Trains, Trees, Trading Post, Etc.

Today started at a very early, still dark 6am but we were all definitely awake as driver Ryan decided to race a train. Yup, red lights flashing and after a little pause Ryan speeds up as the wooden arm is dropping alarmingly close to the roof of our rental SUV. (Ryan here - the arm wasn't coming down until I had already committed and there were other cars going through so by the time I realized what happened...yeah, I nearly killed us all but we were all awake after that).

We made it to Petrified Forest National Park and while waiting for the visitor center to open so we could grab a map we decided to grab some quick snacks and walk around. After a mishap of driving with the back of the SUV wide open (totally my fault) we began our first hike of the day.
It all began about 200 million years ago when there were trees everywhere - big, tall trees. Then some stuff about water and the trees falling and getting buried in silt when minerals crept into the wood and turned it to beautiful, colorful stone. It was amazing-  it just looked like tree bark from the outside but the inside was all quartz and other stone. We hiked about 2.6 miles just looking at all the different trees. Some were small pieces here and there and other times the whole tree was laying there in pieces that looked like you could just put it back together.

The second hike was only about a mile and was the Crystal Forest part of the park were the terrain was a little more hilly with less vegitation than the first. Still as pretty but a different look and feel. We took some fun pictures and moved along.

The rest of the time in the park we just stopped at the lookouts and walked around a little for some great views and photos.

Next stop Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. That's right folks, Jen and I got some more stamps in our National Parks Passports! Everyone might have had a different highlight from this charming little piece of history but mine was 2 sweet little kittens that came out to visit. Of course I had to find a Park Ranger and get the names of these sweet beasts (Pinocchio and Jazz). I guess I should let you know that it is a trading post from 1880 something and still in business today. It was a quick but fun little stop.

After a longish car ride we get to our last stop of the day - Canyon Dd Chelly National Monument (pronounced duh shay). I had no idea what to expect but whoa this place was cool. The sides of the canyon were reddish and opened at the bottom where there was green grass and trees. We stopped at several lookout points and hiked out to some awesome views.

The drive out of there was through mostly Indian reservations and for a couple hours we didn't see much and while the views were pretty amazing, the mountain roads were terrifying. Some of the roads were at 8500 feet and curving, winding with a 20 MPH speed limit and even that felt too fast for the cliff at the edge of the road.

Most of us are a little sunburned and all of us are tired so after a quick bite to eat we are in Farmington, NM for the night.

As Ryan says: "I think I can beat this train" (Ryan's note: I can and did.)