Ancient Fossils and Petrified Trees

34 million years ago there was a huge redwood forest hanging out where Florissant, Colorado currently exists. All of a sudden, as the trees were minding their own business, a huge volcano erupted and at a very quick speed spread lava, melted snow and mud down into the valley. Needless to say, the trees were petrified. (har har har har) Seriously though, this place was surreal. We stopped by this petrified forest after our trip up Pike's Peak. The drive was supposed to take about 30 minutes but ended up taking over an hour because of some stupid road construction that stopped us for 45 minutes or so. When we finally got to Florissant National Park they were going to close in about an hour and Matthew was screaming hungry. I fed Matthew and we started out on the trail looking at the ancient trees. It was very strange being around something so old..if old is even how you describe it.

At least we had some scenery as we were stuck in traffic.

After we left the National Park we took a detour to get away from that awful traffic and on this little back road we saw this group of elk or mule deer. I can't decide which one so if anyone knows please let me know. Anyway, I was so glad for the short cut now because this was awesome picture opportunity.



Also on this road we saw a coyote. He was running off in the distance so I didn't get a close up..maybe you can find him among the grassy area.