Our first stop was the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge outside of Quartzsite, Ariz.
Then it was to Tucson, where we Visited Saguaro National Park.
Tucson's Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum includes exhibits that feature live local wildlife, including a mountain lion.
On the way from Tucson to our next destination, we detoured through Tombstone and had to visit the state's oldest newspaper.
Sandhill cranes and snow geese at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in Arizona.
Cranes in flight, Whitewater Draw.
Vermillion flycatcher, Whitewater Draw.
Chiricahua National Monument, the "land of standing up rocks."
The mountains in Chiricahua are the eroded remnants of a vast volcanic ash deposit.
Sunset at Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
White Sands National Park protects the largest gypsum dune field in the world.
Otherworldly picnic area at White Sands.
The "sand" at White Sands feels more like cake flour.
The dunes are a tough place for plants to make a living.
Rock art at Three Rivers Petroglyph Site near Alamogordo, NM.
The petroglyphs are about a thousand years old, and were created by people of the Jornado Mogollon culture.
Stylized bighorn sheep head, with geometric pattern on its forehead. This level of artistry is rare in images pecked into rock.
The art is pecked into basalt boulders atop a mile-long ridge.
Bighorn sheep, pierced by three arrows.
Masks are a characteristic motif.
Hiking McKittrick Canyon in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas.
