We had another supremely lazy morning. We got a paper refill yesterday so Millie spent most of the morning drawing. We have done so many amazing things this year and yet I know it will be these mornings that I miss most. We drink coffee, graze around for breakfast, then make another coffee, because, why not? We eventually shower and naturally make our way out for the day.

We drove just over an hour to the Petroglyphs. As in recent days, the drive was desolate and beautiful. It was just us and the vicuñas.

We were the only visitors at the site, and paid a small fee to enter. There was a marked trail but hardly any signs. I preferred it this way because every time we spotted a carving in the rock formations, it felt exciting.

We spent about 2 hours climbing up and around these giant rocks, trying to find new images.

Millie loved the climbing, Nick loved the history, and I loved imagining who carved each thing.

There were probably more to be found, but we felt satisfied and walked back to the car. We had our packed lunch of sandwiches, carrots, and apples and then drove to find Valle de Arcoiris. It was only about 15 minutes away but along an unmarked, unpaved road. Our phones had no service so there was a bit of faith needed to get there.

We didn’t see anyone else and then a man herding a bunch of alpacas appeared. It felt staged, but the confirmation that we were near other humans was comforting.

We arrived at the entrance and paid another small fee. We were told that there were three main stops to see the valley. As we set off for our first stop the car warned us we had low tire pressure. I have tire PTSD from the amount of tire issues we’ve had this year, and felt nervous about it for a good hour.

We arrived at the first stop and got out to admire the differently colored (white, red, green) rock formations.

We drove to the next stop and explored in between the large red rocks, finding magical crevasses to hide in.

And then to the last stop, which was an amazing view of the whole valley.

It is hard to photograph the landscape here. For a place that has almost no weather patterns, the landscape is shockingly diverse. Sometimes it looks like another planet, then 10 minutes later it feels like the plains, then Montana, then Sedona, and so on.

As we set off for the long drive back to town, Millie said a prayer for our tires. For some reason she thinks this is where prayer hands go, and I’m sure as hell not going to be the one to correct her.

We drove back as the sun was setting behind us. The tires made it. Other than some whining about the driving taking forever, everything went well.

We stopped at the tiny grocery store and got some basics for dinner. I made breakfast tacos. They tasted like home.