Day 14: Petrified Forest

The change of campground worked out.  We ended up saving over an hour of driving by changing campgrounds.

Interstates are good for cellular connection.  I could see on my app where we would pass a cell tower and in a few minutes the connection would jump to the next tower ahead of us.

But then we got off the Interstate to take the slow road through the rocks.  We drove through the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest.  I was expecting to just see petrified wood and be done.  I was blown away by the layers and colors of the painted desert.  At one point a hat was blown off a child's head and off the trail.  I then had the dilemma of do you follow the rule of "stay on the path" or do you follow the rule of "no littering".  I used the wisdom of Solomon to send a kid to get the hat so I didn't break any rule. 

The desert was home to different tribes of Indians over the centuries and many of them left their mark on the rocks.  There are several thoughts that run through my head as I look at these.  I'm glad my kids don't have that paint on my walls.  If these are the graffiti of teenagers why are there not more.
I don't like drawing with out an eraser.

More petroglyphs. 

Petroglyphs through a spotting scope. 

Almost all of the petrified wood was cut into bite size logs.  Instead of the soft core, there was quartz and jasper and other minerals.  You can still see the rings left behind etched in the rock.

The last adventure of the day was laundry.  Laundry is hard.  We ended up at a laundromat and split up.  I took most of the kids to Walmart.  We parked in the back of the lot and split up again.  I left kids to wash dishes while I shopped with a helper.  By the time shopping was done, the dishes were done.  By the time we got back to the laundromat, the clothes were done.  The bonus of the day was the kids got the leftover popcorn form the laundromat.  Happy kids!