The Painted Inn.

We had less tourists with us today and they were mostly Americans.  We did see a little bit of an icon and that was Route 66.  This is the skylight in the Painted Desert Inn.  When the Parks service took over the Inn they used the Civilian Conservation Corps builders and artisans over 1937 - 1940.  Displays inside highlight the building's history, Route 66, and the Civilian Conservation Corps. In the 1970's it was going to be pulled down but was rescued by a public campaign.  It must have taken a while.  It wasn't until  2006 that it reopened following its restoration. The inn now appears as it would have in 1949.   There are also restored murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie.  I loved the whole place but especially the skylight.  Each pane is hand painted in an ancestral Puebloan pottery design.    Before this we visited the Petrified Forest National Park.  A good place for a forester to go. The petrified wood is 225 million years old and looks like a tree from today. We love finding these things out and seeing them preserved out in the open because it is so dry here on this high desert landscape.