A Rainbow Forest on Route 66 - Holbrook, AZ
Reluctantly, we headed West out of Santa Fe. Today we pass through Albuquerque where we'll make a right (not a left!) turn onto I-40 to Holbrook, AZ. There's not much to Holbrook itself, at least not on the surface. Most people that travel here (including us) do so to see Petrified Forest National Park which is about 30 minutes East of there. It's also a good stopping point between Santa Fe and Prescott, where we'll be next week.
Interstate 40 incorporates old Route 66, and many of the town and businesses along the way do their best to capitalize on that fact. The nostalgia for the "mother road" is pretty thick out here, and justifiably so, because well, there's not much else going on. Our introduction to Route 66 history was mostly via Cars, which is actually an excellent, if indirect, introduction. Much of the landscape, signage, and architecture in the movie looks to have been lifted directly off the landscape, then adapted slightly for the film. We watched the movie during our stay and recognized signs and buildings we saw on the way here!
Holbrook has a few notable Route 66 relics, like a Wigwam Motel, a classic Dairy Queen, and a recognizable portion of the old Route on the North end of town. The town is older than that, though, and has a rough and tumble Old West history (it was once called "the town too tough for women and churches") stretching back to the 1880s. The old buildings around the train station reveal its age, as does the annual Hashknife Pony Express ride which runs from Holbrook to Scottsdale carrying actual mail down the only still running leg of the Pony Express.
Most of our stay was cloudy and rainy, unusual for the area, and it turned the (kind of sad) KOA we stayed in into a muddy mess. They did have a playground that the kids enjoyed tremendously, and there were even other kids to play with, for what felt like the first time on this trip.
The big show out here is Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert, which, while not the largest or most glamorous NP, truly surprised us with the depth of history, color, and stories in this landscape. I think the reason this park gets undersold a bit is the contrast in its levels of accessibility. You can drive through the park in a couple hours and get the greatest hits, or you can spend all day and do that plus some smaller hikes, but that's about it in terms of easy discovery. Beyond that you have to brave some off-trail desert hiking in a very unforgiving wilderness landscape, or take a ranger tour to hear the stories and learn more of the history hiding in these rocks.
We chose the half-day plan, but work chose the day for me, not the weather. It was about 40F, windy, and increasingly wet as our tour progressed. Audrey was not a fan, but she braved it for at least one good hike, the phenomenal Blue Mesa. These brightly colored blue and purple badlands had us stunned!
The variety of singularly unique landscapes in the park was really amazing and worth every viewpoint stop. I've seen petrified wood before, but the fidelity and beautiful colors of the petrified specimens here were far beyond what I imagined even as a kid. Truly special stuff.
It's a short stay here, as we arrived on a Tuesday from Santa Fe (it's nice to travel midweek with the time off!) and are departing Saturday for Prescott where we'll see family and dry out a bit.
