Monday, July 9, 2012

New Mexico to Petrified Forest, Arizona

Oh man is there a lot of catching up to do! I never thought keeping a blog during this trip would be so difficult.  Everyday is longer than your average day, there's often not internet access and when there is, all you want to do is relax!  Dad says I've got to get the show on the road and keep posting though for everyone (anyone?) that's following.

We left Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 20th and headed for Gallup, NM (historic route 66 recommendation by Dr. Lewis) with the day ending outside of the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.

Albuquerque is home to a huge hot air balloon festival.  Unfortunately, it isn't until the fall.  Fortunately, we got to see hot air balloons anyhow!

Hot air balloons over the Pueblo Indian Cultural Center outside of our hotel.

Our first stop was rather unplanned.  We hadn't even thought about the fact that we were crossing the continental divide - I think we'll be crossing it two more times as we head East.

The continental divide in New Mexico.
Historic Route 66 - Dead End...Just like in Cars! There's been a lot of references to that movie...

In Gallup, we arrived just in time for a walking tour of the town.  We learned a little about the town's history as a rough and rowdy cowboy town and how it became a central trading post fort Native American goods.  After the tour, we went in a few of the stores, including Richardson's Trading Co., which is practically a museum and quite unaffordable.  There was a room solely for Native American rugs, many of which cost over $6,000.  We also visited Sammy C's Rock N' Sports Pub and Grille which has been named one of the best sports bars in the U.S.  We didn't eat there, but the quantity of memorabilia was unreal.  Lastly, we stopped in El Rancho Hotel - a really cool, old hotel that many celebrities have visited over the years.

The rug room in Richardson's Trading Co.  Absolutely amazing.
Sammy C's Rock N' Sports Pub and Grille
Hotel El Rancho in Gallup, NM
Inside of El Rancho
From Gallup, we headed for Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, passing through the Painted Desert on the way.  We drove the loop through the park and stopped at just about every overlook there was.  We were considering going on to our campsite in Holbrook and then coming back to do the park the next morning, but it turns out we timed it perfectly (on accident of course).  We got to the Petrified Forest in the late afternoon so the temperature was cooling off and the sun really lit up and shadowed the rocks in interesting ways.  Needless to say, it was still quite hot and we still got quite sunburned.  Note to self, altitude is just as important as time of day.

Welcome to Arizona!



Line of old cars as we entered Arizona
And another one inside Petrified Forest National Park
Dad isn't a big fan of standing on the edge of a cliff...
The view off the edge of the cliff


Big piece of petrified wood
Lots of petrified wood.  Much of the petrified wood that once existed here has been taken away by looters.

He's not going to make it...

We camped that night at a KOA in Holbrook.  Dad had another unsuccessful night camping...who knew the light in the middle of the campground wasn't going to go out? Perfect.

Happy Trails!

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