Steven and Betty RV Adventures

Today we went to the Petrified Forest National Park early and stayed until after 4 pm, shooting hundreds of images in Canon RAW format as well as JPEG format. I used the same DSLR camera that I used at the cliff dwellings in New Mexico. Now I need to process all these images to include on the blog. Betty has another DSLR and shot very many RAW and JPEG images which I also need to process for the blog. That may take a while.

We did make a few interesting photos with our smart phones that we have included below. That can whet your appetite for the really amazing images that will follow.

The Petrified Forest National Park Welcome Center was built around surviving examples of petrified trees. These examples were around a covered area for visitors to congregate.

The Painted Desert Inn, historic gathering place for travelers now features exhibits of the park's past.

Outside Painted Desert Inn. Example of good light.

Navajo man shows weaving done by his 86 year old grandmother.

Young Navajo man shows exhibit of his grandfather who was a Navajo code talker during World War II

The snack bar displayed the fascination there for the old Route 66

The weather was forecast to be foul in the afternoon, windy and rainy. It turned out to be sunny all day with a slight breeze. The temperature did rise significantly as the day progressed, becoming pretty hot before we left. Yesterday I wrote about how windy it was as we arrived at the RV park. I took no photos of the park at that time. However, this morning the weather was cool, clear, and still. The park looked as though it had been washed and freshly rearranged. Note the photo below. Really a nice RV park.

Our slot at Meteor Crater RV Park

When we did our hurried drive-through of the Petrified Forest National Park last night in order to reach I-40, it was overcast and dismal. We looked around at the park features and were not impressed at all. Today the light was good, so good by the late afternoon when we had to leave that we wished we could start the photos all over in that fabulous light. What a difference good light makes! The images, especially toward the end, are gorgeous. What an amazing place in good light!

In the morning we did take time to watch the progress of the solar eclipse. A ranger at the national park welcome center was passing out free viewing eye glasses in the parking lot. It was a scene of many different kinds of people from many different places sitting or lying down looking up at the sky while wearing these eye glasses. To think that I had prepared by spending good money ordering and express shipping such eye wear to arrive prior to leaving for our journey.

Steven and Betty watching solar eclipse.

The park's name is strange. Most of the original petrified forest wood has been stolen over the years. The rangers tell everyone entering to take nothing out of the park, but we saw some dubious actions by people. Due to this, there is only a fraction of the original petrified wood left to be seen. However, the painted desert extends over most of the area, but is not so designated. The northern part is designated as painted desert, and the southern part is designated as petrified forest; but the name of the park only refers to the petrified forest. You will spent much more time amazed at the painted desert than looking at petrified wood.

Tomorrow we go down the street to the meteor crater to get some more photos. We plan to leave for Cottonwood, AZ mid-afternoon, since it should only take about 1 1/2 hours to get there from here. We must check out of the RV park by 1 pm, but will likely leave early and tow the Jeep on down the street to be parked while we visit the meteor crater. Then we will not need to watch the clock for a 1 pm check out. It is hard to believe that we soon will wrap up phase one of our long journey. August 28 the RV tour begins in Nevada. While at the Cottonwood park, we shall be visiting with an old friend and doing things with her rather than visiting national parks. We hope to relax a bit before launching into the next phase of our adventure.

Thanks to all of you who write to us and make comments on the blog. It is good to know that friends are following us along the way.

What follows are more photos of the national park, added as time allowed to process them. No photograph, no matter how carefully captured and processed, can convey how this place looks in good light, but this may give you some idea of the colors and scope of its dimensions.