The drive was approximately 3 hrs, but since we stopped at two-three places on the way, we reached our hotel only by 3:00 p.m. The town where we stayed is called Holbrook. we experienced the true life of small town America. Interesting facts about the town: began to develop in late 1800's- early 1900's. was just a transit point for miners, and other explorers who wanted to see the petrified forest.it was dubbed" too rough for women and churches." has a population of less than 6000 Newspapers come out only twice a week. Imagine my surprise, when on Thursday, 11/20.08, I found myself reading a paper dt 11/14/08, and being told that this was the day's newspaper!!!
Petrified Forest: Fans of Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets would already know the word petrified. It means- turned to stone. The Petrified 'Forest', isn't a forest like we understand it. there are no tall trees standing that have turned to stone.,Its a vast area of land, taht used to be a lush forest, millions of years ago. A place where floods used to come. Over the years, trees got washed down with the water, the sediments and the volcanic eruptions together formed layer upon layer on the trees.Such taht with time, the cellulose in the trees was displaced and they turned to stone. Today we find only pieces here and there, but whatever is left, after the mindless plundering was stopped in 1906,has been preserved beautifully. In fact, we were constantly warned not to pick up even a piece, because its considered a state and federal offence,and may land you in jail, with heavy fines. The beauty of this is, even though its a forest of many thousands of miles, they have smooth, paved roads leading to every place where visitors are allowed. there are clean restrooms, drinking water facilities, sheltered areas with seats/ benches to sit and eat, information center and museums. These are all wheelchair accessible areas. There are even emergency phone lines installed in place. There are no tour guides. Its a self guided tour, once you get maps from the information center. I am frankly amazed that Americans trust their citizens so much, that they let them explore such national parks on their own. The road that takes you into the park, also leads you out to join the Interstate highway , the way back to the nearest town, Holbrook..This is again a distance of 25 miles. . approx 50kms.
Painted desert: This was at the edge of the Petrified Foprest,and is another vast area of rocks, taht change colour as the sun moves across the skies. Early mornings and sunset times, the rocks glow red,and other times, green, blue, brown,and in the mid dday, usually brown and white.Unfortunately, mid day was the time when we went. However, we have pictures of other historic landmarks in the place, like the In taht was builtentirely of ahnd, handcrafter light fixxtures, woodden floors, roof, etc.
So i have told you about the two main paces we saw. On the way there and back, we saw Meteor Crater,caused by a meteorite falling to this part of Arizona. It took them till 1969 to prove the crater was actually caused by a meteor,and not ot some volcanic eruption. The guy who discovered it in the first place, actually died a penniless man, trying to prove it was indeed a meteor that caused it.
We stopped to see the HOMOLOVI ruins of the ancient Native Indians, called Hopis, The History buff in me didnt let me go through this without seeing it. So dragged Madhu along. The excavations of one part of the ruins are open for tourists. the others aren't. They in fact, stopped excavating any more, leaving it for future generations. In summer, you can also camp out there in the area.
Our journey took us on the Historic Route 66, one of the first freeways to be built in modern America. It goes across the country, from Chicago to Los Angeles. For people with enough money, leisure and spirit of adventure, a road trip on route 66, isthe "thing to do" atleat once in their lifetime. So, I hope I have given you enough information, and a lesson in geology, geography, history, tourism that you can enjoy the pictures , armed with this knowledge.
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