We are back in Marfa, Texas! Mike and I came here during our honeymoon Great American Road Trip back in 2010, and it seems a little bigger and maybe even a little better than then. Such a great town! When we came the first time I did not exaclty foresee being back in West Texas 11 years later coming back from exile at what is hopefully the tail end of a global pandemic, but here we are!

The Valley of Fires, New Mexico, felt like a weird place to spend July 4th, but we ended up getting a big storm with lots of lightning, which is kind of like fireworks! There were two big attractions here. First up was the actual Valley of Fires, a giant lava field. And then in the morning we stopped at Three Rivers Petroglyphs on the way out of town, and got to see rock carvings that are over a thousand years old!

Next stop was Heron Lake, New Mexico - very pretty but we were just passing through, really!

Mesa Verde National Park and UNESCO site was our previously unscheduled stop. We got to see ruins from the Ancestral Pueblo people dating back to the 7th Century!

Arches National Park was so beautiful, but so, so hot! We had originally planned to stay two nights here but ended up hitting the road earlier since it was so hot we would have just sat in the air conditioned travel trailer all afternoon anyway! We used the opportunity to make a surprise stop at another national park a short distance away....