Today was originally planned for travel, laundry and relaxation prior to moving on to Albuquerque tomorrow and the Balloon Fiesta. But before checking into our KOA campground in Flagstaff, Arizona, we visited the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.
We walked through mazes of jagged volcanic rock and black sand-like volcanic ash.
This all was from an eruption sometime between 1040 and 1100, the most recent in a six million-year history of volcanic activity in the Flagstaff area. We never thought of Arizona as having a volcanic history.
Colorful flowers grow throughout the hardened rock.
The interesting view of the Sunset Crater is that one side has plentiful growth while black volcanic ash still dominates the other, some 900 years after the eruption.
It was an unexpected and fascinating discovery.
From the Balloon Fiesta, we’re not sure what type of internet access will be available, so this blog may be dark for a few days — or maybe not!
T&C Southwest Adventure 2021 
I am enjoying your blog so much. It’s a great way to start my day and I relive our 2019 adventure. This one was especially interesting. It looks like it has taken a long time for this area to recover from a volcanic eruption. I didn’t think that Mt St Helen took that long before growth began to reappear. I hope you find some time to get that laundry done. Enjoy the Fiesta. I have been following comments on Facebook. It looks like it got off to a good start. Continue on.
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It’s good to break up a travel day with something interesting and this was a site we missed. Wishing you calm winds and good weather for the balloons. The Fiesta was were I spontaneously went live on Facebook. It was really fun to see who was watching. Next to a few natural wonders the “awe factor” of so many beautiful balloons in unmatched. Will be thinking of you both.
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