Petrified Forest

My Brother in law, Jeff, and sister in law, Laura came for a little visit in mid March, so we got to play tourists for a bit :-) The longest of our touring days began with a drive to the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest and finished at a really fancy Italian restaraunt is Sedona. In between those, we did a lot of riding in the car, short hikes through the park, and we stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. This is the painted Desert, at the north end of the National Park. I think there are a couple trails that will lead you down, but we stayed on the rim that day. The weather was perfect for hiking. Not too hot in the sun. There was NO shade.

The boys were not into hiking, so they waited in the car. The paths were short, and the car was visible almost the whole way.

I had always pictured the Petrified Forest as a forest with petrified wood laying under the all the evergreens. HA, was I wrong! Petrified wood and cool rock formations fill the Petrified Forest. Not a tree in sight. I am so bad at absorbing geologic info, but basically the forest was formed 250 million years ago, when the forest ws turned into a lake or ocean. The combination of water, pressure and various minerals actually transformed the wood into stone. Many of the logs have been revealed by wind over time, but many are still buried in the Park, and surrounding areas. i have a good rock hunting book with some spots to dig...

As wew were returning from this mile hike, we noticied a ranger's car near the minivan. As we got closer, we realized ther ranger was talking to the boy, who had waited in the car. I'm imagining I'm gonna get a bad parent ticke for abandonment or something, but it turned out she was very interested in all the rocks she saw in the back on my car! The boys had opened the tailgate, so she could see right in. Max said she came over and started asking all kinds of questions about where the rocks came from..."Ohh, that one looks cool, can i see it?" Things of that nature. TOO funny! I knew better than to take any rocks from a National Park, especially that one. We all got a good laugh about that one, and bought some rocks at the gift shop on the way out...

Pretty colors!! After coming out of the park, near Holbrook, AZ, there was a HUGE rock shop, the best ever, with tons of petrified wood. Big pieces!! We will have to find one or two for the garden...

These rock formations are called teepees, and the different colors are different types of minerals, including hematite, iron, and some other stuff I can't remember.

Every time I see this, i get the song in my head. Winslow, AZ is on historic Route 66, and i'm sure before Interstate 40 barrelled through, was a booming town. Pretty dead looking town. A couple souvenier shops on this corner, and that was about it. Pretty depressing. The state prison is nearby, so I'm guessing that's what the major employer in the area. There was a coal fired power plant too.

It was a long, fun, andventure filled day!!!