Once Upon a Time, Holbrook was a swamp!

Scientists think it looked like this, long, long ago.
And it had alligator-like creatures, whose skeleton/skull you see here. There were a lot of types of creatures here, who even pre-date the dinosaurs, from the late Triassic period. They also have other skeletons and bones on display.

Watch out! Oooh, scary teeth!! Chomp!

These photos were all taken at the Petrified Forest National Park, which is only about an hour's drive from here, just east of Holbrook. On Tuesday, Bill had driven a group of students there for a field trip. He enjoyed it so much that he took Diane there for a date on Saturday. Bill was a great tour-guide. If grandchildren would like to see it sometime, it would make a great day-trip during your visit here. (We suggest it NOT be during the summer, tho. Too hot. Our sunglasses and hats/visors and water were really needed, even on this breezy atumn day!)

It is amazing how the trees were, over thousands of years, "petrified" or turned into stones. This all happened over 200,000,000 years ago, they estimate. The park rangers really enjoy explaining about it. Can you see the different colors in this cross-section of a tree stump? They consist of different minerals, some very valuable, like amethysts and quartz crystals.

I like this photo of "Explorer Bill" with pieces of petrified logs behind him.

And this one, too! You can get an idea of the huge size of some of the petrified trees from this photo. They are all laying down, and broken into chunks. Some broke natually over the many years. Others were blasted with dynamite by people who did this to extract the precious stones from them for money. We are glad that because this is now a National Park, that kind of thing is illegal.

See the cloud behind and to the right of Grandpa Bill? We think it looks like a dinosaur skeleton!

We like our shadow pictures! There is lots more to see in the park. We only had time and energy to visit one of the observation points and its museum and gift shop this time. This one was called The Rainbow Forest Museum/Giant Logs Trail. Maybe next time we go, we can visit Justin and Ana Paula and Mike and Chris and Amy, too. (They live in Holbrook.) And maybe some of our children and grandchildren can come, too!

This was an especially nice date, Bill! Thanks! He even packed the picnic lunch!