A windy descent from the high plateau

 Last night we were in Sky City, New Mexico at 7,000 feet and tonight we're in Globe, Arizona at 3,500.  Today we drove through freezing wind, blowing sand....

....and blowing snow (for about an hour and a half) as we descended from the Mogollon Rim down to approximately the level of Phoenix.  We were originally going to stop at the Zuni Pueblo but the wind was blowing so hard that their tour was canceled because of the blowing dust.

It was probably a good day to be doing a long drive as the wind was fierce from morning until the evening.  Even in Globe at the lower elevations the wind is cold tonight. Here are some of the landscapes we passed on our eight hour drive.

Ponderosa pines growing in the volcanic cinders of the area called Malpais (Spanish for badlands).

The lovely red and cream columns on the escarpment in the Zuni lands.

This is Inscription rock, now known as El Morro national monument, carved with signatures and comments of almost every explorer, conquistador, missionary, surveyor and pioneer that passed this place.  Unfortunately it was far too cold to walk up the stairs and take a look.

After a long drive across high rolling plains we descended through the Salt River Canyon, a stunning place that rivals the Grand Canyon in beauty, though of course it's much smaller. 

Tonight we're at a little RV park in Globe, Arizona, just a stone's throw from Phoenix, and tomorrow the weather is supposed to be much better.