I'm really excited for pt. 3 of this road trip.

I wasn't going to write a blog post until tomorrow (y'know, AFTER we actually see the Grand Canyon) but a lot happened today.

I got up at about 7 this morning, but my dad woke up at 6, so we were out on the road by 8am (after eating IHOP, of course)

Since it wasn't that long of a drive from ABQQ to where we're staying (Williams, AZ - about an hour away from the Grand Canyon), we had time for some detours. First we stopped on the side of the highway when we saw lava-rock fields so I could pick up a few of them (natural igneous rock? Yes please).  Then we stopped off at the Petrified Forest National Park, which also had the painted desert in it.  It was really pretty:

Now, I like to travel in comfort, so this morning I was still in my pajamas because I didn't know we were stopping anywhere, and of course my dad took a picture before I had changed:

I did eventually change though, and therefore had to take a super-girl picture:

(I love that pose)

So it turns out, petrified trees/wood is wood that has turned to stone by soaking up stuff and all that (you can read all about that process here) and you couldn't take any from the actual park, but they did have private sellers selling some, and I got a really colorful piece.  Before that though, I did take a picture on one of the big tree trunk/stone things:

I got a bunch of awesome stuff too:

(My wood/rock + info on it, 2 postcards, a National 

park passport,and 3 different maps)

Closer look at my wood/rock:

It's got blue/purple, orange/red/brown, white/clear (quartz)

and black in it, making it the most colorful piece I saw.

After the petrified forest, we stopped at the Meteor Crater, which was really pretty awesome:

They estimated the meteor to be about 150ft across, traveling at about 40,000mph, which created that hole, only 150 feet deeper (thanks, erosion). I even took a picture with the largest recovered piece of said meteor:

After that, we finally got to Williams, AZ (about an hour outside of the Grand Canyon) and our hotel, ate dinner (and pie, omnomnom) and then came back to the hotel.  On our walk back to the hotel, I got a cowgirl hat for hiking and playing in the Canyon tomorrow:

Not the best picture, but I'm sure there will be plenty tomorrow. I'm rather excited about this hat, because I've never owned anything western or cowboy style except for a costume, and now I have a cowgirl hat!! I'm actually wearing it as I write this post, which I'm sure is a little weird but still...I like this hat. A lot.

So tomorrow we go to the Grand Canyon bright and early, and I'm going to be dressed in my little hikers outfit with my cowgirl hat, and none of my clothing is going to match but it's okay because it'll all help me stay alive (we got cooling technology and sun protection clothing) and I get to wear my new hat! I'm far more excited than I should be about seeing a giant hole in the ground and getting a new hat, but that's okay.

Until tomorrow (probably), 

-Panda:)