Ben and Juliann: Petrified Wood National Park

Our first stop once we reached Petrified Wood National Park was the Visitor Center. Jo was pretty excited to see some dinosaur bones.

We were able to see a Phytosaur skull, which are the most commonly found vertebrate fossils found at this National Park. They are similar to our modern day crocodiles. This skulls is one of the largest Phytosaur skulls ever collected, at a length of four feet. He would have measured approximately 17 feet long! We used Jo as a size comparison.

Above Ben and Jo is a cast from fossils collected within Arizona made from the four foot skull.

We were able to see a few more dinosaurs...A Placerias hesternus which was a large "reptile" with mammalian characteristics.

A Rauisuchid which was one of the top terrestrial predators in the late Triassic period. These guys are also more closely related to crocodiles than to dinosaurs. And the little guy in the front was an Aetosaur. All of these fossils were found around this area.

After looking at lots of fossils, Jo was able to go and dig up a few of her own. Our cute future paleontologist.

After the visitors center, we went on the Giant Logs loop. It took us around the Rainbow Forest. This area has some of the largest logs in the park.

It was pretty awesome to see the remains of all these large trees and to think that this desolate, dry land was once a forest

All the hikes that we went on were paved. It was great because Jo did not have to be in a carrier (which she is not super fond of) and was able walk Khloe.

She was in heaven. Endless paths to run, tons of rocks, and lots of dirt; it was a dream for her.

Poor little Bree was not enjoying it though. She only walked about ten minutes before she was too tired. The beginning of the first hike had quite a few stairs. Near the end of the stairs she would try to jump up and her belly would hit the concrete step. Those stubby legs just weren't cutting it. Jessie had to carry her for a while.

Once it was Ben's turn to take over Bree duty, he helped her find a nice place to sit right on top of the camera bag.

The petrified wood was beautiful. Each piece is so unique.

Some pieces looked like rock, while others looked just like wood.

We stopped at viewpoints along the way. Most weren't super exciting. We saw Newspaper rock with petroglyphs on it, Jasper Forest, and a few other things that weren't highly memorable.

We enjoyed another hiking loop at Crystal Forest. It was just as neat as Rainbow Forest.

Little Bridgie enjoyed snoozing in the carrier.

Jo had fun finding logs for us to take her picture by...

as well as in.

Jo started to get more and more adventurous on this trail; running ahead of us. Ben and I would keep telling her to come back. She would just turn around and yell to us, "I be ok, I be ok," then turn around and start running again.

Most of the paved walkways were pretty flat. However, she did reach one that was up a small hill. We called her back and she stopped, turned around, and wobbled while saying, "I be ok, Mom." We thought she was going to fall. After that, Ben had to sprint up there to catch her and we had to constantly battle to keep her with us.