To make our way back to California, we spent this day driving from Albuquerque to Flagstaff, AZ. Along the way we visited the Petrified Forest National Park.
The Painted Desert portion of the park was very pretty but the petrified forests were disappointing. The petrified logs remaining were much smaller than I expected. I imagine all the impressive specimens have long ago been taken, either into personal collections or museums. The badlands of the park, where the fossilized trees existed, was incredibly hot and had a creepy feeling of death hanging over it.
The Native American ruins existing in another part of the park were interesting but it was tough to keep my boys interested in some old walls when it was so hot outside. Overall, I don’t think the Petrified Forest National Park is worth the trip unless you happen to be passing through the area and need to kill an afternoon, like we did.
