Painted, Petrified, Petroglyphed

Painted Desert, ArizonaWell, okay, so the title doesn't really work. But I was trying to get some alliteration going about this post. On our road trip last week we dropped by the national park that has the painted desert, petroglyphs, and petrified wood. We were looking for ways to get maximum use of our national park pass we'd bought a few days earlier in Moab.

I've not been a big fan of the desert, nor of petrified wood. And petroglyphs have been only mildly interesting over the years. But this really was a worthwhile place to visit, for the variety of things to see if nothing else.
It seemed to us like there were new vistas around every corner. I was particularly intrigued by the blues, reds and greys in the painted desert. What forces layered the earth in such interesting colors? Whose paintbrush had been at work.

It was intriguing to think that this was all hidden underground, and then eroded away with time to reveal the hidden colors and treasures. It reminded me of the farewell party I attended as a child in Malaysia, where people were giving our head of nurses a lovely send-off. At the party they had a cake, and when Grandma Reynolds (the lady who was leaving) cut across the cake on one side, you could see the word "fare" embedded in the cake. Then she made a cut on the other side, where it said "well." How very clever!
On we went to see the petroglyphs. It struck me that the artists had quite a sense of humor. If you look carefully at the rock above, the ancient artist etched in a stork carrying a rather anxious looking man!
Click on the pictures to see the petroglyphs better. This one was out at a place called "newspaper point." I think the newspaper referred to all the stories etched on the rocks below the point. I wonder who "read" them over the years? In this one I rather liked the guy with the crew cut eating an ice cream cone.
And then we got to the areas where the land had eroded away, exposing wood that had turned to stone after being buried under sand and water many years ago. Some of the colors were quite lovely.
At one place you could see a whole petrified log spanning a chasm. Apparently some folk got nervous that the log would collapse over time, so they've build a supporting bridge under the stone log. Husband is standing there helpfully, to illustrate the comparative size of the log.
The sky had been threatening for some time to drop rain, with a few bursts of lightning afar off. So we hopped in the car and continued south, leaving the painted desert and petrified forest behind.