Petrified Forest National Park
We got on the
road around 8:30 am, heading back into Arizona—finally!! It was a pretty
uneventful drive through some not so pretty parts of northern Arizona. We made
a quick gas and food stop and arrived at the Holbrook KOA
around 1:30. I had forgotten that we were going to change time zones again, so
we actually gained an hour back!
We got set up and
settled and then had an easy lunch of leftovers. We had no major plans for the
afternoon so we drove into town to see the exciting Holbrook, AZ. It actually sits
on the original Route 66 and there are old motels and restaurants showing the
relics of time past—a little depressing actually. We did get to see the Wigwam
Motel, made famous by the Cars movie. That was fun to see!
We returned to
the campground and the kids spent some time at the pool with Sean while I got
some work done. I joined them for an hour or so and then we got back to the RV
for our evening activities. The kids have been reading all summer and were
ready to enter their books for one of their reward programs so I got each kid
on the computer to make their submissions.
We were trying to
use up our food so we made a simple dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato
soup, and salad for dinner. Everyone had their choice of ice cream bar from the
camp store and then we played Skip-Bo. We’re down to the wire and Kinsey is
ahead, with Sean and I tied for second. We have a few more evenings to catch up
so we’ll see who takes the crown for the summer series!
Day 41: Thursday, August 8, 2019
With the time
change, the sun rose earlier and made it easier to get up and out for a run by
6 am. I ran into town for a 4-mile route, then came back to grab Barrett and we
went out for another half mile.
Barrett had been
asking for my scrambled eggs again, so I made them into breakfast sandwiches to
use up some mini bagels, cheese, and sausage we also had in the fridge. They
were a hit!
We got on the
road to Petrified Forest National Park and arrived there before 9 am. It is
not a heavily visited park so we got right in and started exploring the visitor
center. The kids got their junior ranger books and I got chatting with a lady
who was very complimentary of our kids and the trip we’ve taken them on. We
have had that comment from a lot of people—how lucky our kids are to have
parents that take them for an experience like this, and to have the chance to
learn about and explore our national parks. We do feel very fortunate to have
been able to do this type of trip and we know it has been extremely memorable
for the kids (for all of us!) and our greatest hope is that we have fostered a
lifelong love for adventure, exploration, nature, and spending time learning
and being physically active outdoors.
We watched the
park movie and then got on our way down the park road. We first stopped at the
Painted Desert Inn to view the painted desert overlook and go inside the old
hotel.
We kept going
down the road stopped next at Puerco Pueblo, which features ancient Puebloan
dwellings and petroglyphs.
Next we stopped
at Blue Mesa, which confused the kids because they said the rock was not blue.
We all thought it looked more like a dark gray or even purple, but hey, we
didn’t name it! We hiked this mile loop to see the striated rock formations and
petrified wood deposited down in the canyon.
We drove the rest
of the road through the park and ended by the Rainbow Forest Visitor Center. We
still had one last hike to do to see the Agate House and the Long Logs trail.
It was about 2.5 miles total, but in the hot, midday sun with no shade made for
some complaining kids. The Agate House was pretty cool, made from petrified
wood and we saw some pretty large logs along the trail.
When we returned
from the hike we set up for lunch and ate before heading into the visitor
center for the kids to finish and claim their last badges of the trip—hard to
believe they earned 18 badges in the last 6 weeks, but their vests sure show
it!!
We grabbed a few
souvenirs and then headed out of the park. We had a coupon for a free piece of
petrified wood at a shop in town so we stopped there and grabbed our .5 pounds
worth of wood pieces (better than nothing!) and bought a few other souvenirs.
By that point everyone was ready to be refreshed at the old-school looking
Dairy Queen so we stopped for blizzards—yum!!
It was only 2:30
pm, so we decided that it made sense to hook up and get on the road to Phoenix
rather than waiting until the next morning. We are in the home stretch of the
trip and need the time tomorrow to pack up our things, clean the RV, and run
some errands before we turn the RV in on Saturday morning and head back to
Hermosillo. All good things must come to an end, sadly!
We arrived at the
Mesa/Apache Junction KOA around 7 pm and quickly got set up…and immediately felt the blast
of desert heat, 108 degrees when we arrived, UGH!! The kids enjoyed some pool time while we cooked dinner. It was hard to get the RV
cooled down that evening and had us second guessing our desire to live in
Tucson in the next few years. Maybe a mountain climate with seasons wouldn’t be
so bad after all?!?
Tomorrow the adventure continues!
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