Arizona, Williams - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

We were on the road early this morning, around 8:30.  As we drove through New Mexico on I-40 west we noticed a lot of area covered by what appeared to be large chunks of lava rock.  I read in one of the brochures about the area that there are three volcanoes in the area but I didn’t do any more research on them.

Lots of great scenery as we headed toward Arizona.

 

 

This is the view pulling into the Arizona visitor’s center, note the statues up on the cliff.

 

This is the Arizona visitor’s center.

 

 

This sign got my attention!  However, the only “wildlife” we saw all day was a lizard that was about 2 inches long.

 

This is a crosscut of a piece of petrified wood that was at the park entrance building.  It is polished to be so shiny the lights in the ceiling reflect off of it.  Petrified trees are created from trees that originally were growing along streambeds.  The trees fell into the water and were stripped of their bark and limbs.  As the years progressed the trees were buried under sand and mud.  This cut off oxygen and microbes so the rotting of the tree stopped.  Silica in ground water infiltrated the log and through a chemical reaction replaced organic matter with quartz crystals – at that point the log was “petrified”.  More years pass and erosion re-exposes the petrified logs to what we see today.

 

We were able to pick up our Senior Park Pass to the National Parks for just $10 at the guard gate.  This park is very accessible to those of us in RVs, all of the overlooks have plenty of space for RVs to pull in and enjoy the views.

Some of these pictures of the Painted Desert aren’t quite as vibrant as they were in real life.  The reds especially don’t show up as well.  The weather today was just perfect for getting out and viewing the canyon. 

Seeing the Painted Desert has been a dream of mine since I was a kid.  I had a page from an Arizona Highways magazine that hung on my bedroom wall.  I knew then that I would probably never get to see it in person, but I sure enjoyed that picture.  When we pulled up to this first view of the Painted Desert today I just broke out in tears – it was so beautiful it just took my breath away.  Truly a dream come true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Painted Desert Inn.  The former inn is now a National Historic Landmark.

 

 

This is the first and only cactus we have seen since we have been in the western states.

As you drive on through the park (the drive is 26 miles long) the colors change from reds and beiges to blues and grays.

 

 

 Some pictures of the petrified logs that are just laying around everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These next few pictures are of an area called the Blue Mesa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to get Greg to stand on this rock so I could take his picture – that didn’t happen.

 

I took over 170 pictures today, I think I have picked out the best ones.

We are staying at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel and RV Resort in Williams, AZ until Monday.  I’ll post more on it tomorrow