Road Trip: Arizona-Petrified Forest NP

My friend at Kathalog mentioned she loves to learn about the little-known places in the United States to visit. We've visited a few of these on our many road trips and I thought I'd share some here.

I posted about Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ in my last post. We will work our way down I-40 and visit Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.

PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK

In March of 2007, we were on a road trip with our girls to visit my grandmother in Arizona. The girls were getting restless on day two, so we decided to stop at Petrified Forest National Park. It's a nice round-trip diversion with plenty to see and do. The entrance is off of I-40 near Holbrook from the West, and nearer to Navajo on the east; you can enter from one side of the park, drive through, and loop back to I-40 easily from the other end (see the map by clicking the link above).

It is beautiful throughout the park. The visitors center has some great information and just outside of the building is what can only be described as a petrified wood garden. After getting some great information, we drove from one end of the park to the other.

Petrification (from the National Parks Service Brochure):

Distant volcanoes to the west spewed
tons of ash into the atmosphere,
carried by the wind into this area
where it was incorporated into the river
sediments. Some logs were buried by
sediment before they could
decompose. Ground water dissolved
silica from the volcanic ash and carried
it into the logs. This solution formed
quartz crystals which filled hollows,
cracks, even the interior of the cells,
and sometimes replaced the cell walls.
The process could be so exact the
resulting fossils show many details of
the logs’ original surfaces and,
occasionally, the internal cell
structures. Traces of iron and other
minerals combined with quartz during
the petrification process, creating the
brilliant rainbow of colors. Within the
larger cracks and hollows the growth
of quartz crystals was not limited in
size and larger crystals of clear and
milky quartz, purple amethyst, and
yellow citrine formed.

A few fun facts from the National Parks Page:

• Petrified Forest National Park has one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric pottery fragments in the Southwest.
• The ecosystem at Petrified Forest National Park is not desert. It's one of the largest areas of intact grassland in the Southwest
• On clear days in the Southwest, especially on crisp, cold winter days, you can see landscape features almost 100 miles away!

Are you a homeschooler thinking of visiting the park? NPS offers free online curriculum help:

http://www.nps.gov/pefo/forteachers/curriculummaterials.htm

PRINT THE BROCHURES

If you are a homeschooler, road trips are such an amazing way to experience science, history and culture. The National Parks are also a great resource. Did you know you can buy a National Parks Annual Parks pass for $80? It gets you entrance into any National Park and other Federal areas for no additional fee. Are you aged 62 or over? You can get a pass for $10....LIFETIME. And all throughout the website are lesson plans for teachers.

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Road Trip: Arizona-Meteor Crater, Winslow, AZ

METEOR CRATER National Monument

On our way to Peoria, AZ we stopped to see the Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ. It's a place we've passed no less than a couple dozen times in the last twenty years, but for some reason we've never stopped.

It's only 6 miles off Highway 40, just a short diversion from the road trip. The building built next to the crater is quite large and houses a decent sized museum dedicated to things falling from the sky.

History:

"Approximately 50,000 years ago, on a continuous plain extending for miles in the high desert plateau of Northern Arizona, out of the northeastern sky, a pinpoint of light grew rapidly into a brilliant fireball. This body was probably broken off from an asteroid during an ancient collision in the main asteroid belt (between the planets, Mars and Jupiter) some half billion years ago. Hurtling about 40,000 miles per hour, it was on a rendezvous course with earth. In seconds, it passed through the earth's atmosphere with little loss of velocity or mass."

"The result of these violent conditions was the excavation of a giant bowl shaped cavity. In less than a few seconds, a crater was carved into this once flat rocky plain. During its formation, over 175 million tons of limestone and sandstone were abruptly thrown out to form a continuous blanket of debris surrounding the crater for a distance of over a mile."

METEOR CRATER National Monument

OUR REVIEW: We didn't get much of a chance to really spend time in the museum, but it was pretty impressive. Lots of interactive exhibits explaining the phenomenom of debris from space and the differences. There is also an actual remnant of the meteor on display--a significant size.

The view of the crater is amazing and the private owners have successfully given the viewer a great perspective of the crater. It doesn't "seem" as big as it is, until you look through the various telescopes and see the 6 foot tall astronaut at the bottom, or the boiler, crane and a manhole that was explored. Of course, they seem tiny through the viewfinder and almost invisible to the naked eye, reinforcing the actual size of the crater.

In all honesty, we didnt' spend half the time there that we wanted. My four little ones, the oldest being 6.5 years old, were tired at 2 in the afternoon when we arrived and had little patience for exploring the museum. It was a little pricey, though for myself and my 4 kids it was only $22.00. If my girls were all 6 and over, it would have been $39.

It is definitely worth the stop; where else can you see where such an event has occured? Be sure to stop when you have time to properly explore the wealth of information offered at the museum.

FUN FACTS:

On August 8, 1964, a pair of commercial pilots in a Cessna 150 flew into the crater for a closer look but were unable to climb out due to downdrafts. They ended up circling the interior until their fuel was exhausted and crash-landed. They survived their ordeal and a small portion of the wreckage not removed from the crash site remains visible to this day-Wikipedia

• Featured in the movie Starman. In this, a large spherical shaped UFO hovers over the crater.
• Featured in the movie Damnation Alley. In this, it is featured as a nuclear blast crater.
• Featured in a montage on the cover of the Midnight Oil album Red Sails in the Sunset. The crater is superimposed several times over Sydney Harbor suggesting the aftermath of a nuclear strike.
• In the novel The Martian War, Dr. Moreau and Percival Lowell take a crashed Martian scout to see the crater. It reminds the Martian of its home.
• In the novel 3001: The Final Odyssey, Frank Poole views a computer-generated model of the crater, and remembers exploring it as a child.

FUN STUFF RELATED TO METEOR CRATER:

Have some 3D glasses? View THIS IMAGE

Barringer Meteorite Crater Official Site

Play the Crater GAME

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Zoology Fun

I've been teaching a series of zoology classes at the zoo for the kids in our group. We are studying 3-4 animals each week inside the zoo. The kids get an animal reports sheet to complete (simpler for the younger age group, more in depth for the older). We talk about Physical Characteristics, habitat, Predator/Prey, Food source (omnivore, carnivore or herbivore), adaptations, reproduction, social structure and defenses and location/geography. Each week I also pick a subject to study further and something for the kids to take home--the first week we studied predator/prey in depth (Lion, African Wild Dog, Ostrich and Grevy's Zebra), the second week we talked about Adaptations (Giraffe, Polar Bear, Arctic Fox) and this week we studied Symbiosis (Mutualism, Commensalism, Parastism) and the Capybara, Howler Monkey, Seahorse and the Clownfish.

My DH starts work mid-day and works into the evening, so he's able to do these classes with us in the morning. Today he remarked that people seem to get irritated that we're "in the way" while I teach.

This got me pondering: Has the zoo become just a place to "see" animals? Like a movie? When I was little, I remember my mom & dad reading to me from the signs about their geography, habitat and other fun facts. I don't see that often anymore.

Today, in fact, I was teaching the kids about the capybara. I told them how it's the world's largest rodent. Another dad picked up on that and instead of finding out it's name answered his son, "it's the world's largest rodent, or something like that."

Of course, this could be a completely isolated incident. But my experiences at the zoo--mid-week in the summer--have left me with the impression that the zoo these days is not so much a learning place as it is a touring place.

I hope these summer lessons will get the kids to think about the animals themselves, their habitat and their lives and not just what ice cream is offered at the next stand.

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Butterfly Pavilion

Our HS group had a field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion today. The girls had such a great time and are still singing the insect body parts song. Here are some pictures from our trip:


What a backbend!



See the curled proboscis?














In this one, Katie is turning the lever to move the proboscis. She is very serious about it :)



Pointing at "Nemo" and "Dori"



Maisie holds the Tarantula named "Rosie"



(Dani wasn't cooperating for pictures today)

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Stock Show Education

One of our favorite trips every year is to the Stock Show. It is a great chance for the kids to gain a better understanding of where our food comes from and what it takes to raise the livestock.

As a homeschooling family, we're very open about life and death and the cycle of all living things. Maisie asks very straight forward questions about how we get our food: Do we have to kill it? Why do we eat it? What food comes from a cow? We feel that the more factual we are about it--while adding the sensitivity of "waste not, want not" and to be gentle to the animals because that is the humane way--the more likely our children are to respect life.

Each year, we make a lapbook of the Stock Show. We haven't completed it yet this year, but I'll post when we do. If you're interested in making one with your kids there is a great free online guide where you can get just about anything you want to put in a lapbook:
http://www.nationalwestern.com/nwss/education/other_docs/handbook.pdf
Big Kudos to 4-H, Tom Fey and CSU for the information.

I love homeschooling!

Photos to come.

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Firefighter's Museum

Last week, a friend of mine picked up Maisie and took her to the Firefighter's Museum. Her son is Maisie's good friend and they had a blast! She learned how to get out of the house blindfolded :)

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Elk Rut and Fall Leaves

Fall is my favorite time of the year and as a family, we take a few trips to the mountains to see the fall leaves, experience the changing weather, and see/hear the Elk Rut.

This year with a little one on the way, I'm concerned I may not get to experience as much of Fall as I want. Last weekend was early for all of the above and I'm so happy we got to experience it, but I'm hoping I get one more chance to go before this baby is born.



We had a barbeque in Rocky Mountain National Park with the girls. Ironically, it rained while we were trying to eat, so we ate in the car. As soon as we were done, it stopped raining ;) We did get to roast s'mores without getting wet, though. Moments later, we saw this rainbow.

The Elk have migrated to lower elevations. These Elk were taking advantage of the local golf course, which apparently the local police were trying to help protect. There were a ton of cars watching while a couple of the local law enforcement were attempting to run off this Elk Herd.

Ironically when we passed back through this town hours later, the Elk were still laying on the golf course and grazing :)


There were some magnificent Bulls in sight yesterday. This is one that was hanging out at the side of the road. I'm not sure where his herd was, but I'm sure not far behind. You can see he was pretty soaked in the rain.






We sat on the side of the road with MANY other families watching the herd. There was another Bull up in the trees that kept sneaking down to the herd. The Bull kept chasing him off, however, and we didn't get to see much of a confrontation.



We did get to hear some Elk calls/bugling.

This is my favorite of the bugles. This Bull was trying to keep his herd in order (the same Bull that was getting a little competition from another bull hanging out in the trees). If you watch closely, you can see the breath come out while he's bugling.

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Co-op: Delaney Farm

Today was my co-op to Delaney Farm. It's still hot! here and I'm 35 weeks pregnant...oh joy! It was well-worth it, though, and we learned some great Colorado (and local) History.

The Round Barn (the only known Round Barn still standing in Colorado):

Speculated to have started as a Silo, but too big to support the weight of the feed, it became a barn for Dairy Cows and Goats. Round Barns were common in Colorado to combat high winds on the prairie. The Delaney Family were Dairy Farmers and Bakers in the late 1880's.



Inside the Round Barn



The Roof of the Round Barn



The Gully House Homestead. All 11 Gully residents (parents and 9 children) lived in a small house with a front family room, very small kitchen, parents' bedroom, and a kids' loft where all of the children slept.

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