Petrified Forest/Painted Desert/Meteor Crater ~ September 22-24, 2006

This area is a geologic wonderland! Petrified Forest has stunning vistas, erosional landforms, barren badlands, and extensive displays of petrified logs as well as petroglyphs and remnants of prehistoric pueblos. Our journey from one end of the park to the other began when they opened and lasted until closing time. It doesn't take that long to drive the 24-mile scenic road, but we hiked all of the trails and stopped at every scenic overlook along the way. Nearby you can visit the best-preserved meteorite crater on Earth. Admission includes a guided tour of the crater rim that lasts about an hour, a film shown in the theater explaining the crater, and access to a state-of-the-art museum with lots of hands-on interactive exhibits. After staying overnight in Holbrook, we were going to make that a quick stop on our way home but ended up spending several hours there! Kids of all ages (and adults) who are interested in rocks and space science will love it!

Take a virtual tour! Each of the following photos will open in a new window.

Petrified Forest 1
Petrified Forest 2
Petrified Forest 3
Petrified Forest 4
Petrified Forest 5
Petrified Forest 6
Petrified Forest 7
Petrified Forest 8
Petrified Forest 9
Petrified Forest 10
Petrified Forest 11
Petrified Forest 12
Petrified Forest 13
Painted Desert 1
Painted Desert 2
Painted Desert 3
Meteor Crater 1
Meteor Crater 2
Meteor Crater 3