City of Rocks

We spent last night in a truly unique place.

City of Rocks State Park is located about 30 miles north of

Deming, NM at about 5,200'.

I've wanted to stop here the last couple of times that we passed by but we always

stayed at Rockhound State Park just outside of Deming and

collected rocks.   This time we made the extra drive north.

It is a quiet lonely place this time of year which adds to its charm.

The main attraction are these otherworldly rock formations that rise from the

high sage brush desert.

There is an astronomical observatory in the park and the clear dark skies

make for excellent night time star gazing.

In keeping with the astronomical theme each campsite is named after a

astronomical formation.

Our site was named Cassiopeia.

Last night I gazed over head and there was Cassiopeia looking down on us.

This morning we headed out on the final push west towards Phoenix.

As we left the park the rising sun was casting a warm orange glow on the

rock formations.

The campsites are well spread out and tucked into the formations.

This rock looks like a geode that has been sawed open.

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It was a quick visit here.   We'll be back for sure.

6 hrs after departure we finally arrived at our initial destination,

Lake Pleasant Regional Park in the Northwest Phoenix area.

It is another great park - part of the Maricopa County Park System.

We'll spend the next 4 nights here while I take care of some business, arrange

for storage of the Monty etc.  It's going to be a busy couple of days.

The view from our campsite is wonderful and the warm dry weather

is delightful.

We also have a major league 4G Verizon Signal here so with the

great speed it's going to be an excellent location to get caught up.