(Courtesy photo National Geographic)

Walking around the Petrified Forest, it’s hard to imagine that the fossilized stones once used to be gigantic trees. It’s just another unique aspect of nature and unique site in Arizona.

The Petrified Forest attracts visitors from all over the world, from paleontologists and geologists to archaeologists and historians. While many travel thousands of miles to see this rare and beautiful place, for us, we only have to take a short road trip.

The forest is located near the city of Holbrook that boasts an abundance of history stemming from prehistoric times and early frontier days when cowboys and cattlemen made the city their ranching community. The city also was a stop along Route 66 and in the 1950s, which boosted the city’s business with travelers coming from across the nation. Today, Holbrook is the embarking ground for travelers and explorers looking to discover the natural beauty of the area in the nearby Petrified Forest, Painted Desert and Monument Valley.

The Petrified Forest National Park is open year-round and travelers can explore and participate in many recreational opportunities, including backpacking, hiking, and horseback riding.

Photo courtesy of meteorcrater.com

With rumors going around about the possibility of traveling to Mars, people are now more than ever excited about taking a vacation from earth. The meteor crater in Winslow, AZ offers just that.

Winslow’s Meteor Crater is the world’s best-preserved meteorite impact site. This crater is the result of a collision between a piece of an asteroid travelling at 26,000 miles per hour and Earth approximately 50,00 years ago.

The crater is nearly one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep.

The crater came to the attention of scientists following its discovery by European settlers in the 19^th century. It’s been dubbed the Canyon Diablo Crater.

There are outdoor observation trails, air-conditioned indoor viewing, a wide screen movie theater and an interactive discovery center at the modern Visitor Center located on the crater rim.

It is said that, in the ‘60s, astronauts used this crater to prepare for the moon landing. So, those wishing to venture to Mars might follow in our famed astronauts’ footsteps (from afar, at least. Leave the true traversing of the crater to your dreams).

Learn more about Winslow’s Meteor Crater by visiting their fun website here.

Courtesy of grand-canyon.com

The Grand Canyon Railway offers visitors a unique way to experience the Grand Canyon.

The train runs from Williams, AZ to the South Rim (a 65 mile trip). There will be a layover at the Grand Canyon, visitors are encouraged to tour the depot, which was constructed in 1910, as well as the nearby area for entertaining lunch spots.

The Old West is revitalized through this railway as actors dressed as bandits stage a mock train robbery during the return trip from the Grand Canyon to Williams.

During the winter season, the line runs The Polar Express from Williams to the “North Pole,” which is a station that is about 17 miles north of town.

Courtesy Photo Flickr

“I was standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona; such a fine sight to see.”

The Eagles may have been singing about a pretty girl in a “flat bed Ford,” but we know that Winslow IS a fine sight to see, one that has more than just a famous street corner.

If you happen to be strolling in from Route 66 or stopping on your way out of Flagstaff, you’ll most likely see that famous statue headlining the Standin’ On the Corner in Winslow, Arizona Park. The park was constructed in 1997 when a group of volunteers decided to create a park in Downtown Winslow, instilling a new sense of tourism-based business. Prior to the 1960s, Winslow was the largest town in all of northern Arizona, due to its prime location on Route 66. When I-40, a transcontinental highway was built, the community saw a downturn in tourism dollars.

Today, the park draws many to its famous corner. It features the statue of the man aimed at being the feature of the song. The statue is surrounded by inscribed donor bricks from community members and visitors, who have told their individual stories about Winslow and its famous corner.

Courtesy Photo National Park Service

For those who wish to experience the Grand Canyon in a unique and rewarding way, hiking the canyon via the South Kaibab Trail is a fun experience.

The trail offers panoramic views and it holds very true to a ridgeline descent. An exhilarating sense of exposure is offered, but there is little shade and no water for the length of the trail.

This trail is the quickest way to the Canyon’s bottom of all the trails offered by the Grand Canyon. It’s a hard way back up to the top though, so you can always switch trails if you want an easier uphill battle.

Courtesy Photo National Park Service

Located near the city of Page, Glen Canyon Dam is the impressive site of a plant that generates more than 1.3 million kilowatts of electricity with each of the 40-ton steel shafts turning at 150 rpm, generating nearly 200,000 horsepower. Since 1956 when the first blast was set off to begin building the impressive 3,700-foot dam, with all eight generators operating at full output, more than 15 million gallons of water will pass through the power plant’s penstocks each minute. The electricity is upgraded on a transformer deck from 13,800 volts to 230,000 and 345,000 volts for transmission to distant markets.

Visitors may tour the historic project free of charge beginning at the Carl B. Hayden Visitor Center perched above the lake and power plant. Kids will enjoy the guided tour featuring video, photography and Native American artifacts.  This is an excellent family activity and one that should not be missed where you can plan to spend anywhere from 1 to 2 hours taking in the views, and exploring the history.

The tour begins at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center where an elevator will take you 528 feet deep into the interior of the dam. One stop along the tour is the gallery where a digital counter registers the money collected from the sale of power.

While visiting the dam, you may also be interested in the recreational facilities in the surrounding area:

http://www.canyon-country.com/lakepowell/.

Courtesy Photo VisitArizona.com

The breathtaking view of rocky formations jutting out of the desert floor, also known as Monument Valley, sits on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northern Arizona, attracting thousands of visitors every year. The scenery invites all to wander among the sandstone pinnacles with such names as The Mittens, Three Sisters, Totem Pole and Yeibichai. This is the land moviemaker John Ford made famous decades ago – the same land that helped make actor John Wayne a star. Travelers can see this homeland of the Navajos by journeying up US Route 163, the Kayenta-Monument Valley Scenic Road near the Arizona-Utah border, near the city of Page.

Beginning in 1939, the Westerns that Ford filmed featured the glory of red mesas , and while sparsely settled by Navajo sheepherders and a few others, became a mecca for sightseers and Old West buffs. Few places offer such a distinct link to the past. People first arrived in the region nearly 12,000 years ago when, archaeologists believe, nomadic tribes followed large game, like woolly mammoths, into the area. Over time, the game became smaller, the people more sophisticated.

Around A.D. 700, significant advances in weaponry and agriculture allowed people to settle permanently. The Anasazi, or ancestral Puebloans, with their superior hunting and farming techniques, developed the first stationary community in the region. Around A.D. 1250, the Puebloans moved from the area leaving their dwellings, now ruins throughout the Navajo Nation. Navajos entered the region later, sometime around A.D. 1500, though there are conflicting theories. Fighting over the land continued almost constantly – whether between different tribes, Spaniards, Mexicans or European-Americans – the region remained awash with turmoil for several centuries. It wasn’t until after the forced “Long Walk of the Navajos” into captivity in New Mexico in the 1860s that the Navajos returned home and witnessed the recognition of their land as sovereign.

The beauty of Monument Valley did not remain secret for very long. An archaeological expedition, funded by the American Museum of Natural History and headed by Charles L. Bernheimer, moved into the valley in 1927. With the help of John Wetherill, Bernheimer sought out sites such as Rainbow Bridge, an enormous natural, rocky arch that stretches 275 feet across at a height of 270 feet. Old Mike, a Ute Indian, then led the group to another natural bridge formation on June 8, 1927. Dubbed Clara Bernheimer Natural Bridge, after Bernheimer’s wife, the obscurely located arch hidden in the remote northern pocket of Arizona appeals to those with a taste for the extreme.

Courtesy Photo ArizonScenicRoads.com

This is the perfect trip for those who just to break away and go for a nice, long drive. This road traverses 82 miles along SR 89A between mileposts 525 and 607.

The Vermilion Cliffs highways is a project involving a partnership of 40 public and private entities providing a combination of 21 interpretive sites or scenic overlooks along 277 miles of state highways in northern Arizona and southern Utah.

The Vermilion Cliffs highways traverse some of the most scenic landforms in the West.

This scenic road is the gateway to the Colorado River in Marble Canyon and to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Heading north on this road from Bitter Springs on the Navajo Nation, travelers can stop at the Navajo Bridge.

Pipe Springs National monument is a historic Mormon settlement travelers can find along the way. Living history here depicts how an early Mormon settlement looked and worked in the 1800s.

Travelers will also pass through the town of Fredonia, Arizona, a town of less than one thousand residents.

The Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument, a series of multi-colored cliffs can be seen rising to elevations of over 11,000 feet above the sea level.

Travelers will be encompassed with changing scenery with every mile they travel down this scenic road.

Courtesy Photo Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce

Flagstaff calls itself home to many things: Arizona Snow Bowl, Northern Arizona University, and until recently, home to the discovery of the ninth planet.

That’s right, the world’ most popular dwarf planet was seen from the very telescope that sits atop a mountain right in Flagstaff. The Lowell Observatory was started in 1894 by Percival Lowell, an American businessman, mathematician and astronomer. His creation of the observatory was brought upon by the purpose of studying the solar system and conducting astronomical research in an effort of public education.

Astronomers have conducted research that is essential to the current basic knowledge of astronomy today. The discovery of Pluto was made in 1930 and at the time, was considered the universe’s ninth planet. While the planet has since been demoted to “dwarf planet” status, the observatory remains the birthplace of the important discovery. The name Pluto is believed to have been given in part because of its shared initials with observatory originator Percival Lowell.

The Observatory opened a visitor center in 1994, on the centennial of its inception. They have received more than a million visitors; nearly 80,000 visit annually. In 2012, the observatory completed a 4.3- meter Discovery Channel Telescope, which brings satellite images to people across the globe.

Lowell Observatory is open daily throughout the summer months and visitors can come to tour the facility, participate in a solar viewing, enjoy the telescopes, stargaze and learn about the history of Lowell’s discoveries

Courtesy Photo from Flickr

The White House Ruins Trail leads to The Canyon de Chelly. The Canyon de Chelly contains over 2500 archeological sites ranging from 1500 B.C. to 1350 A.D. Among these sites are several hundred Anasazi Indian villages built between 350 and 1300 A.D. Today, Canyon de Chelly sits in the middle of the Navajo Indian Reservation and is home to many Navajo who live in and utilize the canyon’s resources.

There’s only one Canyon de Chelly hike that the general public can take without a Navajo guide and that’s the 2.5-mile trail to White House Ruins.

Those who do take on the challenge of the hike will find that it’s worth it. Once the hiker’s trail hits the bottom, there is a foot bridge available to cross the creek that is often dry. Hikers will be surrounded by Navajo merchants who are selling their jewelry and other ware. When hikers pass the merchants, they’ll finally get to the ruins where they’ll get to bask in the history of the Anasazi who once occupied the area and of the Navajo who still occupy it today.