We were up early and on the way by 9 am. Our first stop was in Winslow, Arizona a town made famous by the Eagles and their song “Take it Easy.” Our first chore was to find a place to park the rig. Luckily it is Sunday so there were lots of areas for us to park.
As we walked around town we were taken in by the time warp feel of the place and its claim to fame by being mentioned in a song.
It was recommended that we stop by the historic La Posada Hotel just to experience the old time beauty of the place. It was about two blocks down the road so we were on our way.
Inside was quite impressive with carved woods and intriguing art pieces.
Outside the back door is a place to sit and relax and watch the trains pass by on the tracks adjacent to the hotel. Literally adjacent to the hotel!!!
On the way back to the MH we passed the smallest church in the world!
The spot made famous by the Eagles is now just a façade with the original JC Penny knocked down many years ago.
Back on the road our goal was to get to the Petrified Forest National Park. Ron found us yet another “fine” CG in 1/2 price Passport America for us to spend the night. The Root 66 RV Park right off I-40. Yes, I did spell it as the CG owners spell it. In the RV Reviews it was recommended to bypass this lovely spot because it was a little scary with the “Bates Motel” adjacent to the sites, but not us. We drove right in and booked a site!!!
We are in Navajo Nation and so many of the people here are just barely eking out a living. The woman that showed us our site was very nice and informed us that she lived on the grounds with her family if we should need anything.
We actually thought about leaving but since we had already paid, opted to stay. We secured the MH with Jewel inside and headed out to the Petrified Forest National Park. The park has an interesting history explained in the link below.
LINK:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/petrified-forest-national-park/
We entered through the north gate at the Painted Desert Visitor Center where we watched a 20 minute orientation film to the park. The park road is a 28 mile road with many overlooks and beautiful long-distance vistas.
Our first stop was at the Tawa Point and the Painted Desert Rim Trail that is a one-mile round trip between Tawa and Kachina points. The views of the painted Desert does not even look real.
We then stopped at the Painted Desert Inn National Historic Landmark that is a Pueblo Revival style structure with cultural history exhibits.
Both the exterior and interior were completely refurbished by the CCC’s in the 30’s.
The murals were done by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie.
Before heading south through the park we stopped at Nizhoni, Whipple and Lacey Points and took in views and changing landscape.
Next was the stop at the only portion of Route 66 that remains in the park.
Next we stopped at Puerco Pueblo a partially stabilized 100 room village built between 1250 and 1380 that may have housed nearly 200 people.
Next it was on to the Newspaper Rock where hundreds of petroglyphs are etched into stone. Of course we did not take our binoculars with us so we could barely see any markings in the rocks below.
Down the road we were treated to more incredible landscape changes and stood in awe of the Tepees layered in blues, purples and grays created by iron, carbon ,manganese and other minerals that stand in cone –shaped formations. They are incredible to see and the picture below captured them the best.
Next we stopped at the Blue Mesa and Blue Mesa Trail that overlooks the badlands, log falls and pedestal logs. Unfortunately, I was unable to hike the three-mile loop but we were able to admire the area from above.
Back on the road we stopped at an area called Jasper Forest where the erosion of the high rocky bluff has left hundreds of petrified logs that once held glassy amethyst and quartz crystals.
Next it was on to the Crystal Forest and Trail that took us through a landscape of exquisitely colorful petrified logs.
It is hard to believe that an act of nature was responsible for turning wood into stone, but we were surrounded by magnificent proof of just that! There were several logs that looked exactly like normal wood but were also stone!!!!
The 0.8 mile “easy” hike turned out to be a little more of a challenge then I expected so when it was time to do a steep hike up to see “Old Faithful” the park’s most massive log, I opted out and waited for Ron in the car.
It took us five hours to traverse the 28 mile park road and we enjoyed every minute of our time there. Back at the Root 66 RV Park we were happy to see that there were two other big rigs parked next to us. Safety in Numbers!!!!!
We settled in for the night and have no specific plan as we head out in the morning. Ron researched New Mexico and he couldn’t find anything for us to do that didn’t involve some type of tough hike. So I guess we will just be driving through New Mexico.
No comments:
Post a Comment