Painted Desert & Petrified Forest

Dried tumbleweeds roll along the ground dropping
seeds until they become entangled in fences.

The Petrified Forest also includes the Painted Desert.

A view of part of the Painted Desert.
It is similar to the Badlands of South Dakota.

This land was once at the bottom of an ocean and
the colors are the different sediments that were
deposited over hundreds of millions of years.
Now erosion has exposed these colorful layers.

From the time we left St. Louis we have criss-crossed
Historic Route 66. Bill is standing of Route 66. In back
of him is the shrub covered highway.

A begging raven. They have learned if they come
observation points people will feed them.

Indian petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock.
These were left more than a thousand years ago
as a type of ancient text messaging.

As time eroded the soft white rock, the petrified
log was left exposed. Soon it will fall into the valley.

Colorful formation in the valley.
We think that a new road is being built in this valley
so people will be able to look up at the formations.

Leaning on petrified log in front of Bill's Subaru.

A log being eroded out of the valley wall.

A field of petrified logs.

Large petrified log.

We traveled west of the Petrified Forest to Meteor Crater.

A small lizard welcomed us to the observation deck.

A central view of the meteor impact crater.
It is almost a mile in diameter and 700 feet deep.
It is impossible to show in one picture.