Petrified Forest

We drove into Arizona today. There is something strange about this place. The ground is pink, and it's getting pinker. We were driving along, minding our own business when we saw a sign for Petrified Forest National Park. We were debating whether to go or not, but being the curious people we are, we had to take a look, just a quick one, we had places to be, people to met and adventures to have. It was a drive through park, you drive through and see the sights and then get out. We went in, and oh my goodness, it was an incredible place. It was amazing. We couldn't believe that we were thinking about skipping this place. Do you know what a petrified forest is? We know you don't, so we'll tell you because now we do. It's a forest that has had some kind of exposure to certain extreme conditions, such as a volcano, and instead of the forest just burning to smithereens, it was fossilized and all the tree's wood was preserved (in a way) and now turned to stone. There were huge, long trunks of trees all petrified in this way on the ground. When you touched them they hard and cold, it was stone, but it looked just like wood. Our 45 minute detour turned into several hours and it got dark. The park closes at sunset and we were still there and not done yet. A very polite and friendly ranger pulled us over and told us we gotta be heading out. We still hadn't finished going through the park, and couldn't bear the thought of leaving this magical place without seeing everything to be seen, so we resolve to come back tomorrow.