Petrified Forest and Painted Desert

Wow....what a day!  I hardly know where to begin.  We stayed overnight in the town of Holbrook, another Rt 66 town, just off the interstate, which now replaces much of the old road.  There are rock shops and trading post tourist traps along the road,  here  named Navajo Boulevard. And Wigwam Village, where you can rent a tepee to stay overnight!   But the sight that amazed us was a huge collection of dinosaurs in front of one of the shops!  It was closed, (Clem rousted me out early again....I think there is a method to his madness!) so I could not check it out.  But a stop at the Petrified Wood Store cum museum, satisfied my curiosity.  Not only is this a land of amazing quantities of petrified wood, it is a land of fossils and dinosaur remains.  I was overwhelmed with the array of wood in the shop, and we had not yet seen the forest!  Cut and polished, it is a thing of beauty.  Turns out, it is not really rare, and it is found in many states in different forms, but here there is an entire forest of it.    I was astounded as a very young girl, when a friend brought me piece of what I could not believe was wood. And now I have seen it for myself, and it was amazing.  Millions of years in its formation, it lays there in its crystalized splendor.  Some of the logs were huge!   We walked  one trail, but  I would have loved to have had the time to walk some of the others.

In the background of the forest you can see the painted desert.  We thought it was pretty neat, but it got more beautiful as we drove along and the gray streaks gave way to red.   In some areas the hills came very close to the road, which was amazing.   We stopped at  several view points, including one which is on the National Register, where there are quantities of amazingly well preserved petroglyphs.

Rejoining Rt 40 after our drive thorough the forest, we decided to try to make it to Santa Fe to stay the night, so we can spend the entire day in the city tomorrow.  The drive was amazing as we crossed over into New Mexico, passing from the painted desert into the red sandstone mesas.  The terrain changed  again to black rock, with gorgeous golden rod colored trees standing out against the hillsides.  Clem thinks they are cotton trees, so we will have to see if we can verify that.  All in their fall glory, what ever they are!

It took us to past sunset, but we made it.  A bit more of a challenge to get into your site and hook up when light is limited!  But we are learning the ropes and getting better at it.  And once again, tired after a full day, nice to pull in and just have dinner "at home."

A fun aside about the kitties.  They are more and more comfortable, but still not fond of the drive.  Sas makes a bee line under the driver seat, where he spends the day, and Loki crawls under the covers on the bed for the day!  We park, and Sas makes another bee line for his food dish!  Then takes a nap!!  Tired from all that sleeping under the chair I guess!

I will post photos of the day...stay tuned!