Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona | April - May 2023

Our goal this year is to check out as many national parks as we can. Most of our posts will focus on that vs life on the road. We really captured so much of life on the road last year.

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Seen along the way

These two antique cars were in front of us for miles and then turned off onto Route 66.

We made it to Arizona. Brandi sat up and said "what happened to New Mexico?" because she slept the whole drive.

After we crossed the border, we had about an hour more to drive to get to our campground. The rock formations are wild, dinosaurs are taking over and we found another train.

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First night at the campground we didn't hook up because we were moving to a different site in the am. So we relaxed and made the best of living in tight 2 ft space. Although, we did go exploring a bit where we met a wild donkey we nicknamed "Lone Ranger." It's all open range out here, so pretty.

Check out that sunset. We climbed a hill on our second night here to capture these. It's just spectacular. The sky was changing colors every few minutes. Gods many blessings in life.

And we ended up climbing the hill to check out the sunset every night. And a few sunrises too.

sunrise to...

sunset

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Petrified Forest National Park here we come. Crazy to know this was a rain forest 12 million years ago. This desert sun is something else.

A piece of a log, now a rock and trees with grooves of bark still in them.

You had to actually touch them to believe they were once trees that turned to stone.

All the land is filled with petrified wood. Pieces here and there and everywhere.

That flower is on the protection list here at the park.

We're now inside the park. There are turn offs throughout the park but you can't actually go down into the forest.

Dry river beds were once filled with the Puerco River (which means the pig). Puebloan People once called this place home.

Just driving along the road around the forest seeing different parts. And without much to stop the winds, it can get pretty windy around here.

Another part of the park. Not sure if I was supposed to be on that wood but here I am.

There was so much to see. Every turn offered something new.

Remember, this place was once as green as a present day rain forest.

Painted Desert

This is the painted desert area, Arizona's high desert.

These pics were overlooking the real landscape in front of us. If you open the pics you can see how far everything is away.

Just driving along the road around the forest checking out different parts. Pictures only do so much justice.

These plaques are intentionally in front of the range they're referring to. If you read the plaque, you can actually look out and see exactly where everything is.

At the end, we found a little spot that served coffee and where you can pick up some souvenirs.

Last shots of the painted desert.

Our trip here will never be forgotten. I hope you enjoyed this day as much as we did. Thanks for following along on our journey. We have learned and seen so much so far.

I'm so glad Pasquale said "Yes" that March morning at 5am when I asked if we could become full time RVers. Life hasn't been the same since and it keeps getting better every day.

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Back at our site

Brandi helping her daddy life the legs of the table.

The sunsets never never get old around here.

These wild burros were about a mile from our camper. It's almost like they're posing. Every day we took a ride around 8ish to see them.

We were hoping the mare had her baby before we left but she didn't. We seem to be seeing all kinds of animals on our travels. These guys were funny. If you just sat there they would play with each other and he haw and kick in the dirt. They were really funny. I really love flowers and animals.

Behind our camper is where the Hopi Indian nation lived.

The little Colorado river which still flows today flooded their homes and landscape. They fled to higher grounds which were about 2 miles from our camper. The sites were vandalized by people, destroying their pottery and homes. This is all that is left today and it's under protection by the AZ park dept.

Good night, everyone.

Tomorrow we're off to the Grand Canyon.