From Holbrook, it is a short drive (by western standards) over to the Petrified Forest National Park. Pretty amazing to see all the wood turned rock just lying around everywhere. It was a battle to get any participation for this park...they think they've seen it all by this point!
The trail of giant logs at the south visitor's center whets your appetite for what's to come...
Those were some big logs. We did find it interesting that the same type of wood that was petrified in Arizona was also petrified in North Carolina. Hummmm...wonder how that happened.
Mr. Jr. Ranger Samuel was working on his second Jr. Ranger booklet. He started his first one at Walnut Canyon. It wasn't easy making this a learning experience but Melinda did an awesome job of keeping him motivated ;)
Here's our Jr. Ranger beside a petrified root ball...yes, they were big!
There were some with white centers at the Crystal Forest.
The Blue Mesa was really neat too. You could see petrified logs being exposed as the sandstone (I think) started to erode away.
And the different layers of sediment...
Next were the Petroglyphs (I like to refer to it as Indian graffiti!) It amazes me that it is still here after several hundred years. The rangers admit that they don't know why they did the petroglyphs or what they mean exactly but it is still pretty cool. My explanation is that the guys were over there doodling on the stones while the women did all the work. Probably not accurate but it sounded good to me! Here are a couple feet...just need some black dots on the heels!
The stork eating the lizard? I overheard a ranger talking about this image. They admit, they really don't know what it means either.
Next up was some pueblo ruins. Interesting how they structured their village. Basically, all the dwellings were on the outside with some kivas in the middle. The kivas were used for special ceremonies and meetings.
The Painted Desert! Beautiful! After all the brown blah you suddenly go around a turn and a plethora of colors meet the eye. This is another one of those...'You have to see it'. Can't describe it. You have to see it.
My serious sons felt the need to 'clown around'. They get this from their mother!
And one last picture...
After Samuel was sworn in as a Jr. Ranger, we were off to Albuquerque. We were planning on spending the night and going on the tram in the morning but decided it might be cool to see it at night. We did stop at 'Old Town' and that we very pretty. The sunset was stunning from the tram station.
It's probably good that we did it at night. I'm not sure Melinda could have handled the tram seeing just how far up we were. This is the longest continuous tramway in the world. 2.7 miles from station to station. In the winter you can ski down the other side. Pretty neat experience. It was a balmy 39 degrees with a 5 mph wind at the top...
The next couple days are long rides so there probably won't be much to say!
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