04/05APR11 - Holbrook, AZ (petrified forest national park)

Monday, 04APR, was a very scenic & leisurely drive on “old” US180 from Silver City, NM, to Holbrook, AZ. After checking into the RV park, it was off to Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co. This is one of those “old fashioned” roadside attractions that lined the old two lane highways back in the day, trying to catch your eye & get you to stop; & as always in the back seat were several kids screaming “Can we stop?” “Can we stop?” Even though a tourist trap, some of the things made from petrified wood were extremely beautiful (if not very expensive)! http://www.petrifiedwoodco.com/

Upon returning to the RV Dan went on a photo hunt of eccentric sites in the Holbrook area. The “theme” for the area seems to be dinosaurs? Every business on the original alignment of Route 66 seems to have at least one, two, or more dinosaurs out front. One of the interesting ones, was very a detailed cast bronze dino made for someone in the Phoenix area for their pool area. Turns out the bronze casting was too heavy to lift over the house via crane! So the couple donated it to Holbrook.

Monday night we decided to have dinner at Butterfield Steakhouse on Route 66. This was a “theme” restaurant that was very common on Route 66 from the 1940s to the late 1970s. Every booth has displays of cowboys, Indians, lawmen, outlaws, etc, that supposedly roamed the local area back in the late 1800s. It was a very large restaurant with very few patrons when we were there; the steaks were good but not worth going out of your way for.

Tuesday, 05APR, we headed to the north entrance of the Petrified Forest National Park. Upon arrival at the Visitor Center we viewed the Park Service film & then started driving the park road to the south entrance, stopping at turn-outs to take in the views. The north portion of the park is primarily Painted Desert, & the south portion has significant deposits of petrified wood. While spending the day in the park we caught the Ranger led tour of the Puerco Pueblo & then rushed off to catch the Ranger led tour at the Painted Desert Inn, before driving the rest of the park road south to the Rainbow Forest Museum. Both of these tours were excellent & we highly recommend them if you are in the Park! To us the beautiful sights of the entire park along the 28 mile park drive were an unexpected surprise, & we highly recommended stopping by if you are anywhere close to the Park!

The Pueblo tour was extremely informative about a Pueblo that might have housed 1200 people; & had the added bonus of the Ranger pointing out Petroglyphs below the trail. The Painted Desert Inn was a “business venture” built by Herbert Lore out of slabs of petrified wood. Because Lore did not understand the instability of the ground he built on, the original Inn (aka Stone Tree House) was a maintenance nightmare! Eventually he sold the Inn to the Federal Gov’t; & in the late 1930s the CCC tried to stabilize the structure, while expanding it, & covering the petrified wood structure in a SW adobe style. In addition the CCC added some exquisite painted glass skylights. In the 1970s the Inn narrowly escaped demolition & now the Park Service is trying to extend the “uses” & open hours of the Inn for expanded use. Not to be missed in the Inn are the murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie, from the late 1940s!


Trivia – what National Park has a portion devoted to Route 66? What was the first National Park that had a portion of its area designated National Wilderness? http://www.nps.gov/pefo/index.htm