by Steve

It's the end of December, and we've been in Tucson since late October. But we're still playing "catch-up" with blog posts about our travels this fall. So if it looks like we're still in the middle of New Mexico, that's why.

When you cross New Mexico in Interstate-10, you see a lot of desert. But if you look closely . . . well, you'll see a lot of desert close up. But just off the beaten path are some interesting oddities, one of which is just north of Deming, NM, and is called "City of Rocks." This collection of house-sized boulders in the middle of the desert is said to be the handiwork of some ancient volcano that dumped the rocks in a pattern that sometimes seems to resemble city streets with intersecting avenues.

City of Rocks is a New Mexico state park. The state has done a great job of creating an interesting campground, using various nooks and crannies for campsites in and among the rocks. We didn't stay there, but it looked really cool, though probably better suited for smaller rigs.

Modern man is not the first to camp among these rocks. If you look closely enough in the right places, you can find where ancient people ground their corn in the rocks.

I would imagine that corn ground with rocks is a bit crunchy, and probably hard on the teeth, but you make do with what you have. I could describe this place a bit more, but I'd rather let the pictures do the "talking" so you can get a better sense of this other-worldly place.