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When I was 8, the my mom, my sister, my aunt and I all piled into a [1980 Chevrolet Citation][] and headed across the country. Taking I-40 across the waist of the country, we hit many of the classic US sights. So when I was able to visit [Petrified Forest National Park][] , I looked forward to seeing the park through adult eyes; looked forward to dredging up all those warm fuzzy memories of me as a kid exploring the park. Getting yelled at for picking up petrified wood pieces, racing across the parking lot to the gift shop, having to go to the bathroom so bad it hurt, and so on.

[1980 Chevrolet Citation]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Citation “(wikipedia article)”

[Petrified Forest National Park]: http://www.nps.gov/pefo/ “(NPS site)”

I remembered nothing. The road, the gift shop, Newspaper Rock, The Tepees – nothing. Disappointing, but considering how often I loose my keys, perhaps not too surprising. Makes me wonder how much of the upcoming trip I will remember when I’m 54. Also makes me wonder how much of my childhood I’ve forgotten.

I’ve developed some criteria for calling a park visit a real “visit.” First, I have to spend a night in the park. Next I need to collect the park brochure, get my [National Park Service Passport][] stamped, and send myself a postcard. Unfortunately, there was no camping the Petrified Forest so I had to satisfy myself with a one day visit.

[National Park Service Passport]: http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/4434/passport.html “(info link)”

Back on task – it was a beautiful, albeit windy day in the park. The sun was up and the air was warm. Started off at the southern edge of the park and explored the area around the Rainbow Forest Museum, taking in the Giant Logs and Long Logs trails. Agate House was an interesting little story about how the National Park service has changed over the years. Back in the 1930′s, rangers “reconstructed” a portion of the ruined Agate House – an ancient, ruined structure built with just petrified wood. With only little regard to authenticity, the rangers rebuilt a room of this dwelling. These days, of course, ruins stay ruined, dammit. I’d read the disclaimers written on the informational sign – they’re a pretty funny attempt to distance current National Park staff from those renegades of old.

I did find the petroglyphs very interesting, as I always do. Newspaper Rock and Blue Mesa both had very good examples of ‘em. What I find most intriguing about them is how easy it is to imagine the people who created them. Even more than any building or ceramic pot, the outline of a hand or foot on a rock face is the correct size. It is easy to wrap your brain around, easy to imagine a person placing their hand against the rock and chipping away at the desert varnish on some sunny December day hundreds of years ago.

I also got up to Whipple Point and snapped some shots of the scenic vista and some beauty shots of the truck for my friends and suppliers on the West Coast. A good, but short, visit to Petrified Forest National Park.

[tags]Petrified Forest, road trip,Petrified Forest National Park[/tags]