As I said in my previous post, our headquarters for this last bit of time in the north of Arizona was the town of Winslow, home of that famous phrase. We found a nice little motel where we stayed for the 3 nights we were in the area, thus avoiding the below freezing weather.
Of course, the first thing we needed to do was go to the actual corner in Winslow. Being clever people, the town has built up a little tourist area, complete with the perfect photo spot and it was hard, even on a cold day, to get a pic without someone else in it. I can’t even imagine how busy it is here in the summer! Along with the photo spot (complete with a flat-bed Ford) there are numerous little shops and restaurants where you can hear the Eagles’ music blaring continually, buy a piece of Route 66 memorabilia and have something to eat. We had a nice chat with a lady in one of the shops where she very kindly let us know where the best places to eat in town were and what all was going on. Very friendly folks here in Winslow!
While we were enjoying the warmth and coziness of our hotel room, we looked to see what other sites there were to see near Winslow, other than the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. As it turns out, there is a spectacular site just a short drive away – a meteor crater! Yep, who knew? Well, we didn’t that’s for sure. We headed on out on a windy clear day to explore the site where 50,000 years ago a meteor hit the earth and exploded, creating a giant crater. As this is a privately owned tourist destination, we did have to pay to get in, but it was so worth the $20.00 each we paid to get in. The view of the crater was amazing! So big!!!
We took a tour that came with our entrance fee and the fellow giving it was just wonderful. He told us about how the original owner of the property was sure that the meteor was buried underground in the crater and so set up a mining operation at the bottom to look for it. It wasn’t until years later that it became clear that the meteor had actually exploded upon impact. We were shown an example of that by our guide picking up some random dirt from the rim and then pulling out a magnet that gathered bits of meteor to it – so cool!
We walked around the rim to an old abandoned structure that had been part of the mining operation where we got to walk out to a spot at the very edge – a scary prospect for me on this windy day, but I wasn’t going to let my fears keep me from this amazing view.
Inside the museum, we were able to view a large piece of the meteor – I can’t even guess how much it weighs. There were many exhibits and pictures of when the Apollo astronauts came and trained here for their lunar landing. There is also a movie you can watch, which we skipped, and finally, an exploration experience (similar to the Fly Over rides you can take in many cities) where we strapped in and got to “fly” over the crater. It was kind of cheezy but we really enjoyed it. If you go, don’t miss out on this! All in all, it was a great visit and one we would thoroughly recommend to anyone young or old.
