Driving through Gallup, NM and humming about getting our kicks on Route 66 a’la Chuck Berry and heading towards Winslow, Az with an eye out for a “girl in a flatbed Ford” a’la The Eagles, we pull-off the road outside of Holbrook, Az to check out Petrified Forest National Park . Long gone are the high forests of New Mexico. It feels like we are once again traveling back in time. Might there be a dinosaur over the next ridge? As luck would have it, it’s a free day at the park and the ranger says, ‘have fun’ with a wave. It is a huge park, 230 miles square with its northern boundary reaching the Painted Desert.
From Wikipedia, “The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Period, about 225 million years ago. The sediments containing the fossil logs are part of the widespread and colorful Chinle Formation, from which the Painted Desert gets its name. Beginning about 60 million years ago, the Colorado Plateau, of which the park is part, was pushed upward by tectonic forces and exposed to increased erosion.”
Leaving the park, we hopped on Route 66 to visit the WigWam Hotel in Holbrook, Az. I remember Alex, Ant, & Ash crying to stay at one of these Wigwams when they were growing up.
Our next campsite was Homolovi State Park, along the banks of the Little Colorado River (dry at the time we were there). The park was established in 1986 and opened to the public in 1993 after several years of planning and land acquisition in order to protect Hopi artifacts from raiders. There were instances of people “attacking” the sites with backhoes. Homolovi is Hopi Indian language for “Place of Little Hills” and within its park are four archaeological sites: Homolovi I, Homolovi II, Homolovi III and Homolovi IV. That night, Lisa awoke on the spirit plane, seeing Hopi ancestoral kachinas.
As you move around the two open archaeological sites, you can see the remnants of structures and shards of pottery, and feel the spirit energy.
Old Hopi Indians photos with and without Einstein:
