Petrified forest and Blue Mesa

Computer problems and spotty internet access have made it difficult to stay in touch. But here we are, Day 22, Holbrook, Arizona. This is our day at the Petrified Forest. It was not what I expected, and the petrified wood, for me, once I saw it, well, I had enough. But farther in the park was a place called Blue Mesa. Now that was worth the trip!

With the time change (again) we ended up going to bed super-early and getting up just as early (relatively speaking). That got us to Petrified Forest National Park early. Nice. I expected to see trees standing up, you know, a forest. But the trees had been swept down by rushing water (a flood maybe) and then covered in silt and volcanic ash. Over a few million years the wood fibers were replaced by mineral deposits. The color of the wood is dependent on the mineral that leached in.

Logs, or partial logs, are all laying down. Many are broken into pieces.

Probably my favorite part of today was a pull-off in the park called Blue Mesa. There is no petrified wood here, but the colors of the mountains were amazing. I went about half way down into the canyon and waited for Paul and Kim to finish the trek.

We also saw a number of sites with petroglyphs over 2,000 years old, and a very old settlement (Pueblo). After leaving the park we finished our gift shopping (and my shopping – I got pieces of petrified wood – they are very heavy and harder than granite).

Burgers on the grill. Need to pack up and begin the trek home. We head back to Albuquerque tomorrow and will say goodbye to Kim on Saturday.

Blessings and thanks for traveling with me, Regina