Dennys Restaurant, New Mexico

OK it isn't really a restaurant, but I was receiving continual harassment from Rebecca to visit this so called American institution which began sometime in the early 1950's. The Dennys I visited was located in an 1950 Art Deco style diner, similar to the diner known from the TV series "Happy Days". The interior of the restaurant had been renovated in a 1950 theme and 1950/60 music was played from a jukebox in the corner. There were even red stools lining the bar area and one of the waitresses sported a 1950 hairstyle - yikes!

I was "told" to order the Grand Slam which consisted of scrambled eggs, crispy hash browns, 2 pancakes, coffee, and grits. Grits are a southern food made from sifing corn! All I can say is that they are "real tasty-like & ya oll af to come back for moore". (Jane - you will need to find this recipe).

Shiprock Sunrise, New Mexico

Located along Highway 491, north of Gallup and west of Farmingham is Shiprock. Initially we wanted to try and do an afternoon shot at Shiprock, however, the travel time was longer than expected, so the time was altered to a sunrise photo shoot.

Awakening at Farmingham at 0400 we made the hour drive north to Shiprock, arriving just before sunrise. The weather was chilly with the thermometer hovering a tad over zero Celsius. Access to Shiprock is a bit messy with several sandy trails leading around the rock's base. The early morning golden light was a little subdued to patchy cloud cover, however, patience being a virtue we waited until the light shone through some layering in the cloud.

A small herd of cattle (or were they bison) meandered past Shiprock provided ideal perspective in highlighting just how large this monolith is - it is MASSIVE, HUGE - a MEGAROCK.....

The monolith, which rises from the flat desert and can be seen for miles, is the remains of a volcanoc plug from an ancient volcano. Flanking the volcanic plug is a long spine comprised volcanic rock which depicts several volcanic erosion styles. The area is Indian land, and unfortunately, litter is evident in a number of areas where careless land owners have dumped their unwanted trash. Although the litter is unsightly, it only occupies a relatively small area where wind has funneled the trash.

Bisti Badlands Wilderness Area, New Mexico

An area infrequently visited area, the Bisti Badlands is an undeveloped park with no facilities, information or track guidance. The access track to the Bisti isn't that erroneous, although there are a few ruts which may annoy 2 wheel vehicle owners.

The Bisti is very similar to the badlands of South Dakota with the exception it's in miniature. If your expecting huge monoliths and breakaways such as found in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks you will be disappointed.

Bisti is a flat area that has been eroded by water over eons of time to erode the badlands below the land's current surface. The region before becoming eroded was a temperate rain forest, and before that, dinosaurs roamed the area.

Of course the dinosaurs are now long gone (pity), however, remnants of the forest can still be found in the guise of mounds of petrified wood.

Many of the rocks in the area have been completely leached of all chemicals leaving only iron oxides.  The iron fives the area a very distinctibe red look when the light's right.

Interesting also is the number of small ricks (image) that dot the landscape.  The rocks are quite heavy (specific gravity) and appear to iron secretions.  It's possible it also had some magnetite, however, I could not check this as I didn't have a compass or magnet handy at the time.

The area is very interesting with sculptures, mini monoliths, and colourful sediment layers. I found the most impressive part of Bisti was the isolation and definite lack of people that you normally encounter in American national parks.

Route 66, New Mexico

The road north from New Mexico to Colorado parallels the old Route 66, the highway used during the the 1930’s to the late 1960’s. This route was the main highway which joined the east coast of America with Los Angeles on the west coast, and was made famous by several songs and Hollywood movies. Some of the road is still evident today and it’s possible to drive along some of the abandoned pavement (bitumen). The bridge in the image was built in 1933 during the heyday of Route 66.

Of interest is the disparity between many of the states, such as California, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Although much of the wildlife is similar, this is where the similarity ends. The geology, geomorphology and vegetation is completely different. Sandy deserts give way to rocky deserts which in turn become flat top mesas and jump ups before becoming high snow covered mountains - all this within 500 miles! Further, within each area there are subtle ecozones. An example being the desert region on New Mexico where prairie style grasslands change to sandy regions within a very short distance. I found this subtle changes within a short distance to be exceptionally interesting.

Three Rivers Petroglypth Site, New Mexico

Located just off the highway is the Three Rivers Petrogyph Site. I was keen to see the difference in motifs used at this site in comparison to the area visited a week earlier. This site belonged to a different culture, therefore, different motifs were used. As with the earlier site, the glphs were etched and scratched on volcanic rock; the black colour of the rock makes the white etching stand out especially well. When photographing the motifs a circular polarizer is great asset to ensure that the colors pop. This site is quite extensive and many differing motifs were found: faces, bighorn sheep, lizards, snakes, circular symbols, and a etching that looked like a rocket ship!

Whilst hunting through the low brush for glphs a sleepy wild rabbit was observed resting in the shade of a rock from the warm midday sun.

As with all ancient sites, collecting is not allowed and rangers patrol the area regularly to ensure compliance.