Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert

 We drove to Holbrook, AZ today, stopping at the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert on the way. The kids were skeptical at first but warmed up pretty quickly once we began spotting 2,000-year-old petroglyphs and 200-million-year-old petrified logs.

Someone hundreds of years ago painted a petroglyph on a rock and figured out how to chart the Summer Solstice when the sun shines through the crevice in the boulders and hit the petroglyph.

More petroglyphs

And more

Blue Mesa

More shots of the colorful sand layers in the Blue Mesa area

This tree between two cliffs is over 200 million years old. The stone reinforcements were added in the early 1900s.

Petrified!

The biggest petrified log in the park, which we saw just after spotting a very large tarantula wandering around the grounds.

Our KOA cabin for the night, at a campsite with a chuckwagon, a pool, a playground, and wifi. Truly roughing it out here! 

Santa Rosa, New Mexico

The girls approved of the playground at Santa Rosa Lake State Park, but we weren't thrilled with the sticker patches all over our tent pad site, and the ominous storm clouds overhead. We were only slated to stay in Santa Rosa for one night, and we didn't love the idea of getting holes in the tent from the stickers and then having it rained on only to roll it up and drive to the next site with it wet (we won't need it till Friday night at the Grand Canyon). So...we opted for dinner out and a La Quinta with an indoor swimming pool. 😁 Now on to Arizona.

More Scenes from Caprock Canyon

We eventually found the bison while driving through the canyon yesterday, and then the bison found our campsite this morning just in time for us to load up and head out for New Mexico.

The field outside the bathrooms was full of prairie dogs.

We will remember Caprock Canyon's views, bison, and swarms of flies. Here's Marvin trying to kill said flies with a salt gun. Cathartic but ultimately futile at this particular location.

The prairie dogs took cover in their hidey holes when the bison ambled in.

Marvin and the girls are out there somewhere.

And they're on the left side of this photo if you zoom in.

Caprock Canyon State Park

Complete with bison, which we haven't seen yet but know are around due to large bison patties scattered about, and then a field of prairie dogs right by the bathrooms.

PLUS Camp Performance

The girls had a wonderful week at DSU at Plus Camp, capped off by a sweet performance this morning. Logan had a solo in "Surfin' USA," Mary Claire's was from "Happy," and Larkin's was from "Hey Jude," but each also sang and danced to many other songs with their groups. Madeleine was the camp photographer, so the girls ended up in quite a few of the photos in the pre-performance slide show. Now back to TX before our next adventure!