Painted Desert is a magical place of pastel colors. If you're traveling on Highway 40, you should definitely stop at this easy stop! Other parts of Petrified Forest National Park are a longer way from the highway, but Painted Desert is a short and rewarding stop! This area is 1 hour 45 mins east of Flagstaff. Also fantastic is to stop at Meteor Crater, 40 mins east of Flagstaff. 

You can stop at the Visitor Center near the freeway exit to see some large petrified wood tree trunks with rings, but it's not that necessary.
The most important part is to drive to Painted Desert Inn, a Pueblo Revival style building, which is no longer an inn and restaurant but a ranger station and museum. Stop at some of the lookouts along the way to admire the wonderful colors of the painted desert! You will feel alive and happy! Once you reach Painted Desert Inn, you can enjoy this manmade pastel delight! Everywhere you look inside this cute adobe building (designed by NPS architect Lyle Bennett) there are pretty doorways, hand-hammered tin lights, petrified log columns and ceilings, painted window borders, murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie, carved wooden chairs, and carved and painted wooden booths and bar stools. One of the murals depicts a Hopi journey through the Painted Desert to collect salt. 
Painted Desert Inn was a Civilian Conservation Corps project in the late 1930s. Jobs were provided to young, unmarried men during the Great Depression through this program. Older, skilled men known as LEMs (Local Experienced Men) taught the CCC boys tinwork, furniture making, carpentry, woodcarving, and masonry (stonework). They need a program like this nowadays! How wonderful to have a job making something beautiful that will last for decades to come, rather than struggle with unemployment.
Kids can get their Junior Ranger booklets stamped here and earn a Junior Ranger badge after doing some nice activities in the book. Kids are called to think about how the young men in the CCC must have felt so far from home, and to recall times when they've been away from their parents and remember how they felt.
Painted Desert Inn was restored from wear and tear in 2004. I like what is written on the NPS website: "Even though the problems that have and will continue to afflict Painted Desert Inn present a struggle for the National Park Service, we are committed to its preservation. In many ways these problems contribute to the overall love and appreciation for this unique National Historic Landmark." A beautiful sentiment.
After walking around the inn and talking to the rangers, walk the trail out back that takes you to more vista points over the Painted Desert.

Directions

Painted Desert Inn and the painted desert trail and lookout points are located five minutes drive from Exit 311 of Highway 40. Drive north from the exit, along Petrified Forest Rd.
The address of Painted Desert Inn is 1 Park Rd, Petrified Forest National Park, AZ 86028.
Open daily 9-4:30. Entry is $20 per car, to the entire Petrified National Forest- it is worth it even if you only have time for the Painted Desert.
There are restrooms at Painted Desert Inn.

Click on map for interactive view