Ahhhhh……can’t believe it…..it RAINED during the night…..the sounds of the drops on the roof had me awake for awhile. And….when I did get up, the ground looked like it had been soaked, as I later confirmed when my shoes became way tooooo muddy after walking to the truck!
We left the park around 9am…..driving east for about 50 miles until we made the turn to go the final 18 miles when we noticed this large “gift and rock” shop/building beside the highway. I thought to myself….”yep…another tourist trap”….but the 1st Lady and I decided to make a stop anyway.
WELL…..I have never been in such an incredible gift shop ever. It was filled with petrified wood pieces…..of ALL sizes. There were coffee tables that were selling for $20,000.00 and thousands of other pieces of petrified wood, with the least going for $1.99. Besides the wood items, there were hundreds and hundreds of fossils still in their stone or wood settings where they were found. We remained in the store for over an hour just looking and becoming more and more amazed at the items we were seeing. I was sooooo damn impressed with the quality of the items they were selling………would loved to have purchased some of the larger petrified wood items….they were sooooo beautiful!
We finally pulled ourselves away and out of the store and then drove the last 18 miles to the entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park. Once again….my age saved us more money…..as the cost for a car of visitors is $20. Our cost was FREE with the National Parks Golden Age Pass.
Immediately we began to see all of the petrified pieces of wood……from fallen trees to just what looked like wood shavings, but they were all as hard as rocks. The only way these pieces can be cut is with a diamond saw blade…..THAT hard.
We stopped at the Visitor Center and watched a short movie about the way the wood of millions of years ago…..dinosaur time period…..became petrified. Most of the pieces that are laying around now came from below the ground……having been exposed by the weather elements and just the evolving time. The exhibits there at the Center were not….NOT…nearly as great as what was for sale in the gift shop.
The movie stated that up to ONE TON of pieces are being carried away by tourists from the National Park EVERY MONTH!!!!!! Obviously that is a LOT of small pieces because you can’t begin to lift the huge pieces…..they are stone now. The people at the gift shop said that they have bought mineral rights to land surrounding the park and are digging to get their petrified wood pieces.
We spent the next 2 hours driving about 20 miles through the park….stopping and walking trails to see more of the wood/stone laying on the ground. It was interesting to see the pieces slowly emerging from the earth as parts of the wood was being exposed to the world.
Then we entered the Painted Desert National Park……the two just join without any notice other than the ground and looks of the land change. As by now it was raining again……the colors of the desert were not nearly as brilliant as they are in the pictures we saw at the Visitor Center. Soooo, this part of the day was a bit disappointing…..but, nevertheless the next ten miles was very interesting to see…….reminded me of the Badlands in South Dakota.
We exited the park…….after passing the sign that we entering the Vehicle Inspection Area. We had to stop at the gate, but we were not inspected!! We were good….and respected the law and did not pick up any of the smaller pieces.
We drove the 70 miles back to TheHowserHouse still sitting there waiting for us to return. The Park has many more rv’s this evening…….it is such a wonderful place to park an rv……..would certainly recommend it to any and all to stop here for a night.
We had just finished dinner when someone knocked on our door. He introduced himself and asked if we liked our Cedar Creek. Of course…..a rather lengthy discussion and a tour of TheHowserHouse occurred …..and I encouraged him to purchase one. He and his wife sold their house and are full timing in a travel trailer……and he wanted to get more room in an rv. Interesting conversation……..
And so…….we are set to leave Arizona in the morning after being in the state since February 5th, with the exception of 5 nights in Las Vegas. We head to Santa Fe, NM for a few days to visit some of the art galleries/museums and enjoy the ambience of this city that I have never yet seen. As we look at the calendar we feel it will be the first week in April before we return to our stick and brick……..
Even tho it was a bit rainy today…….the trip through these two National Parks was very enjoyable and educational. I have always wanted to see the Petrified Forest….and so, I can check this off of my “to see” list.
As always……..
Life is GREAT…..and I hope it is for all of you, also!!!!
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