Petrified!

We took Lucy to the Ginkgo Petrified Forest on Saturday. That's a real, honest-to-goodness petrified log she's sitting on. I'm not sure why they call it the "Ginkgo" Petrified Forest, since we learned at the Interpretive Center that they only found 2 Ginkgo trees in the whole forest. But wait! David just explained this to me--they call it the GPF because it is rare that they found Ginkgo trees at all in the U.S., and they are petrified to boot. I don't know why they're petrified...I've lived here my whole life, and I'm not scared about it. Of course, I guess if I saw a wall of lava heading straight for me, I'd be petrified too.

But enough about me.

Lucy had a great time crawling on the logs outside the Center and there were lots of petrified wood pieces inside to touch. Her voice also echoed very well inside the building, and she enjoyed making various sounds and hearing them come back to her. On our way back to the car, Lucy took a leaf from one of the Ginkgo trees. The park ranger said this was fine because she said Mother Nature would be taking the rest of them in a day or two anyway. Thank goodness we were saved from Lucy having to pay a hefty fine or serve jail time for removing something from a state park. RCW 79A.05.165

After a picnic of cheese and crackers, carrots, etc., we decided to check out the hiking trails. I was disappointed because although the petrified logs are still in the ground next to the trail, they are covered by heavy metal grates. For some reason, Douglas Fir just isn't as impressive sitting in the ground under rebar. Lucy had a good time bouncing on the grates, and was highly disappointed when we didn't join her. Sorry, Lucy, I don't want any misdemeanors on MY record.