This morning we drove about a half hour to the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site. It is a natural mound of rocks that is completely covered with petroglyphs but only on the south side (didn't see any explanation why but we're sure some anthropologist probably has a pretty good understanding - today even at noon all the north side was in the shade and this may have something to do with it).

Symbols of all kinds cover almost every square inch of the rocks including humans, lizards, bighorn sheep and spirals:

We weren't allowed to climb around in the rocks so all the glyphs away from the trail we didn't see. Regardless, we took dozens and dozens of photos including a lot of closeups but we won't bore you with all.

Looking at all the designs is much like a Rorschach Test (the psychological inkblot test). Sharon thinks this is a touching image of a father and son holding hands, and Rick thinks it's a man being attacked by a giant spider - hmm, what does this tells us.

The glyphs are remarkably free of modern graffiti although there are some historic additions.

We don't know why they call the place "Painted Rock" because we saw no painted glyphs, only glyphs created by pecking away the rock's weathered surface.

This afternoon we visited the nearby Sonoran Desert National Monument. It is completely undeveloped with no visitors center or anything - just a few trail heads. But we love this kind of place because the less developed the facilities, the less developed the rules. Therefore dogs are allowed anywhere we wanted to go so we took a hike into the Saguaro cactus foothills. Sharon and Abby had a rockin' good time dancing the Saguaro Swing this this giant.

And, like everywhere around here, some of the cactus are blooming.

While driving around today we drove by the Solana Generating Station which is 2000 acres of parabolic solar panels generating enough energy to power 70,000 homes (Arizona has mandated that by 2025 15% of household electricity will be generated by renewable sources).

Even our quirky little RV park is powered by solar. These panels are just behind the laundromat.

Tomorrow we are thinking about hanging around the trailer and doing some laundry while cooking a corned beef for St. Patrick's Day. The weather continues to be spectacular with highs in the low 80s and lows in the 50s. A month ago when we first entered this climate it felt hot to us - but not any more. We have acclimated and have enjoyed every moment of the process.