Elk & Meteor Crater

　Well this morning dawned clear but COLD and it was WINDY with a capital “W”! It was the first day of my Arizona Vacation where the weather was less than perfect. I kind of liked it. Everyone was talking about it. They were calling it a “rainless” hurricane. Winds were being measured at 80-100 mph! It was definitely not a day to go swimming at Slide Rock Park. I also counted my blessings that I went on the helicopter tour yesterday because they would never have been able to fly with winds like this!

So, time to rethink my day. There was no shortage of things I could do so after studying the maps of the area I chose to head out to Meteor Crater. To get there I would be headed up RT 89 to Flagstaff. During my wandering the day before, I was told that the Elk herds were starting their annual migration and that one herd had settled into an area near Lake Mary and Mormon Lake. It didn’t look too far on the map so I planned a small detour to check it out.

That decision out of the way, I grabbed my jacket and headed to the car to tackle the curves on RT 89a again.

I found the turn off to the lakes area and found both Mormon Lake and Lake Mary. The area is truly beautiful and much more lush than the other places I’d been. There was a pull out with a view of a huge meadow but I didn’t see anything there. I took the binoculars and started trying to check it out more closely but the winds were just too strong. Plus this area was a higher elevation and it was quite cold. The wind cut right through my fleece jacket like I didn’t even have it on.

Satisfied that there were no Elk near where I could see them I hurried back to the car and headed on my way. Back in Flagstaff, I located RT 40 east and headed off in the direction of Winslow, AZ.( Meteor crater is located about 20 miles west of Winslow.)

It didn’t take long for the road to flatten out and turn into a long straight ribbon with the mountains near Flagstaff behind me. Out here where there was nothing to break up the winds the car was taking a real buffeting. I now know what a real tumble weed looks like! They were everywhere being tossed all over by the wind. At one point I was behind a tractor trailer truck and it was being blown across the lanes of traffic. The driver would pull back to the right lane but at the next gust he’d be pushed into the left lane again. It was scary to watch and I backed off to give him plenty of room to maneuver.

Meteor Crater is in the middle of no where!. There are signs and as you follow them the road turns to a dirt road which at the moment seemed to be as much in the air as on the ground. In the distance I could see a line of red clouds above the horizon. It was dust. That must have been what it was like in the dust bowl days. The road continued up a slight rise and then you are in the parking lot.

At this point the wind was so strong that I thought it would rip the door off my car when I opened it and I had to really lean into it to get to the entrance. There was also a loud roaring sound. The closest I can come to describing it would be a fighter squadron flyover. I actually looked up to see if there were planes flying low over the area. Turns out that it was the sound of the wind as it blew over the rim of the crater.
The staff was trying to keep it “business as usual” but they had to close the rim because the winds made walking out there unsafe. They were also having issues with the electricity so the lights kept going off and coming back on. They recommended that guests not use the elevators because if the electricity went out and didn’t come right back on, you would be stuck.

Now this may all sound awful but I was actually having a great time with it. I thought it was quite exciting. I’m glad we had this bizarre weather. I may not have been able to walk around the rim of the crater but I could see it out the big windows and there was a cement walk way next to the building that they did not close off, so it wasn’t a total bust. If it had been calm I wouldn’t have heard the crater “roaring”, so I have absolutely no complaints!

I attended the movie and explored the museum. Besides the crater, there is a courtyard with the Mercury capsule and a wall called the American Astronaut Wall of Fame. It would have been nice to sit out there and eat lunch but today was impossible with the wind. I didn’t know that they had the space memorabilia here so that was a bonus.

I picked up some post cards in the gift shop and had some lunch in the cafeteria style shop while watching the dust cloud progress. Since there wasn’t much more to do with the Crater Rim closed, I headed back to the car.

The key to a good vacation if being flexible. When I went on the Grand Canyon Tour there wasn’t time to get to the visitor center. They have a movie in an IMAX theater that I wanted to see., so it was back to the Grand Canyon…but I avoided the edge in this wind!

The Grand Canyon Movie in IMAX is really excellent. I definitely recommend it. I think the Canyon is even more impressive after you see the film. I finished off the day by browsing the gift shop and grabbing dinner in the visitor Center before I started the long drive back to Sedona.

On the drive back I finally saw a pretty sunset. With all the dust in the air the high winds had stirred up, we had something for the setting sun to reflect off to create a beautiful “cowboy sunset”. Unfortunately I was on a highway doing 70 mph and I didn’t see any place to pull over to take a picture. Well, at least I have the memory.

Tomorrow will be another early morning. It’s my last day of vacation and I will be driving back to Phoenix to catch my flight back home. It’s been such a busy week, it’s hard to believe it’s almost over. Even harder to believe I almost didn’t come!
　
http://www.meteorcrater.com/