniel Moreau Barringer family of which Daniel Barringer was the first person (in 1902) to assert that the crater was formed by a meteor impact. Most scientists at the time believed it was formed by a volcanic vent, but they were later proven incorrect when Barringer found iron and nickel fragments there.

The largest yet discovered iron nickel fragment from the crater is on display at the visitors center and made almost completely of metal. While this fragment is the size of a fairly large rock you would put in your garden that may weight around 400 pounds or so, the Berringer meteorite weighs an impressive 1,400 pounds. It is hard to believe when you see it up close that a ball of steel actually fell from the sky, but the crater is actually the most impressive thing you will see at Meteor Crater. It is almost a mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more that 500 feet deep not counting the crater walls. You could place 20 football fields on the floor of the crater and then have 2 million people line the walls to watch the games. That how massive this crater is, yet it pales in comparison to many craters on the Moon and Mars.

For scale, look at the center right of the photo and you can see a woman under the light salmon colored roof:

If you are wondering about ever getting hit by a meteor, the chances are exceptionally slim. In fact, there is only one documented case in history of a human being getting struck by a meteor and that happened to an Alabama woman in 1954. A depiction of that case is on display at Meteor Crater.

While the cost of getting into Meteor Crater is a bit expensive being that it only takes you about 2 to 3 hours to see the crater and all the exhibits, it is very educational. The visitors center is loaded with lots of scientific exhibits and interactive displays. You can also watch a 15 minute movie that explains all the science and history behind what happened at this unique spot on Earth.

You don’t need to go all the way to the moon to see a real meteor impact site, you can check one out at Meteor Crater Arizona.

Looking north from Meteor Crater. Is Jean holding a picture, or is it real?

If you generally think of deserts as lifeless, hot and not worth spending much time in, then you have yet to experience the Painted Desert. The Painted Desert is part of the larger Petrified Forest National Park and has its own entrance on the north side of the National Park area located right on Interstate 40 about 60 miles due east of Winslow Arizona.

While most deserts are kind of drab being filled with sand and lacking in color, the Painted Desert is aptly named because of its incredible multi-hued mountains, hills, rock formations and other geological wonders that make this place one of the most unique deserts on Earth. The multitude of colors you will see in the mountains within the park come from various mineral deposits in individual layers of soil that give the hills and countryside their distinct banded features. You will see reds, greens, pale blue and pale purple tints throughout the mountains and overlooks as you drive through the park.

It is a geologic marvel  that we have the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest in the same location and in actuality, the same kind of mineral deposits that caused the many colors of the Painted Desert also were responsible for turning wood to stone in the Petrified Forest. But not only do you see beautiful colors in this unique desert landscape, you will also see Indian ruins and some of the most concentrated petroglyph carvings anywhere in the United States. While you can see some petroglyphs when rafting down the Colorado River, Newspaper Rock (there’s also a Newspaper Rock in Nevada) is covered with these same kinds of drawings. It is as if this location was one that acted as a local reporting station for many people to tell of their hunting and life encounters.

Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs

Newspaper Rock was written upon some 1,000 years ago and it is fascinating to look at it and the surrounding rock and think that someone was sitting right there, one thousand years ago, and writing out the very first Dilbert-like comic (or whatever it was) and know that they had no idea there would be people viewing their form of communication some one thousand years later.

While not nearly as large as the Petrified Forest just to the south, the Painted Desert is one of the rare and beautiful geological wonders the Southwest has to offer. The next time you are heading down I-40 in Arizona, stop in and experience its beauty. Enjoy the additional pictures below.