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  1. It’s been over 20 years since we first visited the Petrified Forest National Park. This is an amazing park to visit with children as they have a lot to learn here. Like what minerals ca do to the trees, transforming them in real rocks over time. Our son was very young at the time and he got so excited seeing those tree trunks fallen to the ground and turned into rocks.

    1. Agreed! Children mesmerized by the petrified trees. And my son was into fossils at that time, so he was in heaven. lol.

  2. The first time I saw a petrified tree was in Yellowstone National Park. They have a small petrified forest there, but it was nothing to this scale. I never knew that the trees were actually quartz. So beautiful and very interesting! This is on my bucket list and I hope to get there next year.

    1. Hey! I didn’t know there’s a petrified forest in Yellowstone. Now, I have to go back there. 🙂 Anyway, I hope you will make it to Petrified Forest NP next year.

  3. I have a massive interest in fossils. I had no idea about what petrified wood is, till I read this blog post. It is so interesting. I would love to visit this place. I like how minerals impart it color. The remains of house built by ancestral Puebloan people sound interesting. I am sorry to hear that you could not make it here.

  4. This is interesting. My son is into archaeology and I am sure he would love this. We ‘ll check if we can visit this summer. Thank you for sharing.

    1. Anybody who likes rocks, fossil, nature’s beauty, will love this park. Hope you will make it there one of this day.

  5. A trip to Petrified Forest National Park looks like a fun thing to do as a family. Its like learning from nature 101, about all the geological processes, which one only studies in books. Love the pictures.

  6. I never knew of Petrified Forest National Park. This was so fascinating. Nature never fails to surprise us.
    It was hard to believe that they were logs. This is great place for kids to learn and explore for themselves.

    1. I had to believe my eyes that they were logs. I agree with you, Petrified Forest NP is a great place for kids to learn and explore.

  7. Umiko I’m so jealous!
    I would love to see petroglyphs.
    Puerco Pueblo would be worth the visit alone.
    Thanks for the tip about using the park’s website for trip itineraries too!

  8. Wow! I didn’t even know about petrified wood, let alone a National Park dedicated to a Petrified Forest? Sounds amazing (and quite mystical). Those colours are out of this world. It looks like your son had a fantastic time! And a junior ranger program sounds like such a great immersive way to learn and explore! Thank you so much for sharing!

    1. I guess I have to credit my friend who told me about this place. Children who like rocks and fossil will find their world here. Just like my son. 🙂

  9. Thank you for the geology lesson! Love that nature continues to surprise us over and over again. I had no idea petrified wood even existed and those colours! They are amazing and so beautiful! Your first photo looked like coral out of the water the way the colours intertwined.

  10. I have never seen petrified wood before or heard about the Petrified Forest National Park. This has been an eye-opener. I am impressed with the size of Old Faithful. Such a great idea for children is to have the Junior Ranger Programme – all Parks should have this, what a great learning experience for them.

    1. I learned a lot about this from my husband, and later from my son. As for the park, it’s from my friend who lives in Tucson, Arizona. I’m glad you got to learn about it from my post though. And I agree with Junior Ranger Program. It’s really a good program.

  11. I had never heard of this place before I read this post, in reading this it has really intrigued me. I love visiting places like this. I also think the junior ranger program is a great idea (do they do an adult version haha) – Definitely adding this to my must visit list 😀

    1. I like Junior Ranger Program. Every National Park and most of State Park in Texas has that program. I liked to go through it since I’ve never done things like that in my childhood. Yeah, I wish they have the adult version.

  12. I was about your son’s age when my family went to the petrified forest! I still have really good memories of the visit. For years afterwards, I loved finding tiny pieces of petrified wood!

  13. Beautiful pictures! I have heard of this place and would probably spend at least one whole day looking at the petrified wood as it has always been a fascination of mine. Thank you for the information about how it came to be.

  14. this article, and these beautiful pictures totally make me want to visit this part of the US! I have been to Phoenix, but not outside the cities. I would love to take my kids here they would learn so much – those fossils are amazing

  15. This is definitely on our list of places to go! We had scheduled a trip here when we were planning to go to the Grand Canyon, but when we read that that Arches National Park was going to redo their roads, we switched gears and went to Gettysburg and Virginia instead. We do plan to go. Maybe we can fit it in on our road trip to California.

    1. Yeah, you should stop here. Btw, is Arches NP still working on their road? That’s what they were doing or starting to do when we went there 3 summers ago.

  16. Oh wow I haven’t heard of this place before but the pictures look amazing! Thanks for sharing all this useful information, too, I didn’t even know about petrified wood. Didn’t know that minerals can do such things and result in those beautiful colors! Definitely need to add this park to my Travel List 🙂

  17. This looks so fascinating and seeing your great photos makes me twitch because I want to go and do a junior ranger programme (even though I’m 21!) Love this post and how immersive it it!

    1. How I wished to have things like this when I grew up. Hmm… maybe they have to make an Adult Ranger Program. Haha..

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