The Petrified Forest National Park contains one of the world's largest and most colorful collection of petrified wood. So what is petrified wood I hear I ask? Well many years before we visited this neck of the woods it was a tropical area and seasonally wet and dry (unlike now where it's just dry). Trees were washed down rivers and lodged underwater. Over the years sand and volcanic ash levels rose covering the trees and the minerals, oxides and silica replaced the timber, leaving behind the petrified wood that we were able to see. So there you have it.

Certainly very different to anything we had seen previously. Also in the park were old Indian dwellings and petroglyph sites (like cave paintings but sort of etched into the rock). There is an area of giant mounds that is suppose to look like the surface of the moon. Adam and Alexander tried a little bit of moon walking but I'm not sure it looked quite right.

	Adam and Alexander taking a break	Now that is one big tree
What happens if you polish petrified wood		Moon like area. See the different types of soil making the distinct color bands
	Moon walking never looked so graceful			Old Indian dwellings
		Indian petroglyphs

In the north of the park there is an area called the Painted Dessert. As you look across the land the dessert seems to change color, almost as if it is painted.