Petrified Schmetrified

admittedly, the logs in the petrified forest have been through a lot in the last 250 million years -- growing, dying, washing downstream, being buried in miles of sediment, uplift, erosion -- and in theory the process of changing wood into rocks is very interesting; however, other than the size & extent of it, in real life, petrified wood is only interesting for about 7 minutes. (in contrast, my fascination with cactuses has endured for over a week.) i wasn't even finished with the 1/2 mile loop at the visitor's center before i decided that i was pretty much done with petrified wood. in fact, i probably would have been completely OK with skipping the entire park, and spending a few extra hours in jim gray's petrified wood shop right outside the gates, examining the extensive fossil collection and the beautiful $10K petrified wood tables. (no mom, i'm not bringing one home :( the whole park is just big piles of brown rocks with big piles of brown wood every once in a while.

that being said, the day was not a complete waste. i enjoyed the authentic indian art here at the petrified wood RV park. seriously ... why bother to recreate a teepee if you're going to put a dinosaur on the side? indians and dinosaurs did not co-exist. nor did indians attempt such lifelike drawings, complete with bloody fangs.

i enjoyed an ice cream cone while walking along long log trail (hee hee i'm so mature). dairy & raw cookie dough are perfect fuel for a day in the desert. side note: stay tuned for my forthcoming book "the only thing between you and your fastest run are banana splits and chocolate chip cookies" with foreword by esteemed environmental law professor randy abate.

the weather here in navajo county is absolutely gorgeous -- warm and sunny most of the day, some fun thundershowers, than 60s at night. which means i am freezing. the landscape is totally different here -- no more cactuses! there are real trees and shirley took me to the mogollon (pronounced mug-ee-yon) rim, where you can see like 8 different mountain ranges lined up, one behind the other. it was a little rainy, so i hope to stop by there on my way to williams tomorrow for better views. i also saw a real elk today. which is good because i have been dutifully obeying the "watch for animals: next 78 miles" signs all the way up from tucson ... without knowing what animals exactly i was looking for. i stopped at the oldest rest area on earth in the salt river canyon to discover the joy of a composting toilet, which is like peeing into a bottomless pit with a fierce updraft. i also passed my favorite sign yet: state prison: do not pick up hitchikers.

also, shirley made me a fantastic meatloaf sandwich for lunch :) and took me to dinner where the waiter hit on me under pretense of discussing ground versus shredded beef. shirley & richard are the only people i know in this whole state, and we decided that i last saw them around 1995! hopefully i have improved some since the age of 12. they have a great clock that tells you what day it is -- a necessity for both retirement and vacation. the whole place is fabulously and appropriately decorated with cowboys and bears and mooses and beautiful heavy wood furniture, and i made good friends with this little buffalo. i pet him everytime i walk past.