Starting: Socorro, New Mexico Destination: Grand Canyon Village, Arizona Travel Day: 4 Total (ish) Time in Car: 30 Hours
Destination Detour
Let me set the scene. There’s dirt everywhere. Dry dirt. A couple of small trees that barely go above my head, if they do at all, and a straight road that goes on and on forever.
“The Petrified Forest is somewhere around here,” Abbey offered in conversation.
I hummed to show I was listening. I didn’t have anything to add because I never heard of it.
Abbey continued. “Justin would like it there. I should get him some petrified wood. He’d like that.” She looked at me and probably saw how lost I was in the topic. “Petrified wood is, like, fossilized wood. It’s basically a rock now. It’s petrified.”
My mind wandered to Twilight because of the Romanian vampires and their story about become petrified. Which then made me think of Queen of the Damned. Which then had me scowling at myself for my obsession with vampires and tuned back in to Abbey.
“Look it up on Google, and see if it’s close.”
I did as I was asked and found the national park was literally off our current road. Barely a detour at all. “It’s coming up soon. Why don’t we stop there?”
She agreed, and we “changed” our destination to the Petrified Forest. It wasn’t out of the way, and apparently, her cousin would like some old wood rock.
Petrified Forest
The turn off the road brought us right to the gift shops, which we skipped, for now, to actually see the park. Abbey hoped we could get in the park without paying again, but luck was not in our favor.
They gave us a pamphlet with information on the area. I was slowly getting excited when I realized this was once a massive, smoggy-like forest during the Triassic era. It was interesting to try to visualize a living forest there, but it was slightly difficult to imagine dinosaurs roaming the area, drinking water, eating leaves or fruit, or whatever might be available to eat during that time. The forest was now a dry desert filled with fallen, red trees. I don’t even think we saw any large bodies of water since Oklahoma.
We stopped at the Jasper Forest first. Abbey hooked Polo up with his harness and leash, and then we walked over to a side path. There were broken logs toppled all over the ground. I saw a small area of logs that were largely intact on their sides and headed towards them. It was a slight decline, and pebbles covered the path down. Abbey made a noise as her feet marginally slipped. She began to tell me to be careful as I turned to check on her. Suddenly, I was feet up and butt down on the ground. I laughed so hard. Of course, this would happen to me.
I recovered and luckily didn’t fall again.
Petrified wood doesn’t feel like wood at all. Abbey wondered if it actually was wood, but other than its feel, you can see the bark. You can see the rings inside some of the logs, but they’re much more colorful than trees today. They’re red, tan, bits of yellow, and dark slate colors. There’s a shine that makes it feel unreal to our world.
Although tiny parts are chipping off the logs, you can’t take any bit of the wood. You can’t take anything out of the park. I started to remember that I may have heard something about the Petrified Forest. I told Abbey I was sure there was something about a curse that follows you if you take something from the Petrified Forest. It may have been a movie or something, but I’m almost certain it was a thing people said. After a short time there, we took Polo back to the car and made our way further into the unique forest.
The best part of the unexpected stop was walking around the Agate Bridge. Now, I didn’t do much reading of the area, but I overheard a woman explain that a petrified tree fell, and over time, water caused a gully under it, creating a natural bridge. There’s the added manmade feature of concrete under the tree to keep it from collapsing. I can’t believe people in the past 100 or so years have crossed over the unstable-looking bridge. It’s definitely closed off now. Apparently, the park isn’t going to continue reinforcing the bridge. Let the natural elements stay natural with their natural causes and effects.
At first, we went to the main spot to view the bridge, but we quickly found our adventurous sides and walked beyond the basic tourist area. Further out from the tourist spot, a cliff edge spanned a couple of miles long. This was where I decided to call my mom.
I video-chatted her, and soon her beautiful face was in my tiny phone.
“Hey! Where are you?” she asked.
“We stopped at the Petrified Forest. Look at this!” I pointed the camera to view past the ledge and see the stubby mountains in the distance. I then turned it toward Abbey, who was taking pictures of the beautiful, lonely area. “There’s Abbey. Wave!”
Mom laughed with slight unease. “Please don’t fall. Are there other people around? Don’t get lost like your father and I did in Nevada.”
I smiled and shook my head, turning the video back to me. “Don’t worry. We’re barely far from the other tourists, and there’s other people along the edge. See?”
I moved my phone to face a couple far enough that I could cover them with my thumbnail if I held it up, but close enough that Mom could see them. Beyond them was another group, inching closer to the cliff. They were braver than the rest of us.
“Okay, good.” She didn’t sound relieved at all, but I assumed she trusted me enough to know I wasn’t going to do something stupid. I told her about our trip so far. The drive. How much I wished I could’ve seen Oklahoma City a bit more, but I was glad I got to see the dreamy views of White Sands. I told her I didn’t expect driving to LA to be so much fun and wished I drove my own car so we could make even more stops. She’s always been very supportive of my traveling and writing, so she was happy to hear my excitement.
“Oh, before I go,” I quickly said. “Merlin likes to be held after his naps. If you stretch your arms to him, he’ll lift his up to show he wants to be held. Otherwise, he doesn’t care much.”
Mom shook her head at me. “I’ll let your dad know.”
“Also, is he drinking his water? Eating his food? I was worried he wasn’t eating enough after the move.”
“Your dad’s been feeding him, so I’ll ask him later. I’m sure he’s fine. He seems fine, though your dad says he notices you’re not here.”
It might be sad, but I love the idea that my cat misses me. My dad and I subconsciously compete to be our pets’ favorite. We become annoyed when we think our pet likes the other person more.
Abbey waved goodbye to my mom as we signed off.
Polo was in the car, so Abbey wanted to get back soon. I was okay with going back to the gift shop now, but Abbey saw a spot called “Tepees” on the map. She really wanted to see them, so we drove our way further into the park. The GPS said we were close. Then it showed us passing them. We U-turned it, and Abbey told me to look around to make sure we didn’t miss them again. As we got closer to the spot, I looked them up on Google.
Abbey was highly disappointed to find out “Tepees” are not the kind you build like a tented home but were striped, cone-shaped hills. You can easily see the red, white, and blue-gray stripes matching up across the breaks of each Tepee formation. When you really think about it, it’s kind of an impressive, natural occurrence. However, at the time, it was a bit of a letdown.
Looking for the Perfect Souvenir Log
We quickly decided to go to the gift shop. This was a much longer stop than we anticipated, but we had to stop at the shop because petrified wood was being sold for a mere two dollars a pound. Abbey wanted to get some wood for Justin, and I really wanted a magnet for my collection. Also, I really needed the bathroom.
So, heads up if you ever go to the Petrified Forrest. There are issues with their water which turns their sinks and toilets yellow. They also tell you to not drink the water. So if you go into their bathrooms, don’t think they’re gross and unclean. They are clean! Just…stained with “petrified water.”
I found my souvenirs fairly quickly and went to look for Abbey. The shop was full of polished petrified wood, which cost as much as our hotel bills put together. Now, there are some cheaper, smaller polished bits, but I don’t think any were under forty-five dollars. However, the gated outside section has a plethora of petrified wood and other rocks that are unpolished and “cheaper.” The deal for those pieces was two dollars a pound, but you have to get at least ten pounds worth of wood. (I know, there has to be a joke in there somewhere.)
We spent a good amount of time trying to find anything under twenty pounds. Back and forth we went, picking up wood that looked small, carrying it to the scale, and then putting it back as it was at least fifteen over our goal. Eventually, we found two pieces that were under thirty pounds. While one piece was beautifully colored with reds, grays, yellows, and white, it didn’t really look like it came from a log. It looked like a pretty rock. Abbey decided something that actually looks like wood would be better to showcase this trip. I mean, you don’t want to question the origin of your petrified wood. You want to know it was once wood before water, mud, and volcanoes caused it to be fossilized.
The piece she chose still had elements of the colors the other one displayed, but the outside of this one left no doubt that once upon a time, it was wood. It was a section of log from a tree. Possibly one that helped feed a dinosaur or housed some kind of animal. Or created a bridge for tiny critters to cross a great flood. It’s definitely an item people will ask her about once she finds the perfect spot in her apartment.
We bought, we found room in the car, and then we left. As we made our way to our original destination (three hours later), we passed another shop advertising in giant letters “Petrified Wood.” (Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co.) Abbey tried her hardest to not think about how there’s a chance the wood there is much cheaper than the National Park’s gift shop. After looking on their site, I wouldn’t say cheaper, but there is a large selection with some great offers. However, I like the log piece she chose. It’s a good weight and price. No need for second-guessing!
It was a little after three, and the Grand Canyon was about three to three and half hours away. We stayed calm as we quickly set our sights on the original destination. Polo slept. (Lucky dog.)
