Day 5: Petrified Forest and Painted Desert
Good Morning
from the Dopeys! It’s Jack, Sam S., Sara, Rachel, Kendall, Ethan, Alayna, Caroline,
Maddie, Olivia P., Savanna, and Anna.
This morning we
woke up at the New Mexico Military Academy. When we woke up we were all tired
but there were already people in black shirts running from the academy, so we
were glad to not be in their shoes! We loaded the bus and we were on our way to
the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. While on the bus ride, everyone
discussed how cold it was during the night. Many people were not aware of how
low the temperature would drop during and did not get much sleep with the wind
blowing through their enos. The counselors kindly taught us that our thermal
pads inside our enos would do wonders to keep up warm if we choose to shack up
in them in the future. Since many people did not get much sleep we slept a lot
on the bus today. We also occupied our time by making string bracelets, jamming
out to road tunes, talking amongst ourselves, and playing different cards
games. These things made time fly as we drove for 3 hours to the Flying Jays
gas station. After we got back on the bus, we had our traveling breakfast. Our
amazing cooks served us an apple, peanut butter, and a granola bar for
breakfast. We continued to drive and finally made it to Arizona! We then
arrived at the Petrified Forest and we got out to take a picture. All 81 of us
had to kiss a rock in front of the National Park sign before we were allowed
back onto the bus. Josh explained that he was not superstitious, rather just stitious
and that this kiss would give us good luck for the rest of the trip! After we
hopped back on the bus then went to see the Painted Desert. When we got to the
Painted Desert we had another bathroom break and got a chance to take some
amazing pictures with our beautiful view as the background. Many of us were in
awe of all the different colors the desert held, from lilacs to deep reds. The
wonder of the nature around us continued to astound us and after everyone got a
sufficient amount of pictures we caught up on our research. Did you know there
are more cows in New Mexico than people and 75% of all roads are unpaved? After
our research we were required to take pictures with 5 people we haven't taken a
picture with yet which allowed us to get more pictures and reach out to new
people. We then got back on the bus and headed to McDonald’s to meet up with
Grant Deaton (yay!) for a short meeting where we caught him up with everything
we had missed in the past few days. We then split up and took turns shopping
for goods we will need tomorrow on our hike and and eating at McDonald’s for
dinner. Many people got different types of protein bars and sports drinks to
help prepare our bodies for the tough hike, some even picked up Pedialyte!
While in McDonald’s, a lot of people enjoyed the comfort food that we had been
missing so much. Some also enjoyed a blizzard or sundae for a sweet treat. After
we left McDonald’s we headed towards the Grand Canyon, many of us anxious for
what we said would be our favorite part of the trip! Unsurprisingly, a couple
people shed tears about how beautiful the Canyon was and we all sat in silence
for a minute appreciating its magnificence. As we settled in for the night, we
knew we would dream of the life changing experience that awaited us in the
morning. It's time for bed because 5 am is going to come fast for a big hike in the canyon tomorrow!!
**more pictures coming soon
**please be patient with us the next few days as we have limited service and overnight drives! Thank you!!!
