Started in: Santa Fe, NM
Ended in: Sedona, AZ
Total Distance: Driving: 470 miles, Hiking: 1 mile
Yesh, what a day! We woke up in Sante Fe and attempted to grab a coffee at Ohari, but missed our turn and ended up in the parking lot for Modern General. This was possibly the best mistake. I had a latte and Acai Teffcakes and J had a latte and a biscuit sandwich. Not only was the food delicious the ambiance was on point. Very cute! After we wrapped up our impromptu breakfast and blogging we hit the road to our first National Park of the trip, Petrified Forest. On the drive we listened to Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell, we both enjoyed the stories and found the stories related to educational inequities to be particularly up our alley. We also enjoyed some pretty spectacular views as we drove, I put up some pictures that I took from the car window as we zipped down highway 40.
When we arrived at Petrified Forest National Park, it was hot! We got a map and a bandana for J’s sweaty head (sorry :)). The park is in the painted desert and features some pretty dramatic landscapes. Unfortunately there are not a ton of trails to hike so we settled on a short 1 mile loop on the Blue Mesa trail to check out some petrified wood. The hike reminded me of the hike I did in Goreme, Turkey two summers ago. Some signage described the ground as elephant skin and it was caused by large rainfalls followed by drought. The wood is a dead tree that falls, gets completely covered in sediment deprived of oxygen, growing crystal structures inside of it for hundreds of millions of years. It is truly spectacular. The park started a conservation effort by cataloging old photos from the last 100 years and taking photos from the same spots to identify changes in the landscape. Interestingly there seems to be less theft of the petrified wood than what was once assumed.
After we left the park we headed to see a meteor crater outside of Flagstaff, but we arrived after the site had been closed for the day. My dad told us Flagstaff is noisy at night because of the trains that run through. We stopped at The McMillen for dinner and drinks, then headed to Sedona to sleep. There was road construction on 89A which left us taking a lengthy detour around the Coconino National Forest. We are excited to check out the scenery in Sedona tomorrow!