What a treat to see a National Park Ranger on horseback as we entered the Petrified Forest. The ever present souvenir shop before entering the park was there too, with more than a few junker cars out front to make the place look really busy. The Petrified Forest, long ago, was a swampy, tropical forest. After millions of years the submerged dead trees petrified and left what we see today. People, as recently as the early 1900s, were still walking across the petrified 'Agate Bridge' tree. The Painted Desert was not as colorful as memory suggested. Some rain might have brightened the colors. We got a kick out of the Route 66 memorial.
