Petrified!

From Chinle, Arizona, we drove south to Petrified Forest National Park and saw the forest laying on the ground under the form of huge, cut up logs.

They looked as if some lumberjacks and their chain saw had been busy turning these huge trees into small pieces. We learned something about distant times when dinosaur still roamed the planet and the dead forest got buried deep into sand and all the silica seeped into the wood before turning it into mineral. We particularly appreciated the "Blue Mesa" section of the Park...

Then we drove to Flagstaff, a city of 70,000, planted in the middle of a huge ponderosa forest and tucked under the San Francisco Mountains.

We liked the town very much with its true western character. I almost could live there, especially when there is some skiing available just 30 minutes away!