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Published: June 12th 2007
Petrified Log
Here is an example of the colorful minerals inside the petrified logs. Hey everyone! Well, today we’re on the road traveling through Oklahoma. I believe the last time we updated our blog was back in Holbrook, Arizona. Whoa! The miles sure have past quickly!
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While in Holbrook we woke up the next morning with plans to visit the Petrified Forest nearby. We stopped into a little rock shop run by an old native of the area and went crazy for the rocks he sold there! He had piles of petrified wood, agates, geodes, glass chunks, precious stones, etc. Even though we keep lecturing ourselves not to accumulate too many rocks along our trip and be conscience of the gas mileage, Natalie and I went crazy and came back to the already stuffed car with armfuls. Ha!
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We found ourselves connecting with the locals pretty easily in this town. Out of nowhere Natalie and I got into these deep conversations at the same time, Natalie with a physician from Utah talking about SONAR, politics, and the Hopi Reservation, and me with the Native man who ran the rock shop. He felt the need to share with me his thoughts on the meaning of life, risk, the beauty of the
rocks he sold and he even gave me a specific rock he really loved. He was really sweet. We stopped at a general store down the road because it advertised “STOP IN AND GET A FREE PIECE OF PETRIFIED WOOD!” The store was run by a woman with spiky mullet hair and perfectly circular glasses who also had a lot to say about life and the war. She told us that all we need is peace and love, man. I asked about the free piece of wood and she handed me a teeny weenie piece glued on this mini piece of paper. In my mind I was thinking, this is it?? But I acted excited and appreciative because it was free. She totally called my bluff and her comment was that she couldn’t believe people actually get excited about the small piece of rock when rocks like it are laying all over the ground outside…yeah I guess she’s right. I think I just got caught up in the whole “free” appeal. Ya gotta look for the deals when you’re on trips like this.
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From there we visited the Petrified Forest National Park which is part of the Painted
"Chopped" Log
This log has broken apart over time and almost looks as if it has been chopped. Desert. It was pretty awesome! Apparently 250 million years ago a big storm hit and buried this forest in water, sediment, ash and silica. Overtime the silica preserved the logs and fossilized them. There are other places in the world that has petrified wood but the forest in Arizona is the only place where the fossilized wood has rainbow-like minerals in it. Very beautiful. We followed the 28 mile stretch of road and stopped at the various viewpoints, took pictures, and went on a couple of walks around the “forest”. We also got a chance to see some ancient petroglyphs of the Native peoples that used to live there. Because the forest is located in the Painted Desert, surrounding the areas of the fossilized logs are beautiful rock formations and hills stacked high with colorful striations and erosion. We felt good about our rock purchase earlier. The park made it very clear from the beginning that it was wrong to steal the petrified wood from inside the park. They estimate that one ton of petrified wood is stolen each MONTH by visitors. It made us wonder what the park looked like way back when. I bet it was covered with
oooooo, ahhhhhhh
Check out the rockery on the columns of this store! cool! colorful rainbows of rock….now it’s just a barren desert with rock scattered in a few places. I can understand why people would want to take some with them, but it’s sad how little is left for others to enjoy. Plus, us purchasing the rock (for very cheap) outside of the park helped support a small local business in that area who probably needed all the business he could get.
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We continued on down the road to Albuquerque. Talk about a long, boring stretch of highway! It’s the kind where you have to read 15 billboards advertising a store that you can’t miss coming up in 25 miles. So during those 25 miles you are convinced that no matter what happens, you HAVE to stop. It’s the greatest, most exciting thing that ever happened to this highway and there is no way you’re going to miss out. Finally, when you take the exit, you find out it’s just a run down gift shop with the same crap you’ve seen at every gift shop, you know, the fuzzy ceramic pigs playing the guitar with New Mexico written at the bottom. And attached to the gift shop there’s a gas station
Another petrified log
Notice how the bark still looks like bark but the inside looks like rock. and a Dairy Queen. And after feeling sorry for the people that actually work there and spending at least 15 minutes deciding that you don’t need the fuzzy pig for justification that you pulled over in the first place, you move on down the road for the next batch of billboards to the next stop. That’s I-40 east for ya!
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Not to mention the highway is dangerous! The semi trucks take over the two-lane I-40 with total disregard to the speed limit and lane-changing rules. It was an unnerving getting bullied around. It was almost as if some of the crazy drivers out there are so bored they purposely tail gate you and drive erratically just to intimidate you and see what kind of reaction they can get out of you. One truck in particular almost ran us and three other cars off the road and passed us giving us the glare that read what are ya going to do about it, cry? So Natalie promptly busted out the cell phone and called the police reporting him as a drunk driver…YEAH! Go get ‘em!
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It’s important to mention that parts of this highway parallels Old Route 66.
It’s interesting to see the history as we go by. There are many businesses and motels that have closed down along the highway, it’s obvious which ones were the popular stops back when Route 66 was new. We’ve stopped at a few historic sites along the way…pretty interesting.
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We finally reached Albuquerque. We found this to be quite a ghetto city. Right as we were noticing how every motel down the road was falling apart and the inhabitants walking on the side of the road made you want to lock your doors, our theory of ghetto-ness was proven to us at the next stop light. Just then a neon green granny car rolled by with hydraulics bouncing up and down lifting it way up in the air as it bumped Mexican rap for the entire neighborhood to hear. Um yeah. We stayed at a motel that was brand new and really clean….we just ignored the sirens going by all night.
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The next morning we got on the road and got the heck out of ghetto-ville, we drove until we reached Amarillo, Texas. Just before Amarillo we turned off to see this artistic display of about 8
Cadillacs buried at an angle so all of their back ends are sticking out of the dirt. Apparently it’s a pretty famous and the artist allows people to come out and spray paint them. My mom told me she just saw a special of the travel channel about this site right off the highway. It’s been around for awhile and kind of resembles a weird Egyptian style of art based on the angle the cars are buried. It was really cool to see, especially since we just happened to stumble upon it.
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Outside of Amarillo is Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the United States after the Grand Canyon. We thought we could hit up some mountain biking or climbing there so we spent the afternoon exploring the Park. We also got a great recommendation from Natalie’s Mother that there was a musical performance there every night in the summer complete with dancers and fireworks, so we bought tickets for that evening. We spent the afternoon biking around on the trails, dodging the cactus, getting bitten by horseflies and checking out the famous “Lighthouse Rock”. Can you imagine what this rock formation must resemble? Yep. It
Thunderstorms!!
We weren't the only ones rolling into Amarillo Texas, right behind us came a huge thunder and lightning storm, it was pretty exciting. Luckily, we got into our motel room RIGHT before the dump. was a good time, I popped my bike tires yet again but it was worth it!
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After biking we cleaned up a bit and went to the performance. It was called Texas and was themed with cowboy hosts, offered a Big Texan steak dinner just before the show and offered visitors from all over a Texas style welcome the BIG way. The show was very entertaining. We couldn’t really follow the plot that well but we think it had something to do with the railroad coming into Texas and how it affected the Native People, and there was some love story intertwined too somehow. They had great props and special effects. It happened all at dusk at a natural amphitheater with the canyon as the backdrop, I highly pass on the recommendation to see it if you pass through Amarillo, Texas.
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In Amarillo we also found ourselves looking for our dirty clothes bag containing pretty much ALL of our clothes because we hadn’t gotten the chance to do laundry lately. WHERE THE HECK WAS IT? We realized we had left it in Albuquerque at the motel! We called them up and sure enough, it was there!
Lighthouse Rock
We spotted this while mountain biking in the Canyon. There was no light at the top.... We weighed the options and decided it was worth the gas to go back and get the clothes compared to loosing the worth of the clothing and having to buy more down the line. So we spend the WHOLE next day driving back to New Mexico, picked up the laundry bag, turning around and driving all the way BACK to Amarillo, Texas to stay another night. Our brilliance amazes me sometimes!! Haha!
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So now we reside at a campground in Oklahoma at a place called Eufaula Lake. It’s very pleasant although it has a lot of bugs, including ticks and scorpions! YUCK! We’ll let you know how it goes. Until next time, take care y’all
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MOM
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MAN...I'm Jealous
Look at all that cool stuff you saw and did. I am really wishing I was able to sneak myself into the back of that car. Thanks for all the cool pictures.