In Eastern Arizona, straddling Interstate 40 is Petrified Forest National Park. Once the home to a prehistoric forest, the park is now a desert, strewn with reminders of its ancient past. The petrified remains are not wood, of course, but quartz that was formed in a process that took millions of years.

Established in 1982, the park was the home to various inhabitants for perhaps 13,000 years.  You can see remnants of the parks’ former residents. And don’t miss the painted desert, which can be a menagerie of colors as far as the eye can see. Other historic and beautiful sites await, whether man-made or natural in one of the most unique national parks.