Day 14: Flagstaff, AZ to Albuquerque, NM

We started today just thinking that it was going to be a day of only driving. After Shawn talked to Dan this morning he was reminded to stop by the Meteor Crater just east of Flagstaff. Hmmm, that was just the way we were traveling! In the middle of nowhere, six miles from I-40 is the most preserved crater in the world formed by a meteor. It is also the most recent meteor crater. It is 4/5 mile wide and as deep as the Washington Monument is tall (whatever that is). To walk around the perimeter of the crater is about two miles long. It was pretty impressive for a hole in the ground. I was pretty surprised, too that you had to pay an admission ($15 ea) to see it. However, we got in for free because we were moving. We walked down to a couple platforms to see the crater. Nick loved looking through the different scopes to see things in the bottom of the crater.

In addition to a hole in the ground, there is also a museum, a gift shop, and a Subway. It is almost humorous, until you realize how rare this occurrence is. So you understand why we just had to stop. Plus, Dan wasn’t going to let us into his house on Sunday if we didn’t bring back proof of the crater. Dan, is this proof enough?


So we got in for free and bought our standard souvenir Christmas ornament. Then we got back on course for Albuquerque. That’s where we are tonight. We didn’t have a very long drive today but we lost an hour in the time zone change. We’ll lose an hour tomorrow, too. And it is a long day of driving.

It is hard to believe the trip is almost at an end. It is hard to believe that we have been living like gypsies for two weeks (or more if you consider that our house was packed up on May 21st!). We are partly ready to be done. And partly not ready for the vacation to end. We are ready to be done driving, but not ready to get back to reality.