Big Picture Little Picture

One of our first stops at the petrified forest we saw little wood chips and chunks of logs. We were amazed at how wood-like they looked (see my last post) and also how common they were.

One of the next places we stopped was a lookout on a low plain where huge chunks of petrified logs scattered the landscape. It was pretty impressive, and once we went down in amongst them it was even more impressive because the ground was just covered with tiny pieces of petrified wood, absolutely covered!

Later in the week we went to another area where the complete logs were being eroded out in place and we could see just how long a single log could be.

It was really neat to see how the little picture (just how many wood chips there were) really made the big picture (the long logs) that much more impressive, because we knew that for each huge log there were that many tiny pieces. The reverse was cool too because understanding the larger picture of pretty much an entire forest of giant trees made us appreciate the beauty of each little fragment.

I feel like often people tel you to either smell the roses or look at the big picture... conflicting advice? but really it is both of those perspectives that make the other all the more meaningful and amazing.