A Colorado valley buried by volcanic ash, preserving over 1,700 species of insects and plants in paper-fine shale, plus the stumps of enormous redwoods turned to stone and standing where they grew. The detail on the insects is extraordinary, down to wing venation. LOOK ONLY inside the monument, though a couple of private quarries just outside the boundary run pay digs on the same beds.
Insects, leaves, giant petrified redwoods · Eocene, ~34 mya
See it on the map
Other places on the map within a couple of hours.
