We Visited All 63 U.S. National Parks

When visited:            July, 1987 and October, 1989

Date Established:      1962 – 1906 National Monument

Park ranking:            56 out of 63

Why to go:                 Petrified Logs on Giant Logs Trail, Painted Desert, our 1^st park together!

Why not to go:          Hot in summer – small park – not more than a day without backpacking

Arizona is a beautiful state – being raised in the northeast it was completely mind blowing to me to be in the desert. When I graduated from college in 1987, I flew to Phoenix – my older brother was in training there for a few weeks and he encouraged me to visit – this was the first time I had travelled solo by flying and renting a car. The trip allowed me to explore Apache Junction and the dirt roads through the desert around Phoenix and allowed me to see my first road runner. I also travelled north from Phoenix stopping at Montezuma’s Castle National Monument, Sedona, Meteor Crater and Walnut Canyon National Monument.

I remember the freedom to stop where I wanted, when I wanted without a care in the world. I remember stopping in Flagstaff at a restaurant for a steak dinner and blasting the Eagles when I travelled through Winslow, Arizona.  

“Well, I’m standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see”

Take It Easy by the Eagles

Petrified Log on the Giant Logs Trail

My main destination was the Grand Canyon, but I decided to “side trip” it to Petrified Forest National Park and Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  All of this was new to me, I had visited the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, the Badlands and Rocky Mountain national parks two years earlier so I was familiar with the beauty.  But I wasn’t a national park connoisseur – I didn’t hike much and I don’t think I owned a hiking backpack.  So my visits were mostly seeing what I could see from the car and the pull outs.  I now regret not being more adventurous and not taking advantage of my youthful health to do strenuous hikes –  I also regret not getting into Utah (which is now my favorite state for scenery) to experience Zion and Arches when they were not as popular as they are today.

Missy appearing petrified

I had seen Badlands National Park in South Dakota two years earlier, but I really enjoyed seeing the painted desert – the different shapes and colors of the dunes were stunning.  It truly is an artist’s pallet of color dreams.  I didn’t spend much time in the park – doing a drive through and getting out to touch the petrified wood and walk some of the nature trails – I had never seen petrified wood before so the concept of wood turning to stone was mind numbing – again being from the northeast we expected wood to rot over the years turning into rich soil to regrow the forest.

I will save my Grand Canyon stories for that post, but I was so impressed with Arizona, we basically recreated the trip for our honeymoon two years later (plus Monument Valley!).  Missy was in medical school so we didn’t have much time post wedding, so we planned the trip for about 10 days.

I fondly remember laughing during our visit to Petrified Forest National Park on the Giant Logs Trail as we immaturely pretended to be deathly afraid (petrified) in the park. 

Nice Glasses — now those are petrifying

It was much more enjoyable to visit in October with the cool morning and sweatshirt weather vs the dangerous heat from June which I experienced two years earlier – we had a picture postcard weather day and walked through some trails on the park and enjoyed the freedom – (we later went to the Canyon de Chelly and were amazed that the historical buildings were still accessible and visited Monument Valley Tribal Park which is unforgettable)

Canyon de Chelly

My positive memories of the park still linger though I haven’t returned – we return to Utah often but really should make a visit back to Arizona. This quote from the NPS site begs for us to return “here are fossils, badlands, buttes and mesas, ancient petroglyphs, wildlife and wildflowers, and vast vistas for more than a hundred miles! If you are craving some quiet solitude, the Painted Desert is perfect for hiking and contemplation.” We certainly didn’t experience all of this on our visits – shame on us

The National Park Service provides the following directions for accessing the park in Arizona – we travelled the park eastbound.

Westbound Interstate 40 travelers should take Exit 311, drive the 28 miles through the park and connect with Highway 180 at the south end. Travel 19 miles on Highway 180 North to return to Interstate 40 via Holbrook.

Eastbound Interstate 40 travelers should take Exit 285 into Holbrook then travel 19 miles on Highway 180 South to the park’s south entrance. Drive the 28 miles north through the park to return to Interstate 40.

Petrified Forest will go down as the FIRST  park that Missy and I saw together – the start of our quest to 63 – we certainly didn’t know that was our quest then.  Every journey starts with a single step and while we certainly didn’t explore this park as we have many others, it was the visit where it began.

We were just two youngsters in love, having the time of our lives in a desert that was completely unusual to us – and isn’t that what’s best about national parks – learning and seeing something that you didn’t know before.

Let’s party like it’s 1989