I woke up on Monday with a mission– tired the dogs out and find some awesome turquoise jewelry.

We drove to the Petroglyph National Monument early in the morning so it wouldn’t be as hot. I went to the entrance of one section of the park where, according to their website, a large number of petroglyphs were. (Petroglyphs are an ancient form of writing using pictures to represent ideas. These particular ones were drawn by Pueblo Native Americans.) The rangers explained the whole map, took $1 for their entrance fee, and then they saw the dogs in the back seat. Apparently no dogs were allowed in that section of the park. We backtracked to Rinconda Canyon instead, which did not cost us a dollar.

I was all prepared for hiking with my backpack full of water for the dogs and myself, both cameras, and park maps. What I was not prepared for was what a wimp Snickers would be! Not 20 minutes into the hike she was complaining about how hot her feet were. She shows this by trying to lift all four of her paws up at the same time. The result is looking like she is walking on stilts. Meeko, fur coat and all, was having a great time. She was checking out the rocks with me and greeting other hikers with a big Sheltie smile. We turned back 30 minutes into the trail because Snickers refused to walk anymore. I carried her in my arms as we headed back to the parking lot. Snickers found a shaded bench area and laid down on her side on the ground. I poured some water on the ground so it would run underneath her– she seemed to enjoy that. I know they both got plenty of water to drink before, during, and after the hike, so it made me sad that Snickers really couldn’t handle a more strenuous hike.

After dropping the dogs off in our air conditioned room, I headed out to the Turquoise Trail scenic byway. I grabbed a quick lunch of quiche at Lindy’s Roadside Attraction and then I was ready to shop! I drove about halfway through the route when I realized all of the galleries I had pulled up to were closed. My phone had been out of service for the majority of this rural route, but I finally got to a town big enough where it worked again. It turned out all galleries were closed on Mondays due to being open all weekend. This left me with no choice– I turned around and headed back to the hotel. I was mad that I’d wasted all this gas for nothing, and at myself after I realized that had I gone shopping for Turquoise on Sunday, none of this would have happened.

We had to check out of our hotel Tuesday morning, so the only way to fit everything in was to leave the hotel by 9am and take the dogs turquoise shopping with me before heading to Arizona!

Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico.