Wednesday, June 14, 2017
We left our hotel in Flagstaff at 7:44 a.m. with a temperature of 63* and headed to Walnut Canyon National Monument. It didn't open until 9:00 and we didn't want to sit around for over an hour so continued on our way west.
Walnut Canyon National Monument Entrance
Our next stop was at Meteor Crater, a few miles down the road. We had decided we weren't going to go in since the admission was $18 each which was crazy. We thought maybe we could see a little of it from the entrance. The property was fenced off completely and we couldn't see anything. I did steal a picture from the internet of the crater. The property is privately owned. Because of that, it can't become a National Monument.
Meteor Crater formed 50,000 years ago when an asteroid plunged through the Earth's atmosphere and crashed into what would become central Arizona. The asteroid was small in astronomical terms, just 150 feet across. Traveling at around 8 miles per second, the force of the asteroid impact on the ground was tremendous. The explosion was estimated to be equal to 10 million tons of TNT.
Meteor Crater is nearly one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep (originally 700 feet). Astronauts were trained here before the moon visit.
On the road to Meteor Crater
Meteor Crater Entrance
Meteor Crater
The next pictures are of the old Meteor City Trading Post. This was a real vintage trading post. It was built in 1938. The distinctive dome was built in 1979 and can be seen for miles along this stretch of Route 66 (now I-40). It closed in 2012 but someone has bought the property and plan to reopen at some point.
Meteor City Trading Post
Meteor City Trading Post
Meteor City Trading Post - concrete tepees
For some quirky reason, I have always wanted to go to Winslow, Arizona since the Eagles sang a song about it. Since Conrad was born in Winslow, Arkansas, it just seemed like a good stop. There on the corner, the loud speakers had the Eagles music blaring. "Take It Easy" was played the most.
Winslow, Arizona
Standin' On The Corner Park
Standin' On The Corner Park
Linda, Standin' On The Corner
Conrad, Standin' On the Corner
The Millers, just Standin' On the Corner
Route 66 symbol at the intersection
Conrad by the flatbed Ford
It's a girl my lord in (by) a flatbed Ford
Outside a store
The sign says World's Smallest Church on Route 66.
Winslow, Arizona
A couple we talked to on the street said they were staying at La Posada Hotel and we should at least go look at it. So, we walked down the street to it. In 1927 the Santa Fe Railway and the Harvey family decided to build a major hotel in the center of Northern Arizona. La Posada, "the Resting Place" - was to be the finest in the Southwest. Construction costs exceeded $1 million in 1929. Total budget with grounds and furnishings was rumored at $2 million - about $40 million in today's dollars. It opened in 1930 and operated until 1957. A group bought the buildings from the railroad and restored it room by room and they moved in April 1, 1997 for business again. It was really pretty with all the gardens in the front. We walked in the lobby and through the gift shop.
La Posada Hotel
La Posada Hotel
La Posada Hotel
The community of Jackrabbit - & another train!
Conrad on the jackrabbit
The Jackrabbit Trading Post - just west of
Joseph City, AZ
I wish we had been in Holbrook, Arizona at the end of a day. I wanted to stay in one of these tepee rooms so bad! We could see inside one that housekeeping was cleaning. It was originally built in 1950. It has survived the demise of the Mother Road and proudly asks "Have You Slept in a Wigwam Lately?"
Wigwam Motel
Wigwam Motel
Holbrook, Arizona
Now, the No Tel Motel - Holbrook, AZ
We stopped at this petrified wood shop near
the Petrified Forest
Petrified wood store
Petrified wood store
Petrified wood store
Petrified wood store
Column made from petrified wood
Petrified wood store
Now, we're off to the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert. It is the smallest national park. The "trees" of the Petrified Forest are fragmented, fossilized 225-million-year-old logs scattered over a vast area of semidesert grassland. Many are huge - up to 6 feet in diameter - and at least one spans a ravine to form a natural bridge. The trees arrived via major floods, only to be buried beneath silica-rich volcanic ash before they could decompose. Groundwater dissolved the silica, carried it through the logs and crystallized into solid, sparkly quartz mashed up with iron, carbon, manganese and other minerals. Uplift and erosion eventually exposed the logs. First, we visited the VIsitor Center.
Petrified National Forest
Pretty flowers in Petrified Forest
Petrified National Forest
Petrified National Forest
Petrified National Forest
Petrified National Forest
Petrified National Forest
Petrified National Forest
Hoodoos in Crystal Forest
Agate Bridge - 110' long
The Tepees
Petrified National Forest
The ruins of a permanent village is in the Petrified Forest. It is the Puerco Pueblo. There are remains of a 100-room pueblo. Apparently, the site was first occupied around A.D. 1250 during late Pueblo III times. The settlement then experienced rapid growth during early Pueblo IV times, and at its largest size around A.D. 1300, the pueblo had an estimated population of about 200. Puerco Pueblo was built primarily of stone blocks, with rooms arranged around a large plaza containing several underground ceremonial chamber, or kivas.
Puerco Pueblo
Puerco Pueblo Petroglyphs
Migration symbol (in the middle in dark spot on left)
Petrified National Forest
Petrified National Forest
Petrified National Forest
Painted Desert
Painted Desert
Painted Desert
Pilot Rock in the distance -
Elevation 6,234' - distance 6.6 miles
We had one more stop before stopping for the night and that was at the Painted Cliffs, just west of the Arizona/New Mexico border. There was a store open that sold lots of things handmade by the local Indians. We bought a couple blankets for the girls and a few other little things.
Near the Painted Cliffs
Indian craft store
Painted Cliffs
Painted Cliffs
Painted Cliffs
Painted Cliffs
New Mexico - #12
From the border, it was about 20 miles to Gallup, where we had made reservations at Red Roof Inn for $70.02. We arrived at 7:20 p.m. and the temperature was 84*. It had gotten up to 87*. We drove 225 miles today.
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