#2 Petrified Forest, AZ
Number 2 is the Petrified Forest, and the sheer volume of sights to see is enormous. Top tier, it is essentially 6 parks in 1! And it's my
kind of place: you can drive through the whole thing, pull of at pulloffs, take a short hike here and there, no pressure for a strenuous trek through the desert on this one. This page will not even cover everything!
Starting from the northern entrance you're greeted with the Painted Desert, and what a start it is. Layers of rock smushed over millions of years is peeled away to reveal beautiful colors. It's weird to think that even the rock underneath your feet hides all those colors too.
Moving on down, you'll reach some artifacts of what's now a favorite aesthetic: Golden Age Western. From this era you'll see an old stucco inn, and one of the most photographed abandoned cars in the world representing the heyday of Route 66 that ran through the park.
Once again -- it's like 6 parks in one. If you look closely you'll see petroglyphs on this rock, ancient drawnings carved by the tribes here thousands of years ago. Since then they've crumbled leaving few of the drawings preserved and exposed.
Now you might be wondering, where's all the petrified wood? Turns out it was downpouring at the park this whole evening, so I only got
glimpses of this ancient wood, never decayed and fossilized forever.
There was also a TREMENDOUS lightning storm, limiting photos of the wood, so you'll have to see it yourself, so no spoilers! I PROMISE it's worth.
I rate this park an 11 on the Beaufort Scale which believe me is very fitting. Phenomenal park.
