1207. Go to Saguaro National Park in Tucson

 When I started planning our Arizona trip without baseball, my cousin told me about the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. I decided we should check it out along with Saguaro National Park since we were going to be in Tucson and I wasn't sure when we would be there again. Plans changed and I found college baseball but still kept Saguaro National Park on the agenda.

Part of my wanting to go to Saguaro was that we are planning on going to South Dakota in September and would need a National Park pass to help with park fees. Since I would need one in September, might as well get one now and get our money out of it. The Annual America the Beautiful National Park Pass is $80 and covers most entrance fees into the National Park System and is good for one year. Picking up one this year made sense. We had one a few years ago when we went to the Grand Canyon and really didn't get our money's worth out of it, this year we would definitely get our money out of it. 

Saguaro National Park is split into the East and West sections with the city of Tucson in the middle. My original plan was to visit the east side because it was near the museum but with going to the baseball game, the west side made sense. 

To get to the Visitor Center to buy our park pass and get my stamp, is about 20 miles into the park. We drove up a winding, hilly road through the National Park, then back to public land, and back on National Park land before reaching the visitor center. You can actually view this part of the park without paying but once you get to the visitor center and anything beyond you need to pay. 

We bought our park pass, which I immediately misplaced (and found in the same spot I left it), and got my stamp. Then we explored a few short trails around the visitor center. The hubby was grumpy by the gravel trail. 

My original plan was to drive the scenic route through the park which was a dirt road but do to bad planning and not realizing the visitor center was so far into the park, we really didn't have time before the game. So we took a different road out of the park and still saw plenty of cacti.

I would love to go back and explore more of the park but then again it's just a bunch of big cacti. You see one cacti, you've seen them all. They all look the same. It would be nice to see them when they are flowering though. Maybe one day when we have more than 2 or 3 days in Arizona.

3545. Go to El Malpais National Monument in Grants

We were looking at potential route to Phoenix from Dodge City since we were staying in Chandler coming down from Flagstaff didn't really make sense. We found a route that took us through southwest through New Mexico and crossing farther south than we usually do. As I was looking at this route, I saw it literally ran along the side of El Malpais National Monument. I've been wanting to visit El Malpais for awhile but figured the hubby wasn't too much into exploring lava tubes. The only thing was the visitor center was 10 minutes of the way. When I mentioned all this to the hubby, he was game and we could even stop and get my stamp.

El Malpais National Monument is a stark landscape of limestone and ancient volcanic rock.. basalt, lava tube caves, cinder cones, and spatter cones. It is nothing like we have in the Midwest. 

We stopped at the visitor center, got my passport stamped, and then checked out the small museum. We learned a bit of the rugged and unique landscape. Then it was back in the car to explore part of the eastern edge of the park. 

Our first stop was Sandstone Bluff Overlook. This required a relatively steep drive up a gravel road. The road is actually closed when it rains because it will flood out. There is small parking lot on top along with some informational signs and then you can check out the views.

We saw the ancient Zuni Mountains.

The lave flows

And Mount Taylor which is the second latest volcano in New Mexico and an old extinct volcano.

The sandstone ledges were impressive too.

Back in the car, we passed more lava flows on our way to our second stop -- La Ventana Natural Arch. This is technically not part of the National Monument but part of the El Malprais National Conversation Area. 

You can view the Arch from the parking lot or follow a short trail to get closer. You can even scramble the rocks to get even closer -- the hubby would have freaked if I tried that.

We then followed the highway through the El Malprais National Conversation area to back to US 60 and that took us into Arizona.

El Malprais is definitely worth the detour. We only saw a tiny fraction of the park. Hopefully one day we can explore the other side. The hubby does like the lava flows. We probably spent 10-15 minutes at each stop which was a nice stretch break. 

3522. Visit the Pecos National Historic Park in Pecos

 Our first stop on Day 2 of our journey to Arizona was Pecos National Historic Park in Pecos, NM which is about 30-45 minutes north of Santa Fe. We went Fort Union National Historic Park last time and I wanted to get my stamp at Pecos this time. The hubby for whatever reason was being a grump and that's about all we did.. get my stamp. 

Pecos National Historic Park is a crossroads in which people of various backgrounds and historical periods passed through -- hunters, gathers, soldiers, explorers, immigrants, and even tourists. It is pretty rural and rugged. You can explore the many trails or walk out to the old mission which is exactly what I wanted to do. It is one of the many no fee National Park Sites.

When we arrived, we went to the visitor center. I stamped my passport. I got a new National Park Passport which has a spot for each of the National Park sites and lots of extra space for additional stamps. Plus there are regional stickers that you can buy that might include that a site. Each year they design a stamp for each of the 9 regions featuring one of the parks in that region. There are currently 36 sticker for each region so not all parks have a sticker yet.

Then we checked out the small museum which was filled with relics found on site as well as historical facts of the area. It was actually very fascinating. I thought it was just the mission but it is much more than that.

I really wanted to check out the mission but it was cold and windy. We were not dressed properly and like I said the hubby was grumpy and didn't want to walk the gravel path to the mission. Some days you just go with the flow and pick your battles. The mission wasn't high on my list and it would give us more time for lunch and at our next stop. 

If you are traveling through Northeast New Mexico, definitely check out Pecos. Go explore the trails and mission. It looks to be a great place to hike. Hopefully I can get back one day and explore more.

2496. Go to the Geographical Center of the US in Lebanon, KS

 Watching the Super Bowl in 2021, the hubby saw Jeep's commercial and said we had to go to the little white chapel. That little white chapel is at Geographical Center of the US in Lebanon, KS. Planning our trip to Arizona, we made sure this was our stretch break stop on Day 1. It is almost 11.5 hours from Northeast Wisconsin and is actually only a short distance from the Kansas/Nebraska border.

The Geographical Center of the US is just outside of Lebanon at the end of a state highway. It really isn't much. There is a couple of signs, a marker, and the chapel. 

The chapel and grounds are open 24 hours a day. The chapel is quite small inside probably enough for a dozen or two people to sit and pray. 

You can also leave a sticker which I did not know otherwise I might have. 

It is one of those places that probably won't get much notoriety if it wasn't for the Super Bowl ad and maybe quirky Pinterest articles. Even with some notoriety now, we were the only people there.

Is it worth checking out? I'd say yes if you are in the area. We did not check out Lebanon so I am not sure what else the town has to offer but you are in rural Kansas/Nebraska so not much. It really wasn't too much out of the way on the way to Dodge City.