This was our second time to the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert but that was before blogging. The park doesn't have camping (one of the few) so we found a campground called OK RV and it was surprisingly nice and just a short drive to the south entrance. We dry camped there for one night ($15) and that gave us plenty of time to take the drive through the park and check out the views.
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| Painted Desert |
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| Old Faithful - the park's most massive log |
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| The roots of Old Faithful |
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| It's a shame that most of the semi-precious stones have been stolen |
How did these trees become "petrified" and the answer is not they were some how scared. The answer is the tress fell, swollen streamed washed them into adjacent floor plains and a mix of silt, mud and volcanic ash from volcanoes buried the logs. This sediment cut off oxygen and slowed the logs' decay. Then silica-laden groundwater seeped through the logs, replacing the original wood tissues with silica and petrifying the logs. Interesting, huh?
I would have loved to buy a cut and polished stone but it was way out of my price range. Instead we decided to go out for dinner after a long day but I made a big mistake. I forgot to check Yelp before choosing a place to eat. Chinese sounded good and Holbrook doesn't offer a lot of choices so we went there. Let me put it this way, I'm just happy I didn't get food poisoning. If you're ever in Holbrook, AZ don't go to Mandarin Beauty Chinese Restaurant (had only one star). Should have ordered a delivery pizza at Pizza Hut.
Love to hear from you all. Thanks for stopping in.
We are not fans of buffets, but good chinese needs to be quickly cooked fresh and to order.
ReplyDeleteWe prefer to eat at home at least we know what we are getting.