Road Trip to Northern Arizona

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Thursday, 26 April 2018 - Stayed at La Posada in Winslow, then headed out early to Petrified Forest National Park where we explored the Rainbow Forest Museum and walked a trail among giant fossilized logs of Late Triassic wood, learned about how silica replaced organic material over millions of years to create colorful petrified wood, enjoyed dramatic desert and rock formations throughout the park, and ended the road trip with the drive back to Phoenix after an unforgettable adventure.

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We stayed at La Posada in Winslow - a great hotel. Up early and out to Petrified Forest when they opened. We went to the Rainbow Forest Museum and a nice trail on the south side of the park. Giant logs of rock were everywhere.
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The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Period, about 225 million years ago. Beginning about 60 million years ago, the Colorado Plateau, of which the park is part, was pushed upward by tectonic forces and exposed to increased erosion
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The petrified wood up close

Groundwater dissolved silica (silicon dioxide) from the ash and carried it into the logs, where it formed quartz crystals that gradually replaced the organic matter. Traces of iron oxide and other substances combined with the silica to create varied colors in the petrified wood.
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The logs break into sections when erosion moves the earth below the log and its own weight breaks the log.
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Inside a petrified log
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A huge tree with its root ball
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Rock formations which look like soil - it is hard sandstone from 200 million years ago.
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Angie working the Petrified Forest
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How does that picture look?

End of the trip - we returned to Phoenix so Angie and Joe could catch a flight back to Atlanta. We had a great time - a typical Cal vacation where we go go go. But still lots of fun.
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