Speaker 1: If we were to hop into a time machine and
Speaker 1: travel back to the year two million b C. Let's
Speaker 1: just say things wouldn't go well for us. This was
Speaker 1: a time when the food chain was dominated by crocodiles
Speaker 1: the size of our r V, when salamander like creatures
Speaker 1: were the size of Great Danes, and when modern day
Speaker 1: Arizona was a veritable Jurassic Park of dinosaurs and jungles.
Speaker 1: Imagine it's basically visiting East Laublar in Jurassic Park, but
Speaker 1: instead of having Jeff Goldbloom's Pippie comic relief, it's pure
Speaker 1: terror and there's no Doctor Grant or Laura Dern to
Speaker 1: save you. Do I get to meet like Chris Pratt,
Speaker 1: Because if I get to meet Chris Pratt, then I
Speaker 1: mean I'm jumping into the wrong Jurassic Park. But I
Speaker 1: know barely the same franchise I know. Fortunately, Arizona is
Speaker 1: much safer in when your biggest risk is getting a sunburn. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but part of the prehistoric era has been fossilized and preserved,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna enjoy that today. On park Landia, as
Speaker 1: we talked about Petrified Forest National Park, I'm Matt, I'm
Speaker 1: Brad we sold our loft in Chicago and gave up
Speaker 1: our city dwelling existence to live in an RV and
Speaker 1: travel the country full time. Thus, to us in dog Finn,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening. The most notable aspect of this prehistoric
Speaker 1: time period is the ambiance of crystallized logs that give
Speaker 1: Petrified National Park its name. A trip to this park
Speaker 1: and out of the way destination in sleepy northeastern Arizona
Speaker 1: reveals a glimpse into the wild past more so than
Speaker 1: any other national park. I mean, it feels like a
Speaker 1: figurative time travel through this fossilized world. Yeah, that's absolutely true.
Speaker 1: One thing I think is important to point out for
Speaker 1: anyone coming here expecting some sort of forest, which is fair. Um,
Speaker 1: you really shouldn't expect anything tropical or jungle like. This
Speaker 1: isn't the year anymore fortunate Nowadays there really isn't anything
Speaker 1: foresty whatsoever. And honestly, the only green thing you're likely
Speaker 1: to see here is my cactus phone case. Well, you
Speaker 1: have to tell everyone your phone case's name. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: cactus Jack is the name of my phone case? And
Speaker 1: what name? I named it? After? A Mexican restaurant chain
Speaker 1: that I remember seeing in New Hampshire growing up. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it was beyond that, and I honestly
Speaker 1: don't have to remember eating there, but apparently it left
Speaker 1: enough of an impact that of now named my phone
Speaker 1: case after it. Yeah, I guess you should probably get
Speaker 1: back to the landscape though. Let's cut Yeah, let's get
Speaker 1: back the landscape here. Petrified Forest is almost eerily quiet, really,
Speaker 1: with not not many animals aside from the occasional crow,
Speaker 1: which kind of fits this arid, barren landscape. But in
Speaker 1: spite of its name, which sounds rather lush, Pretrified Forest
Speaker 1: is a desert with mostly just sandstone and these gigantic
Speaker 1: fallen logs that have been transformed over time into shimmering crystals.
Speaker 1: That's not to suggest that it's all just dystopian and arid, though,
Speaker 1: this this landscape is really rich with natural beauty and
Speaker 1: of course plenty of Instagram opportunities. Yes, all those Instagram opportunities.
Speaker 1: I mean the pictures that we got here are probably
Speaker 1: some of my favorite from the beautiful Yeah, they're like,
Speaker 1: it's a hauntingly beautiful area and it really comes out
Speaker 1: well in photos. You don't really need to use filters
Speaker 1: on Instagram for that hashtag no filter. Yeah exactly. Um. So,
Speaker 1: in addition to dinosaur fossils and petroglyss left behind by
Speaker 1: native people who used to live here, Petrified Forest is
Speaker 1: ultimately a well preserved look at these mighty trees that
Speaker 1: once thrived in this region when this part of Arizona
Speaker 1: was a tropical terrain. Now these trees have long since
Speaker 1: fallen um mostly due to raging rivers that toppled them
Speaker 1: and ultimately wound up burying them in volcanic ash and
Speaker 1: silt and thus fossilizing them over the course of hundreds
Speaker 1: of millions of years. I mean, they really are the
Speaker 1: stars of the show here at the Petrified Forest. I mean,
Speaker 1: with some of the most densest concentration of logs seen
Speaker 1: in the places like the Painted Desert, the Rainbow Forest,
Speaker 1: the Giant Forest. All of us get their names from
Speaker 1: how massive and colorful these logs are today. I mean
Speaker 1: the Old Faithful for instance, not to be confused with
Speaker 1: yellow stones. Main attraction is a looming giant log in
Speaker 1: the Giant Forest. I mean it's as wide as a bus. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's huge. I mean we should really just throw it back.
Speaker 1: I mean way back to how these logs came to be.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're really better at describing that. Yeah, alright,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you the Betty Crocker recipe version of
Speaker 1: how petrified logs are formed. Um So, when these trees
Speaker 1: fell and became buried in sediment and ash, that essentially
Speaker 1: cuts off oxygen in the wood. Uh yeah, no more oxygen.
Speaker 1: So eventually water will seep in and when it makes
Speaker 1: us with the sediment, it forms silica in the ash
Speaker 1: and begins this slow, long, drawn out process of transforming
Speaker 1: the original tissue in the wood into rock. And along
Speaker 1: the way, the silica turns into quartz and it gets
Speaker 1: its colors based on various mineral content from things like
Speaker 1: chromium and iron and carbon. And so fast forward a
Speaker 1: couple hundred million years and that settlement is removed by
Speaker 1: wind and these locks are now exposed as glistening, essentially
Speaker 1: giant gems with colors like purple, green, blue. Basically, it's
Speaker 1: a desert filled with these gigantic easter egg looking logs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that process that lead the petrified forest. I
Speaker 1: mean it's a lengthy and elaborate recipe from other nature,
Speaker 1: just like you mentioned, I know, the results may sound
Speaker 1: like they're stale or hard as rock, but they're beautifully
Speaker 1: breathtaking and it's unlike anything else I've seen on Earth,
Speaker 1: and we've again been well traveled, so it's one of
Speaker 1: those things like it's just it's so beautiful. How this
Speaker 1: park contains some of the most concentrated collections of petrified woods,
Speaker 1: which people end up trying to steal, which is not
Speaker 1: not okay, yeah, leave them be. Um. More so than
Speaker 1: most parks, Petrified forests, for better or worse, is known
Speaker 1: as kind of a drive through park. A lot of
Speaker 1: people don't spend a ton of time here um, which
Speaker 1: is kind of unfortunate because there's a lot to see,
Speaker 1: but it's understandable. That's mostly due to the fact that
Speaker 1: the park is not very huge to begin with. But
Speaker 1: then it's bisected by this main park road and there
Speaker 1: are two entrances, one on the north end, one on
Speaker 1: the south end, and then you have this main park
Speaker 1: road that goes right through it, with a few little
Speaker 1: trails here and they're off that go off that road. Um.
Speaker 1: But on the kind of positive side of that, it
Speaker 1: is refreshingly straightforward and it makes it very easy to
Speaker 1: navigate this park with very clear markers denoting hiking trails,
Speaker 1: historic sites, and viewpoints along the way. It's compared to
Speaker 1: a lot of other parks that are like yellow Stone
Speaker 1: or Yosemite, which have like kind of a dizzying array
Speaker 1: of entry points and it's a little overwhelming. So especially
Speaker 1: for newbies who are visiting for the first time, Petrified
Speaker 1: Forest is very doable and very welcoming in that way.
Speaker 1: It's kind of it's not as intimidating. I found that
Speaker 1: very refreshing trails. One of the musty stops for me
Speaker 1: was the Blue Masa Trail. I mean, as easy as
Speaker 1: the name is. It was located off the Blue Maza Road.
Speaker 1: I mean, didn't we say it was pretty straightforward, very straightforward.
Speaker 1: You know exactly where you're going with the Blue Maza Road,
Speaker 1: and this one's located right in the middle of the park.
Speaker 1: I mean the trail is an easy, like one mile loop,
Speaker 1: but within a short distance it really packs a punch.
Speaker 1: I mean the whole thing is paved, so starting out
Speaker 1: along the Mesa ridge with sweeping views of the surrounding desert,
Speaker 1: I mean you quickly get transformed in this trail and
Speaker 1: you get to weave down into some colorful blad lands.
Speaker 1: It's lit with tints of purples and blues, hence the name.
Speaker 1: I know, right like a name. Yeah. I mean once
Speaker 1: we reach the bottom, the trail loops through a forest
Speaker 1: of petrified logs, many of them the size of boulders.
Speaker 1: I mean, between the colors of the bad lands and
Speaker 1: the petrified wood, this trail is as colorful as the
Speaker 1: Las Vegas strip. I mean, no neon signs though, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's no casino, just as colorful, just as colorful. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just a great place to, you know, get a
Speaker 1: work call, which Matt did not like. Um, but when
Speaker 1: you're helping guide and run a business, sometimes you have
Speaker 1: to take those phone calls right in the middle of
Speaker 1: a trail, right pabe Yeah. I mean one another pro
Speaker 1: of this trail is it's a great trail for passive
Speaker 1: aggressively storming away. Um. It's nice and flat, great for that.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, I mean when you're not doing that, when
Speaker 1: or not being annoyed. Uh, it's just a great stroll
Speaker 1: to take photos and enjoy the starting scenery. And the
Speaker 1: best part for us, what we loved the most was
Speaker 1: being able to take our dog Finn. Yeah, Finn, he's
Speaker 1: so amazing. I mean, watching Finny run is like watching
Speaker 1: a t Rex on forefront arms, like, yeah, pretty much,
Speaker 1: pretty much, so cute, so fun. And Finn he's a
Speaker 1: he's a mini dogs and so he's he's not at
Speaker 1: his fattest. He was thirteen pounds and it is right now,
Speaker 1: he's about thirteen pounds. He's just a small, brown haired,
Speaker 1: short haired minni docks in and he is our best
Speaker 1: friend and our companion, and you know, whenever I'm feeling emotional,
Speaker 1: he's always there for me. And Finn is really more
Speaker 1: than just our dog. He's our friend and that's why
Speaker 1: we really enjoy going to these national parks with him
Speaker 1: and bringing him whenever. Really cool. But if there's bears
Speaker 1: out there at Gators, we definitely stay away from Now
Speaker 1: he stays in the air v But yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It's really great to be able to experience stuff like
Speaker 1: this with him. And not all national parks are, like
Speaker 1: you said, very dog friendly. Petrified Forest really is. It's
Speaker 1: one of the most dog friendly parks in the system,
Speaker 1: and it's cool to be able to take him out
Speaker 1: with us and let him enjoy the scenery along with us,
Speaker 1: and this is a great trail for him. The length
Speaker 1: was ideal, it wasn't too long, not much elevation change,
Speaker 1: so we could easily do it without getting too tired.
Speaker 1: And also you could tell he was equally as obsessed
Speaker 1: with a petrified wood as we were. Just beautiful things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: luckily he didn't be on them. Oh yeah no. And
Speaker 1: for you, this wasn't your first time hiking the Blue
Speaker 1: Oh no no, this is my second time petrified forest,
Speaker 1: and in particular, second time hiking the Blue Masa Trail.
Speaker 1: And I can definitively say that this trail is definitely
Speaker 1: within my top three favorite hiking trails of any national park,
Speaker 1: which is a huge statement but well deserved, especially because
Speaker 1: you love like te hike. Yeah, you're a small time
Speaker 1: hiker like for me, this would be perfect for me
Speaker 1: to name one of my top three. But yeah, it
Speaker 1: is kind of surprising because I tend to like really
Speaker 1: hardcore trails and I do long, drawn out hikes. I've
Speaker 1: done them in so many different national parks, so this one,
Speaker 1: I think it really indicates how amazing this short little
Speaker 1: trail is. It's just so stunning from every vantage point,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of place that when I'm hiking here alone,
Speaker 1: like I did on my first trip here, it's I
Speaker 1: can't help say things aloud to myself, just totally al
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh jeez, and can you believe this view?
Speaker 1: And I'm just like, he talks to himself more often
Speaker 1: than he would like to admit, Like I'll catch him
Speaker 1: talking to himself out loud and I'll be like, I
Speaker 1: didn't say anything. I'm like, yes, Well, the thing is,
Speaker 1: I think I'm muttering or I think I'm whispering under
Speaker 1: my breath or something, but I guess I just I
Speaker 1: whisper much louder than I think I do. So that's
Speaker 1: what I've been. That's what I spent my whole time
Speaker 1: the Blue Wings of Trail doing, um, which is you
Speaker 1: can't help it. It's just so breathtaking like that. But
Speaker 1: that being said, and and despite the fact that I'm
Speaker 1: obsessed with this trail, you should know that Petrified Forest
Speaker 1: is not really known as like a hiking mecca. There's
Speaker 1: not a lot of hiking trails here. There are really
Speaker 1: only seven official trails, and none of them are longer
Speaker 1: than three miles in length, which it makes it a
Speaker 1: very family friendly park. Very family friendly, nothing to store anyway,
Speaker 1: especially for those road trips, you know, through the country
Speaker 1: when you aren't those RVs. Yeah, exactly. And it's it
Speaker 1: also makes sense why it's a drive through kind of
Speaker 1: park because people can easily just meander through it, hop
Speaker 1: off to a quick little trail here and there, and
Speaker 1: continue on your way. And that's awesome. That's a great thing.
Speaker 1: It's it makes it possible to do all pretty much
Speaker 1: all the parks trails in one visit, in one afternoon,
Speaker 1: and these trails do a great job of getting you
Speaker 1: up close and personal with some of the most on
Speaker 1: spiring petrified specimens and historic sites. You are listening to
Speaker 1: the park Landed podcast from my Heart Radio, hosted by
Speaker 1: Brad and Matt carrollac. We'll be back with more of
Speaker 1: the Parklandia podcast from my heart Radio. I'm Matt and
Speaker 1: I'm Brad. You were listening to the park Landed podcast
Speaker 1: from my heart Radio. Man, or you tell me about that.
Speaker 1: One highlight is the Giant Logs Trail. Like, isn't that
Speaker 1: located right behind the Rainbow Forest Museum. Yeah? Yeah, the
Speaker 1: Giant Logs Trail, as the the name is definitely kind
Speaker 1: of an eyecatcher. It just sounds so larger than life,
Speaker 1: incredible like it is. And yeah, it starts right behind
Speaker 1: the Rainbow Forest Museum, which is absolutely worth a visit
Speaker 1: as well for learning all about the dinosaur history here
Speaker 1: in fossils Um. But the Giant Logs Trail has some
Speaker 1: of the largest petrified logs anywhere on Earth, including Old Faithful,
Speaker 1: and they're just it's mind blowing how massive these things were.
Speaker 1: And to imagine what these things must have been like
Speaker 1: when they were standing. They must have been the size
Speaker 1: of like Sekoia trees or something. And now they're glistening
Speaker 1: like gems pretty much, and that's amazing. But then something
Speaker 1: for something completely different. There's the Puerco Pueblo Trail, also
Speaker 1: an easy trail, it's only about point three miles round trip.
Speaker 1: In this highlights another very important aspect of the park,
Speaker 1: which is the history and ancient civilizations that once lived here.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's really hard to imagine living in such
Speaker 1: a seemingly barren landscape. I mean, yeah, I know nowadays
Speaker 1: I can't imagine even like doing backcountry camping here. I
Speaker 1: don't know how that would even work, but I believe
Speaker 1: it or not. Some two thousand years ago or so,
Speaker 1: whole communities used to thrive here and there. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: there are I can back it up. There are hundreds
Speaker 1: of sites throughout the park with evidence um of these
Speaker 1: ancient civilizations, some of which left behind petroglyphs and village
Speaker 1: ruins that you can tour and look at marble apt
Speaker 1: and you said, wuere will play blow where cool? Yes,
Speaker 1: it's kind of it's tricky to say, where go Pueblo.
Speaker 1: You kind of have to stay in slow motion to
Speaker 1: get it right, especially for me. I'm horrible in their
Speaker 1: own pronunciations. So you don't oh, you don't say, oh,
Speaker 1: you're funny. Yes, that is it. It's just one of
Speaker 1: the best places to witness history. I mean thanks to
Speaker 1: like wealth preserved structures. Back then, hundreds of people lived
Speaker 1: in the window loss and doorless web blows concentrated by
Speaker 1: water sources. Ladder serves as their entry point, so no windows,
Speaker 1: you're going down, yes, through a ladder. And these dwellings
Speaker 1: were situated right around these central plazas, which were community
Speaker 1: spaces for socializing and gathering. Yes, it's like rocky kind
Speaker 1: of clay huts, no windows, no doors, um, and I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously water is everything. You have to concentrate your living
Speaker 1: accommodations by that. Yes, we learned that in Mace of Verdane.
Speaker 1: Yeah we did, but we'll talk about that later. UM
Speaker 1: quick side note UM relating to Puerco Pueblow. I remember
Speaker 1: when I was here the first time, This was when
Speaker 1: I was a little solo trip Um. I saw this
Speaker 1: cautioning cautionary sign by the trailhead warning about dangerous bees
Speaker 1: in the area, and I remember thinking, what a missed
Speaker 1: opportunity it was not to say, be where the E
Speaker 1: W A R E, Like, how many times in life
Speaker 1: you're gonna have the opportunity to spell that out and
Speaker 1: they didn't use it? Is very punny. Yeah, it was shocking. Um. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I didn't see any dangerous bees, so it all worked out. Um.
Speaker 1: Not far from Puerko play Blow is newspaper rock. Um
Speaker 1: just down the street or down the main road, would say,
Speaker 1: just a stone throw away, A stone throw from Puerko
Speaker 1: play Blow. It's the This is definitely the best site
Speaker 1: for viewing Petrick lifts in the park. There's such a
Speaker 1: huge concentration of them here there. I think, honestly, there's
Speaker 1: like more than six hundred or so petri lifts. UM.
Speaker 1: And the amazing thing about petro lifts really anywhere you
Speaker 1: see them, but particularly here in such a large amount,
Speaker 1: they provide a mysteria is and fascinating little peak into
Speaker 1: the past and what life must have been like for
Speaker 1: this civilization. Now you're gonna have to tell me more
Speaker 1: about this because when we went through I didn't really
Speaker 1: get to go and see this, which I'm kind of
Speaker 1: bummed out. But you know, the future is still possible,
Speaker 1: and petroglyphs will be there in the future. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they're I'm obsessed with petroglyphs. They're so interesting. Uh, and
Speaker 1: these ones in particular, UM. The National Park Service and
Speaker 1: archaeologists have reached out to descendants of of people from
Speaker 1: the Navajo Zuni Hopie people's to examine these petriclyphs and
Speaker 1: see if they could translate any of them. Um. They
Speaker 1: only recognize a few of them, so they're not able
Speaker 1: to piece together what the meanings really were, what they
Speaker 1: were trying to communicate. We can only guess really, were
Speaker 1: they making symbols of spirituality? Where they stories? Where they warnings?
Speaker 1: Were these prehistoric emojis? The world may never know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the original emojis. Oh man, maybe these uh will be
Speaker 1: found when we discover why the ancestral pueblo from masa
Speaker 1: Verde National Park left the city. Um, they built their
Speaker 1: cities in the mountains and they vanished. But again, we'll
Speaker 1: have to stay tuned for a future episode. Yes, sorry,
Speaker 1: let's stay back to mark. I am so so beautiful.
Speaker 1: Let's yeah put a pain and that fine? Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk about these ancient civilizations that abandoned the area
Speaker 1: for reasons unknown, much like mesa Verde and they I add.
Speaker 1: But anyways, modern day people UM sought it out for
Speaker 1: new reasons tourism I mean, after the train tracks were
Speaker 1: laid through northeastern Arizona, local and national advocates sought to
Speaker 1: capitalize on the area's unique geography by using the rails
Speaker 1: to bring in tourists and to see that painted desert
Speaker 1: I mean. Root sixty six directly passes through the present
Speaker 1: day park as well, making it the only national park
Speaker 1: that contains a section of that historic highway. Yes, and
Speaker 1: as with so many other things in the modern day,
Speaker 1: it was just a matter of seeing an opportunity to
Speaker 1: make money, so they did in naturally, hotels and roadside
Speaker 1: ends began to pop up around the area, including UM
Speaker 1: something called the Painted Desert in which is within still
Speaker 1: within the national park. It's now no longer an end,
Speaker 1: it's a museum without lodging and UM. Of course, this
Speaker 1: increased tourism and travelers um to the area brought its
Speaker 1: own set of problems. In the case of petrified forests,
Speaker 1: this meant people were talkting smaller pieces of petrified wood
Speaker 1: to keep the souvenirs or I don't know, like colorful
Speaker 1: paper weights or something. UM And of course, considering the
Speaker 1: limitations of this geographic marvel, this is appalling. It is.
Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about the curse of the
Speaker 1: Petrified Forest folklore. We're talking about Petrified Forest National Park
Speaker 1: this week, and we're starting to get into something a
Speaker 1: little ominous. Yes, we are going to talk about the
Speaker 1: curse of the Petrified Forest. You know, the one referenced
Speaker 1: in Netflix show Dead to me about Yeah, I love
Speaker 1: that show about how Steve damn you Steve. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: there was this dialogue between Steve and UM, one of
Speaker 1: the stars, Linda Cardilini. Um. Apparently Steve stole petrified wood
Speaker 1: from Petrified Forest National Park and guess what handed up
Speaker 1: dead in a swimming pool? Oops, spoiler alert just like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's not be like Steve. No, let's not be like Steve.
Speaker 1: And sorry, bet you didn't think you'd be hearing about
Speaker 1: dead to me spoilers on this podcast. But that's just
Speaker 1: because clearly Netflix producers love the Petrified forests as much
Speaker 1: as we do. And you know, this curse is serious stuff, Yeah,
Speaker 1: very serious stuff. Thankfully we have park champions like John
Speaker 1: Ware and Theodore Roosevelt to thank for protecting the petrified
Speaker 1: wood for future generations and from future Steve's um so.
Speaker 1: John Ware was the first to conduct a scientific excavation
Speaker 1: of the landscape here and he worked with Roosevelt to
Speaker 1: formally protect it, and ultimately than they did give him
Speaker 1: Petrified Forest as National monument status before it eventually got
Speaker 1: upgraded to a National park in the year nineteen sixty two,
Speaker 1: and today about eight hundred thousand annual visitors come to
Speaker 1: Petrod Forests to look rather than take, unless you want
Speaker 1: to end up floating face down in that pool, yeah,
Speaker 1: or you know, with a half define which is also
Speaker 1: horrible because in twos and inten Congress allotted funds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: in two thousand tents, so not that long ago. Congress
Speaker 1: allotted funds for parking expansion, which essentially did double Petrified
Speaker 1: Forest protected land. Um. Currently, the National Park Services working
Speaker 1: in developing new regions which will open up potentially new trails,
Speaker 1: more to explore, more to discuss or so really it
Speaker 1: seems like the park is only going to get better
Speaker 1: and better in the future, which is super exciting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this park was really easy to navigate with the r V,
Speaker 1: but you have to leave at night because it's one
Speaker 1: of the few parks with gates that close and lock
Speaker 1: every night so people don't steal the petrified wood and
Speaker 1: become cursed, you know. Like Steve, you're listening to the
Speaker 1: park Landia podcast in my Heart Radio, hosted by Brad
Speaker 1: and Matt Carrouac. We'll be back with more of the
Speaker 1: park Landia podcast from my heart Radio My favorite Alright,
Speaker 1: time for one of my favorite segments, Matt, what was
Speaker 1: your favorite thing to do at Petrified Forest National Park? Well,
Speaker 1: my favorite thing I feel like the obvious one of
Speaker 1: the blue mas at because that's just amazing and I'm
Speaker 1: obsessed with it. But I will I want to also
Speaker 1: highlight the Rainbow Forest Museum. I think it's incredible, an
Speaker 1: immersive and just very cool to see and learn more
Speaker 1: about the dinosaurs and precaus or canials that used to
Speaker 1: live here. When I was in the museum the first time, um,
Speaker 1: there was this large mural, an installation that showed depicted
Speaker 1: like the animals that were once here and what life
Speaker 1: was like some two million years ago. And let me
Speaker 1: just say, it look terrifying. I'm really thankful that it's
Speaker 1: not still like that. Um, but it just it's insane
Speaker 1: and incredible, and I just don't it's mind blowing to
Speaker 1: imagine how this landscape can utterly change and transform like that,
Speaker 1: even if it's been a couple hundred million years. Um. Right,
Speaker 1: And well, we're like those three like essential items for
Speaker 1: you because you've been here a couple of times, you
Speaker 1: might be better than mine, but you never know. Yes,
Speaker 1: I've been here a couple of times. UM. So if
Speaker 1: there were three things that I would personally bring to
Speaker 1: pitch fight for us, I would bring sunscreen. It's very sunny,
Speaker 1: even if it's not super hot, it's very sunny, and
Speaker 1: you're out in the wide open. There's no tree cover UM,
Speaker 1: so that's important. I would also suggest layers like sweatshirts,
Speaker 1: light jackets. Um. Again, the desert environment um can get
Speaker 1: surprisingly chilly. And then, like we mentioned earlier, Petrified Forests
Speaker 1: just one of the most dog friendly parks really in
Speaker 1: the National park system. So you got to bring a dog, leash,
Speaker 1: bring your dog, let them enjoy the trails with you.
Speaker 1: Which that leads into my favorite thing was being able
Speaker 1: to bring Finny on the trails with us and get
Speaker 1: some of the most glorious Instagram photos out there. Um.
Speaker 1: And if I had to remember three things is because
Speaker 1: I'm nine percent of the time the driver, is we
Speaker 1: would have to fuel up before going there. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: thing I'd bring is my dog, Finning. And I would
Speaker 1: definitely bring water um, not only for ourselves but for
Speaker 1: Finning and our little like hiking dog bowl UM, so
Speaker 1: that way Finney can get water around along the trail
Speaker 1: and not get exhausted. UM. And we were talking about
Speaker 1: this yesterday and I think pretty much touch our dream
Speaker 1: vacation would be this larger, bigger than life root sixty
Speaker 1: six American road trip UM, much like the one we're taking.
Speaker 1: I mean, bring friends or dogs and energy to recharge
Speaker 1: in the space that you're visiting. I mean that that
Speaker 1: is what the American dream really is, is to do
Speaker 1: what we're doing. And we're so thankful that we get
Speaker 1: this opportunity um and support from the people around us. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think it's so poetic and perfect too, that
Speaker 1: route Route sixty six, this kind of quintessentially American thoroughfare,
Speaker 1: happens to go right through Petrified Forest National Park And
Speaker 1: really it doesn't get more all American than a National
Speaker 1: park either. So it's so ideal and so perfect, and
Speaker 1: it would be really a dream to do all overout
Speaker 1: sixty six as this kind of Americana drive um, and
Speaker 1: just the opportunity to be able to stop off and
Speaker 1: Petrified Forests and do some hikes and learn about dinosaurs
Speaker 1: and petrock lists. It's all. It's all wonderful, all very
Speaker 1: doable and highly recommended. You've been listening to park Landia.
Speaker 1: The show was created by us Matt and Brad Carollac
Speaker 1: along with Christopher hesiotis Our executive producer is Christopher hasiotis
Speaker 1: produced and edited by Mike Johnes. If you're not already subscribed,
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Speaker 1: a lot of pictures in the road. Follow us at
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Speaker 1: at park Landia Podcast. Special thanks to Gabrielle Collins, Crystal Waters,
Speaker 1: and the rest of the park Landia crew, but we
Speaker 1: always want to thank you for listening.