On our way to the North Rim we took an abrubt right turn, into this monument, looked at the map and noticed that the road through was a loop, and two miles in came to this place.  

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This place is called the Wupatki National Monument, and these were the first ruins on the left two miles in.  800 years old the plains here were a thriving community, and as we drove through the area we saw many many neat things, and eventually we found ourselves headed into Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.  We also realized that we were going South back to Flagstaff but we didn't care because the scenery was so amazing.  

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We then returned to our plan of the North Rim, but since we had punted two hours going the "wrong" direction I decided to call them and make sure about things.  They were completely booked.  Sold out.  Nothing available.  

Bummer.  Driving through Northern Arizona without a destination is a pretty cool feeling actually.  Lots of places we could end up at.  Lake Powell won, we stayed at the only hotel by the lake, the "Lake Powell Resort" and we were very happy with it.  Awesome view of a beautiful area from the balcony.  I recorded 2.5 hours of video for PokerVT, and then headed to the pool to relax for a bit.

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It was good.

Peace and good luck,

Devo