Driving, Petrified Wood, and a Painted Desert

Well, we have now been traveling for about two days and four hours! I have driven in four states: Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas! How cool is that? Needless to say I've gotten plenty of practice driving on the freeway! Last night we stayed in Oklahoma City, and tonight we're staying in Flagstaff, Arizona, and we have seen Route 66.

Today we went through the painted desert and the petrified forest. The petrified forest is where many logs and pieces of wood have been preserved because of rock that replaced the wood tissue. It looks like wood, but is really rock.

This is a petrified log called Agate Bridge. They've had to add concrete underneath to support it so it doesn't crack.





Sometimes you can see the crystals in the different rocks that replaced the tissue of the tree.

The painted desert are parts of the desert that have been worn away so that you can see the different-colored layers. It's really pretty. We think it would be even prettier early in the morning as the sun is rising or in the evening as the sun sets because the light can play off the layers and create even more colors.