another detour on our arizona trip was to petrified forest national park. we were amazed at the way the trees had turned to stone--and don't doubt that we had a latin word study of the word 'petrified' (and petroglyphs!) in the car! the park is at around 5000 feet elevation, so it must have been some big ol' flood that covered all these trees so long ago (noah, anyone?!) :) the colors in the petrified wood are determined by what minerals are present as the logs are preserved and turned to stone. so cool.
*the guys in front of 'old faithful', one of the very large specimens in the giant logs area
*cross section of one of the trees with beautiful rings and colors
*my curious scientist examines the layers in the rock-trunk
*also in the park are petroglyphs made by native people around 1250 AD at puerco pueblo (the boys LOVED the petroglyphs)
