DFT24 - Day 8

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 We learned very quickly with EG that we would move at her pace. But we do like to push her a little. And we got so use to her going with the flow that we have to relearn things on this trip with C. Let me say that EG never really experienced the terrible twos. But well C is what we have nicknamed on this trip a little terrorist 😂 She is very demanding and only wants to do what she wants to do 🤪 But she is doing well and I just keep telling myself she will grow out of it 😳

We left New Mexico on Friday to drive to Arizona. About 30 mins away from Petrified Forest we saw a sign for Hubble Trading Post NHS. So of course we detoured to check it out. It is the oldest continuously operating trading post in the southwest. And they still sell authentic Navajo made goods. 


We finally made it to Petrified Forest about 3pm. We decided to divided our time in half. We did half the sites on Friday. Which included most of the painted desert and the Painted Desert Inn. The inn was celebrating its 100th anniversary and had all kinds of fun and cool activities going on. EG made sun art, started a metal bucket that was a replica of the metal lanterns made by the CCC. We also so the studebaker car that had been abandoned on Route 66 when it past through the park. 



After we ended our day at Petrified we drove to Winslow to stand on the corner and have dinner. We ate at Reliac Road and the food was pretty good. EG and I shared their club sandwich and Daniel had a steak quesadilla. 


Friday night we were staying in and AirBNB in Holbrook, AZ. It was a cute and comfortable house right off of Route 66. Unfortunately I failed because it was right down the street from the Wigwam Motel and we could have stayed in a TeePee 🤷🏻‍♀️ but the house was nice and we got to take nice (not campground showers). 

Saturday morning we went back to finish Petrified Forest. We started with a hike in the Blue Mesa. It was so cool and pictures don’t do it justice. Then we stopped by Juniper Point and walked in the Crystal Forest. 




Mom’s friend Carol left Knoxville about a day or so behind us on a Big Orange Tennessee bus doing a Route 66 tour. I had seen her pictures she had been posting on FB and knew they were about a day behind us. Daniel had seen the bus posted on Twitter because someone saw them in Joplin, MO and thought it was the baseball team🤦🏻‍♀️ I had been keeping up with them to see if we were ever in the same place at the same time. Because we normally always bump into someone we know on a trip. But if we look for someone we will never see them. In 2016 Daniel and I ran into the Kickliter’s and the Blacks in Zion. Then in 2019 we ran into the Shults in Acadia. But in 2021 as we drove across the Dakotas - we looked for one of Katie, Bo, and Ellie everywhere we went and never saw them. The stars aligned on this trip and we were finishing up at the visitors center on our way out of the park when the big orange bus pulled in and we got to talk to Carol for a few minutes. 


After leaving Petrified Forest we headed for Flagstaff. We had some of the best pizza ever at Dark Sky Brewing.

Then we went over to Walnut Canyon National Monument. However they were about to close and we didn’t get to do their hike. Ended the night at Lumberyard trying to watch some of the vols game but service in downtown Flagstaff was not great.


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