The Petrified Forest & Painted Desert, Badlands

Petrified Forest National Park is in northeastern Arizona. In its south, the Rainbow Forest is full of colorful petrified wood. It’s home to the Rainbow Forest Museum, with its paleontology exhibits and many trail access points. In the park's center are the petroglyphs of Newspaper Rock and the ruined village of Puerco Pueblo. To the north, the Painted Desert Inn, a 1930s adobe building, is a museum with Hopi murals.

The Painted Desert is a United States desert of Badlands in the Four Corners area, running from near the east end of Grand Canyon National Park and southeast into Petrified Forest National Park. The Painted Desert was named by a Spanish expedition under Francisco Vazquez de Coronado during his 1540 quest to find the Seven Cities of Cibola. He located these some 40 miles (60 km) east of the now Petrified Forest National Park. Finding the cities were not made of gold, Coronado sent an expedition to find the Colorado River to gain supplies. Passing through the wonderland of colors, they named the area El Desierto Pintado ("The Painted Desert")