Wednesday we went to the Petrified Forest National Park.
It was so fascinating. There are petrified logs and stumps randomly laying around the park. It’s amazing to me that wood can transition to stone like this.
The park did not have many tourists. It was easy to navigate. There are easy walking or hiking trails. There are some steep harder ones as well.
Our kids loved exploring and seeing the beauty of colors displayed in the petrified wood.
There were many logs broken into pieces like this. We learned that this is how the logs naturally break as they harden over time.
There are several areas unrelated to petrified wood to explore in the park.
We really enjoyed the Blue Mesa area.
It is said that this area looks blue. We thought it looked more purple than blue, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
We also really enjoyed the Newspaper Rock area. There are petroglyphs, which are pictures carved into large rocks. These are near the Puerco Pueblo ruins and are believed to be carved by the people who lived in this area 600 to 800 years ago.
We had a lot of fun trying to figure out what different pictures and symbols might have meant. I looked at this one below and said, “Oh, look! A stork delivering a baby!” Ryan saw a sign nearby and read that apparently many people see a stork delivering a baby. However, it is believed that the people taught their children that a giant bird would come eat bad children. 😳 Alrighty then. I think I’ll stick with the stork delivering a baby! Ha.
The Painted Desert area was beautiful. It showed off vibrant tones of red.
We stopped at the Painted Desert Inn before we left the park. It was a neat place to walk through. A mother and daughter were selling Indian jewelry there. Our girls used some of their own money to purchase beaded bracelets or hair clips at a very reasonable price.
It was another great day of exploration!