Final New Mexico Rock Pictures


One may safely say I spent the bulk of my trip to New Mexico, and the most exciting part of my journey to the USA, looking at rocks. This is true. But lets not forget, these are not ordinary rocks.

The rocks of the New Mexico badlands are testaments to the slow, inescapable power of time itself. Once, where now there is but rock and dust, there were huge swampy lakes patrolled by duck-billed dinosaurs and mammoth trees. Now, all that is gone. What remains are the fossilized trunks of long extinct flora and the sun-baked deposits of minerals once buried beneath leagues of water and mud. The towering steeples of the hoodoos were once sandstone shelves laying at the bottom of sunken pools, their bases a softer rock that has been weathered by the elements and the omnipotent hands of time. These aren't merely rocks. These are mementos to how absolutely time will change everything.



The last zone of New Mexico badlands we stopped at was, according to the guidebook at hand, also one of the oldest, or at least boasted the oldest layers of sediment in the region. Oddly, compared to Bisti, this area was surprisingly more green, almost lush - for the desert. What was most intriguing were the colors. The rocks were hewn in soft, pastel and sherbet hues.



There are many more places worth exploring in New Mexcio. I suppose, someday when I am done with al this world hopping, I'll settle back down there and try to experience them all.

New Mexico, too, is a great place for artists. the quality of the light there not only brings the colors of your own pallet out more, but inspire you to render them yourself in your own art in the first place. My traveling companion on this adventure, for example (and a truly awesome awesome friend!), Laura Brink, is an AMAZING artist. I aspire to be half the artist she is someday. You must must must! go check out her work online. www.laurabrink.com Laura rocks!!!