Blogs from Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, United States, North America

When we left Flagstaff, it was a cold, threatening morning. We drove east on old route 66 and it never rained on us all day. At Holbrook we turned off and went the back way into the Petrified forest. What a wonderful place to re-explore! Driving north throught the park we crossed route 66 again and stopped at the Route 66 wayside memory stop. Continuing on we were able to get some great color on the painted desert.... read more

Painted Desert and Petrified Forest - October 18th As we left the Rockies, dropping down from the mountains, the landscape changed around us quickly. We were now in a vast desert area with deep red mountains as a back drop and giant boulders that looked like they'd just been placed there. As we crossed int the border into Arizona we stopped for fuel and were given an alternative route suggested by a nice Mexican which he said was very scenic. I was also amused by the writing on the toilet wall... Person 1: "Hey Gringo, leave my wife alone!" Person 2: "We'll come and get me then you f**k!" The route was certainly scenic and took us through very baron land and through towns and villages off the beaten track. Farms and houses built as shacks ... read more

Actually, we took a drive thru the Petrified Forest National Park on Monday, May 25th. Gail had been to this park back when she was just a little girl of 8 or 9 years old and was so impressed she decided Sue needed to see this place. The Petrified Forest National Park is along Interstate 40 just past Holbrook and as we drove thru Holbrook, we saw a really junky looking place offering petrified wood and souvenirs, so Sue read Gail's mind and pulled in. We met Ronnie, an old self described south-western hillbilly. He was a hoot and it was even better when we got some real silver jewelry for a reduced price...well, when Sue started to walk away from some $50 earrings, he was quick to tell her that she could have them for ... read more

Hello from Holbrook, AZ. Other than several stretches of US highways that were incredibly rough (I’ve been on dirt roads that were smoother than these were) it was a smooth day. The colors were brilliant in the Moab campground when I took Chessy out right at sunrise. But the skies quickly became gray with a thin high overcast. It really made me even more grateful for the incredible weather I had. Conditions were nearly perfect every day and I was truly blessed. I was glad I drove south of Moab to see the formations Thursday afternoon as the overcast skies would have made for very blah photos today. I stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in Ganado, AZ. It is the oldest continuously operating trading post in the Navajo Nation. Thinking of the ... read more

Obfuscator writes: We had a Continental Breakfast consisting of donuts and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before leaving our Holbrook Motel for the Petrified Forest. The town of Holbrook seems to have an abundance of big plexiglass dinosaurs at every conceivable location. That would be pretty cool, you know, if they were big and scary and had sharp teeth for killing tourists. These were somewhat more lame than that, looking more like puffy cartoon versions of dinosaurs. There were a few that seemed like maybe they were supposed to look kind of ferocious, but mostly they all just looked adorable. A short drive later, and we found ourselves near the entrance to the park, where some enterprising people have made their living selling petrified wood and other souvenirs that can't be obtained inside the park. They ... read more