El Malpais

On our way to Phoenix on Thanksgiving day we stopped to hike in the El Malpais ("the badlands") park.  The weather was sunny but windy and cool.  We had planned to have a picnic on the sandstone bluffs, but ended up eating our picnic lunch in the truck after climbing around on the bluffs.

 On the opposite side of the road from the bluffs is another beautiful view.  This is what we looked at while eating lunch.  I finished first and hopped out of the truck to take photos while Stephen ate his strawberry rhubarb pie.  Not exactly the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but we were thankful!

After lunch we drove a short distance to the natural stone arch and hiked a bit there.

The view from the arch.

Stephen is in the lower left for scale...

After the hike we continued on to Phoenix.  To Be Continued...