We enjoyed our recent visit to the Petrified Forest, located in northeastern Arizona and spreading through the state’s Navajo and Apache Counties. A mile high in elevation, the site holds thousands of fossil remnants of mature trees, some as unbelievably old as 335 million years.

When you examine them close-up, you can still see the original bark and wood grain, but it is all now solid rock. The area, managed by the National Park Service, is about 40 miles long by 15 miles deep.

Backpackers, campers and hikers find the desert weather dry and mild most of the year, except for some 30 degree nights from November through March. Rainfall averages less than an inch a month. However, there can be as much as an inch and a half each in July, August, September and October, usually in the form of sudden thunderstorms.

For more information about the Petrified Forest, go to nps.gov/pefo

If you happen to be in Paris, consider taking a day to visit one of the most visited places in the city. Père Lachaise is known as the largest and most popular cemeteries in the world. Buried under all the crowded headstones, monuments and plaques are 70,000 people. Most are unknown, but some of the famous attract thousands of tourists each year.

The most visited grave is that of rock star Jim Morrison, who died in 1971. The modest site is usually filled with flowers and mementos from those former hippies and other admirers, now older and greyer, who come to pay homage to their idol.

Also there are France’s greatest generals, politicians and diplomats, as well as Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Chopin, Edith Piaf, Balzac, Moliere and famed lovers Abelard and Heloise. Rebel students from street battle were executed there, as in Broadway play, “Les Miserables” Their common grave is is near the last resting place of the author, Victor Hugo.

For more information, go to www.reidsguides.com/destinations/.../paris/.../pere_lachaise....

TurtleTrek is a new exhibit featuring real sea turtles and manatees, along with huge, very realistic three-dimensional, 360-degree theater presentations.

The movie shows the lifespan of the turtles from hatching on a beach nest to making their trek back to the sea.

SeaWorld Orlando’s nearby Discovery Cove now also offers "Freshwater Oasis." It features land animals in natural settings and everyday lives.

In its ever-expanding plans, SeaWorld Orlando will soon exhibit “Antarctica”. That will bring a replica of the ice-bound bottom of the world to tropical Florida.

For more information, go to www.seaworldparks.com/TurtleTrek

The famed Pierre Hotel in Manhattan is an expensive place to spend the night. We were there for a recent business meeting and the basic nightly rate was $550. Happy the company paid for it, and we wouldn’t do it for the Pierre’s latest promotion.

Think Cher, Joan Rivers, Rosanne, Madonna, Mickey Rourke, Kenny Rogers, Tori Spelling, Hulk Hogan and others who’ve had their aging faces and other sagging body parts rebuilt. That’s what the Pierre is offering those who can afford booking such uplifting services.

Clients can now check in anonymously and get plastic surgery from high-priced Manhattan surgeons, and then spend some time in private, luxurious recovery. If you have to ask what the whole package costs, you can’t afford it. Anyhow, a price quote would only make your face fall in shock. For more information, go to tajhotels.com/pierre