Petrified Forest Nat'l Park

We spent 3 days at Root 66 RV Park. Most rv's just spend one night and than leave early the next morning.  We had 3 days before our next reservation and this place was close to the Petrified Forest.  A place Ed says he has always wanted to see.  I had heard of it but really didn't know much about it.  When we got there we had an unexpected surprise.  Because of Veteran's day they had a free weekend, so we didn't have to pay.  So we saved $10. 

We were able to drive through the park and get out and explore different areas.

This petrified wood had amazing colors in it

Some of the pieces were huge

Some of them was a whole section of the tree.  This is the way they break up.  It looked like someone had taken a chain saw to it.

This one was unusual because of the way the bark had separated from it. 

The petrified wood's colors come from minerals in the waters that at one time covered the wood.  The wood is surprisingly heavy, remember it is like a rock. 

It is illegal to collect or remove any of the wood from the park.  All the petrified wood sold at the gift stores come from private land.  Everywhere you go in this area you see places selling  it.  They shine the pieces and they are beautiful but, they sell starting at 5,000 and up.  They make benches,  slice the top off and make tables and smaller pieces make book ends. 

The road through the park was 26 miles long.  We could have been there longer but because we got a late start we ran out of time.

You can see by the way we are dressed it was cold

We didn't see much wildlife, actually all we saw were a few birds.  Ed tried to make friends with this one but this was as close as the bird would get to him.  He was feeding him a nutri-grain bar.

Route 66 went through the park at one time, it is no longer there but they had they spot marked with this car.

The car had been stripped but it was still interesting

 By the time we left the park it was after closing.  We came up to a gate that was closed.  At first I thought we were locked in.  But, as we got closer it opened for us.  Than we headed home, I tried to take a picture of the sunset.

The perfect ending to a perfect day.  ( although a little warmer would have been nice)

HAPPY TRAILS!!    ED AND LYN

 




We are heading farther into Arizona plus a little more south.  The weather is suppose to get warmer.