rocks and trees... again

Saturday was supposed to be a yucky rainy day at Canyon de Chelly, so we didn't want to deal with wet RV, possible wet us on bike, etc. So we decided to move the RV to a different campground further south. En route we visited another National Park that I had planned to go through during a bike ride that we cancelled due to the potential rain.

We went to the Petrified Forest National Park! I think I had been there once before with the folks, when I was about 11 or 12. But I sure don't remember anything about it - except that I have a piece of petrified wood still. ;-o

The National Park actually has three sections: the painted desert, ruins and petroglyphs, and the petrified forest.The Painted Desert is right up my alley, of course, rock, rock, and more rock. LOL But such pretty colors! {giggle}

The ruins/petroglyph area was neat. Although the ruins themselves weren't all that great, there were a LOT of petroglyphs pretty close to the overlooks. Very neat!

I think Greg was disappointed with the Petrified Forest, because it doesn't look like a forest. fyi - petrified wood is real wood that went through a natural process over millions of years and is now actually stone. Of course, in the past, people stole a bunch of the wood/stone because it was neat. They aren't supposed to take it from the National Park now. There are a bunch of stores that sell the petrified wood from private lands though, and some of it is super beautiful. It's hard to tell from these pictures, but the wood/stone can be just about any color of the rainbow, and it can be totally beautiful!!