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We didn't leave as early as we'd hoped in the morning due to life's little aggravations (bills, emails) but when we did set off down I40, we were cruising at a good speed. Our first stop around 11 was at Meteor Crater, which is exactly what the name says. It's pretty interesting to see, though I'm glad we got in on a senior and youth ticket since the privately owned site is expensive to visit (if people are going to keep mistaking me for a teenager, I might as well take advantage of it). Our stated purpose was simply to take some pictures and be on our way. We stopped to buy some souvenirs and get a sub from subway for lunch, which I scarfed so I could continue driving while Dad ate in the passenger seat.
It was a little over an hour to our main goal for the day, Petrified Forest National Park, which despite it's name, has a ton of other things in it, including the famous painted desert. You're supposed to enter the park from the southern entrance and drive north to exit on 40, but since we didn't want to see the very south part of the park we went the other way around and simply doubled back to 40 when we were finished.
It was around 2am when we finished with the gift shops (buying petrified wood and sand paintings), and entered the park. The painted desert is in the northern part and is really astonishing in terms of looks. I've never seen anything like it, though I also would never have named it the painted desert since there were less colours than I'd pictured. The view went on forever and we had a good time checking the historical inn there which was built of petrified wood *L* They are very strict about people not taking anything out of the park and will even search your car when you leave (not that they did, but they had the option) and ask you to report anyone you see taking anything. After our fill of the painted desert, we made our way over route 66 and 40 to the Puerco Pueblo. I studied the Native Americans and their archaeology/history when I was a kid; it's been so many years, it was a bit of a shock to see an actual kiva. But the truly amazing bit was the petroglyph on the rocks there. They're so varied in form, and fun to spot hidden on any available surface. The only shame is that you can't see them all at that particular viewing spot and are forbidden to leave the path.
The next place we stopped sort of made up for that since it was Newspaper Rock where there are hundreds of petroglyph on chunks of rock and cliffs below the lookout spot. This was good when you could pick them out like here, but hard when you were forced to scan the exisiting cliff face with naked eye, camera zoom or the provided binocular thingies. I picked out a fair number of them, but I'm sure I missed some. There was also very little explanation of the phenomena, so I ended up buying a book on the petroglyph at the gift shop when we were leaving.
Next, we drove through the Tepees area which is not named because there are tepees but because the hills vaguely look like them, I guess. They were very beautiful, but easy enough to photograph from the car so we didn't stop. Our final stop of the afternoon was at Jasper Forest, the site of the 'petrified forest' in the park's name. There were hundreds of fractured bits of stump (they tend to fragment in segments of trunk) on the valley ground where they had fallen from the surrounding cliff faces. Jasper was thick on the ground, and we got to see a few of the trunks up close.
From there, it was a matter of driving out of the park and hitting the road. We were both starving so we stopped for an early dinner on the Navajo reservation. There's a little restaurant in the one hotel right off the road there. We both opted for the Navajo taco, which was actually Navajo flatbread with chilli, lettuce, cheese, tomato and onions on top of it. It was really good and I loved the flatbread. It's kinda like a much larger and different flavoured version of naan bread. We split a home made piece of pumpkin pie for dessert (it had less milk and more pumpkin in it, which was nice), then were on our way before six.
The rest of our evening was a bit repetitive. We had a goal to stop and sleep in the car at the first rest stop in Oklahoma, which meant we were driving through all of New Mexico and the Texas panhandle before we could stop - a good 400 miles if not more. I can't tell you much about New Mexico since it was dark by the time we got there, but if I have the chance some day, I'd like to go back and explore the numerous cultural sites around Albequerque. I was driving when we hit Texas and was not impressed by their low night speed limit, or by the sheriff who pretty much tailgated me for a minute to try to get me to break the speed limit.
I dozed for the last hour while Dad drove but was luckily awake when we hit Oklahoma since Dad was all set to keep driving until exhaustion set in. The first rest stop in Oklahoma is a bit over the top in terms of amenities but we were there at 3am so it's not like we could take advantage of any other than the toilets. We settled in with pillows and blankets in our respective seats and tried to get some sleep. I didn't drop off until I'd tossed and turned a bit since even exhaustion isn't enough to make me sleep well on a half back chair in a car. I was also freezing by the time Dad woke up at 6:30am since the temperature had dropped pretty far in the night. I continued to doze (thank god for face masks and ear plugs) until 8:30 or so, or rather, 9:30am Oklahoma time. We hit a Cracker Barrel for breakfast shortly after and I loaded up on caffiene through tea (despite the expected headaches later) because the next leg of the journey (five hours...) was my turn to drive. We had a good breakfast, Dad bought his own Indiana Jones hat (his is the pressed wool version) (I am very amused that we both came back from this trip with what looks like cowboy hats. Perhaps we were more influenced by where we visited than we think we were...), and we set off. Incidentally, as a New Jersian, I can't get used to how nice people are in Oklahoma (and, you know, the South in general). I don't know how to respond when even the toll worker asks you how you are. (The New Jersey/New York voice in your head keeps expecting them to want something other than an exchange of courtesies.)
Anyway, our run through Oklahoma was swift since the speed limit was back up to 75 again. We were also, inadvertently following Route 66 up north since we were heading towards St. Louis. It amuses me that we accidentally managed to follow Route 66 all the way from California to Missouri. It's the same route my grandparents on my father's side used to do in a 1936 Chrysler truck.
After loading up on caffeine and sugar, we finally reached my older brother, J.s house and were able to relax and have a pumpkin beer (not as tasty as it sounds) and Tequiza before crashing from lack of sleep. It's not something I like to do every day, but it was kinda fun to go back to my childhood roadtrips where Dad invariably ended up driving through the night, scorning hotel rooms and the lack of an alternate driver.
It was a little over an hour to our main goal for the day, Petrified Forest National Park, which despite it's name, has a ton of other things in it, including the famous painted desert. You're supposed to enter the park from the southern entrance and drive north to exit on 40, but since we didn't want to see the very south part of the park we went the other way around and simply doubled back to 40 when we were finished.
It was around 2am when we finished with the gift shops (buying petrified wood and sand paintings), and entered the park. The painted desert is in the northern part and is really astonishing in terms of looks. I've never seen anything like it, though I also would never have named it the painted desert since there were less colours than I'd pictured. The view went on forever and we had a good time checking the historical inn there which was built of petrified wood *L* They are very strict about people not taking anything out of the park and will even search your car when you leave (not that they did, but they had the option) and ask you to report anyone you see taking anything. After our fill of the painted desert, we made our way over route 66 and 40 to the Puerco Pueblo. I studied the Native Americans and their archaeology/history when I was a kid; it's been so many years, it was a bit of a shock to see an actual kiva. But the truly amazing bit was the petroglyph on the rocks there. They're so varied in form, and fun to spot hidden on any available surface. The only shame is that you can't see them all at that particular viewing spot and are forbidden to leave the path.
The next place we stopped sort of made up for that since it was Newspaper Rock where there are hundreds of petroglyph on chunks of rock and cliffs below the lookout spot. This was good when you could pick them out like here, but hard when you were forced to scan the exisiting cliff face with naked eye, camera zoom or the provided binocular thingies. I picked out a fair number of them, but I'm sure I missed some. There was also very little explanation of the phenomena, so I ended up buying a book on the petroglyph at the gift shop when we were leaving.
Next, we drove through the Tepees area which is not named because there are tepees but because the hills vaguely look like them, I guess. They were very beautiful, but easy enough to photograph from the car so we didn't stop. Our final stop of the afternoon was at Jasper Forest, the site of the 'petrified forest' in the park's name. There were hundreds of fractured bits of stump (they tend to fragment in segments of trunk) on the valley ground where they had fallen from the surrounding cliff faces. Jasper was thick on the ground, and we got to see a few of the trunks up close.
From there, it was a matter of driving out of the park and hitting the road. We were both starving so we stopped for an early dinner on the Navajo reservation. There's a little restaurant in the one hotel right off the road there. We both opted for the Navajo taco, which was actually Navajo flatbread with chilli, lettuce, cheese, tomato and onions on top of it. It was really good and I loved the flatbread. It's kinda like a much larger and different flavoured version of naan bread. We split a home made piece of pumpkin pie for dessert (it had less milk and more pumpkin in it, which was nice), then were on our way before six.
The rest of our evening was a bit repetitive. We had a goal to stop and sleep in the car at the first rest stop in Oklahoma, which meant we were driving through all of New Mexico and the Texas panhandle before we could stop - a good 400 miles if not more. I can't tell you much about New Mexico since it was dark by the time we got there, but if I have the chance some day, I'd like to go back and explore the numerous cultural sites around Albequerque. I was driving when we hit Texas and was not impressed by their low night speed limit, or by the sheriff who pretty much tailgated me for a minute to try to get me to break the speed limit.
I dozed for the last hour while Dad drove but was luckily awake when we hit Oklahoma since Dad was all set to keep driving until exhaustion set in. The first rest stop in Oklahoma is a bit over the top in terms of amenities but we were there at 3am so it's not like we could take advantage of any other than the toilets. We settled in with pillows and blankets in our respective seats and tried to get some sleep. I didn't drop off until I'd tossed and turned a bit since even exhaustion isn't enough to make me sleep well on a half back chair in a car. I was also freezing by the time Dad woke up at 6:30am since the temperature had dropped pretty far in the night. I continued to doze (thank god for face masks and ear plugs) until 8:30 or so, or rather, 9:30am Oklahoma time. We hit a Cracker Barrel for breakfast shortly after and I loaded up on caffiene through tea (despite the expected headaches later) because the next leg of the journey (five hours...) was my turn to drive. We had a good breakfast, Dad bought his own Indiana Jones hat (his is the pressed wool version) (I am very amused that we both came back from this trip with what looks like cowboy hats. Perhaps we were more influenced by where we visited than we think we were...), and we set off. Incidentally, as a New Jersian, I can't get used to how nice people are in Oklahoma (and, you know, the South in general). I don't know how to respond when even the toll worker asks you how you are. (The New Jersey/New York voice in your head keeps expecting them to want something other than an exchange of courtesies.)
Anyway, our run through Oklahoma was swift since the speed limit was back up to 75 again. We were also, inadvertently following Route 66 up north since we were heading towards St. Louis. It amuses me that we accidentally managed to follow Route 66 all the way from California to Missouri. It's the same route my grandparents on my father's side used to do in a 1936 Chrysler truck.
After loading up on caffeine and sugar, we finally reached my older brother, J.s house and were able to relax and have a pumpkin beer (not as tasty as it sounds) and Tequiza before crashing from lack of sleep. It's not something I like to do every day, but it was kinda fun to go back to my childhood roadtrips where Dad invariably ended up driving through the night, scorning hotel rooms and the lack of an alternate driver.
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