Red Duck Adventures

Day 9 – Winslow, Arizona

What a great day! It started off with a view of 5 hot air balloons out the windshield. They were off in the distance, but it was a good sign. If they were up, then the wind must have died down or they would not be up.

We hit the highway about 9, headed towards Arizona. Our goal was Winslow with no stops, but we were making such good time without a wind to fight we decided to go to the Petrified Forest National Park.

First we came to the Painted Desert. The sky was blue and the views were fantastic. Below are a few of the pictures.

We stopped at the Painted Desert Inn, now part of the park service. A very interesting place to see.

At Newspaper Rock we saw petroglyphs, created by people who farmed in that area 650 to 2000 years earlier by etching in the stones. At first we could not find them because you have to stand above the rocks on a viewing stand. A very nice lady spotted them and pointed them out to us. Once you knew where to look, it was easy to see them.

Next stop was Agate Bridge. This is a 110 foot long petrified log that formed a bridge over an area when the softer stone had been wash away. Because petrified logs break into smaller sections with age, the park service had to place a support under the log.

I had just told Dorrie I didn’t see how one log made a “forest”, and then we found Crystal Forest. The turnout was full of cars and we could not stop, but we did see petrified wood from the road.

From that point on the petrified wood was on both sides of the road. We stopped at the museum near the exit to the park and took more pictures from a path that circled through a true forest of petrified wood.