Blowin’ In The Wind at Petrified Forest

Boy this the second time I’ve had to completely rewrite a blog post; I hate when that happens!

I met up with my best NC camping buddy Jeanne and we camped at Crystal Forest Gift Shop & Museum at the South entrance to Petrified Forest National Park. They offer free dry camping with picnic tables (some covered!) and dumpsters, and you can use the restrooms in the gift shop when it’s open. Across the street is camping with electricity for $10, but you know I’m on a roll here with the free camping thing, so we chose that. They sell petrified wood in the gift shop for $2 a pound, but they have a bazillion dollars worth of it just laying around in the parking lot!  I guess it would take a forklift to steal it though. Here’s a few photos of the log that’s near my campsite:

For some reason I woke up at 5:30 in the morning. When I went outside to walk Roxie, I was amazed by the gorgeous sunrise.

A couple pulled in next to me in a Jucy Van. They’ve got everything you need in a mini-van, including a “penthouse” popup tent on top! There also must be a dinette/bed inside because the wind was too strong for them to pop the tent up, and they slept inside. Open the back hatch and there’s the kitchen.  They can be rented! Here’s the website:  www.jucyrvrentals.com   

Yesterday we drove through the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks. We picked up Junior Ranger booklets (it’s not just for kids) but I was too lazy to complete all the tasks so I had to resort to BUYING my way into the program….$2 for my Junior Ranger badge! OK, I’m not proud of myself, but isn’t it pretty?

All day the wind was blowing at sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts up to 65. Wheeee!  At one overlook we had to hold onto our glasses so they wouldn’t get sucked right off our faces! Here’s Jeanne blowin’ in the wind. 

We stopped at one of the vault toilets. Ya know, those toilets are vented to keep the smells down. Boy….you sit on one of those things in a 40 mph wind and REALLY get air-cooled Lady Parts!!   Here are a few photos I took in the park. Frankly I found these parks rather underwhelming.

Then we went into Holbrook for a few groceries and had lunch at a Holbrook landmark, Joe & Aggie’s Cafe on Route 66. It’s been in continuous operation longer than any other restaurant in town. The interior is pretty tired but the food was good!   

We also went petrified wood-hunting. There was a site mentioned in a book I have on gems in AZ so we drove out there and found a few small ones, which thrilled us. Then we went on up a little dirt road north of Woodruff on our way back to camp, and Roxie was complaining so I stopped at the side of the road and took her out. Well! There  was lots of nice petrified wood just laying in the road, and more alongside! Here are a couple nice pieces I got.

Today we are en route back to Kingman to meet up with Deb for a few days. As I was driving into Holbrook I saw this pickup truck with a big black & white dog in the back.  No…..it’s a GOAT!  Poor thing!