Painted Desert Indian Center in Holbrook, Arizona has been serving customers since 1979. Pull off the road for the Jurassic photo ops, stay for the unique selection of Arizona souvenirs.
Petrified wood shops abound in eastern Arizona. It only makes sense as it’s a commodity that is prolific in the area, especially within the popular Petrified Forest National Park.
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What is petrified wood? Petrified wood is a type of fossilized wood that transforms over millions of years. Through a process called mineralization, organic matter in the wood gradually gets replaced by minerals, often silica or quartz, preserving the original structure and cellular details of the wood.
It is illegal to take specimens out of the park, so it’s only natural that shops surround the area that sell petrified wood of all shapes and sizes to tourists who want to take home a souvenir. And many of those shops do anything they can to lure you from the road and make sure their shop stands out above the rest.
One of these shops is the Painted Desert Indian Center in Holbrook, Arizona. And their shtick? Dinosaurs and teepees.
Painted Desert Indian Center is located off I-40 on the south side of the road. It’s across the way from another Route 66 rock shop: Stewart’s Petrified Wood.
Inside you’ll be able to shop for authentic Native jewelry, rugs, sandpaintings, crafts, Kachina dolls,local pottery, rocks, petrified wood, and fossils, alongside your typical roadside souvenirs.
Outside you’ll find a menagerie of roadside attractions meant to catch your eye from the highway. You’ll find painted teepees, and Old Indian Weather Rock, and a slew of large cartoonish dinosaurs attacking other dinosaurs.
The dinosaur roadside attractions came from the now shuttered International Dinosaur Park and Museum of the Americas, which closed in 2007.
More photos of Painted Desert Indian Center in Holbrook, Arizona
Love this Arizona Route 66 roadside attraction? Here are some more nearby attractions to add to your Route 66 road trip itinerary:
Stewart’s Petrified Wood, Geronimo Trading Post, Rainbow Rock Shop, Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co, the World’s Longest Map of Route 66, the Joe & Aggies Cafe Mural, Butterfield Stage Co Steakhouse, and Holbrook Wigwam Village Motel.
Painted Desert Indian Center
Address: 9345 Old Rte 66, Holbrook, AZ 86025
Hours: 8am-6pm, Daily
Cost: Free to See, Souvenir Costs Vary
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