Traveling eastward from our stay in the Wigwam Motel, our first stop was at Petrified Forest National Park before moving on to some of the Painted Desert area. We began at the Rainbow Forest Museum which provides a lot of information about the petrified trees, but also has skeletons (or castings of skeletons) of ancient creatures that once inhabited the area. Many of these critters one would not wish to encounter, were they still around! Ye Olde Photographer attempted to get enough inmages to provide some idea of what is there. The park is quite large, one of the roads through it is over 20 miles in length. There are a number of opportunities to hike and even backpack, but high temperatures and a lack of water might suggest avoiding the hottest part of the year.

One interesting piece of information: there are some petrified forests just about everywhere in the world, including the other 49 US states. Part of the fame of this site is due to the size and quantity of the artifacts here.

This stop was part of the Grand Tour 2016, a 5800 mile drive through flyover country!