Originally published at: Visit Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park. | Boing Boing
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Over 50 years ago I was taken to the park by my parents on a family vacation. There’s not a lot of natural beauty that can command the attention of a 7 year old boy for long, but even today I vividly remember that between the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert, the entire area was astounding.
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The park is also very close to Meteor Crater, not a National Park, but a spectacular natural phenomenon.
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Oh, yeah, I’ve seen the Petrified Forest; it has a great cast, though some of the acting is a bit wooden.
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I had the good fortune to visit once during light rain, which doesn’t happen often. The rain brought out the vivid colors in the petrified wood. After all, many of them are actually low-grade gemstones, a sparkling treasure in the desert.
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I’ve been there! It was awesome!
Man, I miss going to the family farm in Texas and finding big chunks of petrified wood along the creek.
My dad sold an item like that, IIRC it was Solo brand and used for herbicide. One time he took me with him to a trade show where he was selling about 20 of them that had damaged boxes from getting wet in the warehouse and I walked around modeling one with water.
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We went there a few years back. I also highly recommend the place.
Petrified logs just laying around on the ground, all over the place! (Check satellite view)
If you feel the need to obtain some, there are places in nearby Holbrook that can sell it to you, legally. They obtain it by digging down to the wood-containing layer, but outside the park boundaries.
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I went there almost 20 years ago, and it was a fantastic stop on a cross-country road trip. It was easily one of the most memorable places we stopped.
Though I will say you have to be careful of the heat in summer. We were there in July and it was so hot the asphalt path was soft underfoot. It didn’t feel hot at first because of the low humidity, but it caught up to us quickly.
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It’s been on my list forever, but given that I can’t seem to set foot in Arizona without visiting family (all in Phoenix, Prescott, or Sedona areas), it’s always too damn far away to make it.
I should probably find a way to some other 4 corners state and tell family to drive if they really want to see me.
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Can confirm it’s definitely awesome and worth the trip. But, hey, do yourself a favor and pick a cool day!
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just remember when you go, if you do go, your logs won’t petrify anytime soon…
Pretty much Same - only I was a hyperkinetic Kindergarten girl who was also completely fascinated the entire time. Grandma bought me some petrified wood and Apache Tears (obsidian) at a gift shop at some point.
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About 40 years ago for me, in 1980 we took a family trip to visit my grandparents in California, the Petrified Forest wowed me more than the Grand Canyon would the next day. A souvenir I legally bought (might have been in Holbrook, as @joed notes) was treasured for a long time, but I lost it when I moved to Germany and my parents moved to Texas.
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