Day 27 Sunday September 29, 2013

Today we drove to the Grand Canyon with stops at Meteor Crater, and Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments.

View Larger Map

We got an early start this morning and had an easy drive to Meteor Crater, just outside of Winslow, AZ. For part of the journey we were on I40 which follows the same route as the famous Route 66! The crater was formed about 50,000 years ago when an object about 150 ft across slammed into the rocky plain. It left a hole that is today 550 ft deep and 4,000 ft across.

Meteor Crater

We moved then onto Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments; we did not do any exploring at Sunset Crater as we are larvaed out now, but it was an interesting ride through an area that has seen volcanic activity within the last 1,000 years. On the way to Wupatki we were able to get some shots of the Painted Desert to the north. Wupatki National Monument preserves the ruins of a number of Pueblo structures that were inhabited around a 1,000 years ago.

Distant view of Painted Desert

Then it was onto the Grand Canyon, where we arrived around 4pm. We stopped off at Desert View for our first glimpse of the canyon and then after checking into our lodge we went to Yavapai Point to see the sunset over the canyon and then visit the geology museum. We had dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge and then settled in for an early night. See tomorrow's blog entry for all of our Grand Canyon photos.

Our fingers are crossed that the Republican Party comes to its senses tomorrow and avoids a shutdown of the government. If that happens all of the National Parks will close and our road trip will be thrown into disarray. Spare a though also for the hotel workers in the parks as they will be out of a job come Tuesday. Perhaps Congress should also have their pay cut when the government shuts down!