The Big Hole in the Ground and more FAMILY!

"I got my kicks on Route 66!" my father sang that out loud back in 1967 when he, my Mom and I were on a cross country trip. Today, William - the younger - and I sang out a few times ourselves after driving out of New Mexico and into Arizona.

Kachina Dolls, no ancient aliens here!

Red Rocks is what the Southwest does best

Castle or bottom of a goldfish bowl?

We pretty much bee-lined it to Phoenix, except for when we got off the main highway, giving in to signage that assured us we could see the 8th wonder of the world, the world's LARGEST & BEST meteorite crater on earth.

Quite a promise really...

The Meteor Crater is not a state or federal thingie, as it is entirely in private hands. The crater itself is perhaps 10 minutes from the freeway.  

This entrance

Once we'd driven all the way to the facility, we were sufficiently horrified to find out the entrance fee was a whopping $18!  After the not unsubstantial drive in, I decided WTH, and in we went.

a tiny bit of the facilties

For a private site, it seemed a bit over priced but I admit the grounds were well kept up and there was a lot of information available.

 





















And yes, it's still just a huge hole in the ground, but it is awe inspiring in its size. It is really hard to get most of the crater into one frame. Should have taken more Panorama shots.

So without much more ado - here is the BIG HOLE.

The tiny specks on the white thingie in the lower right hand corner are people

 The crater is about a mile wide. William - and people more energetic than she-of-the-slug-variety, walked up to the top of a viewing area for a much better look at the canyon (William took the photo just above from the highest viewing platform).

This is as far up as I climbed - looking back down on the entire visitor center

 After our brief stop at the crater, we continued on, not making our way into Phoenix until after dark. We were supposed to stop off at and pick up our Cousin Rhonda at her apartment. Then we were to take her with us to visit our Uncle Matt and Aunt Arna. But nope! Don't ask me how I screwed up, but we ended up at Matt and Arna's sans Rhonda - oopsy. Oh well! We had a nice visit with Matt and Arna.

We visited with Matt & Arna for a couple of hours, which is always a treat. I wish they lived closer to Sacramento or that we all lived in Washington State (if wishes were fishes).

When we finally left, we headed back to Rhonda's apartment. I wish I could find the photos of Rhonda's apartment complex, it is like something out of Sunset Magazine, i.e., uber fancy. I had to laugh, as Rhonda led us though her facility towards her building, we passed through a couple of social areas where the tenants play ping-pong, get a soda from vending machines or rest on easy chairs. As we passed though, guys lit up and were all like "HI RHONDA!" Even in her fifties, Rhonda's a certifiable babe.

Half of Rhonda's front room, with my junk & Williams all over the place - sorry Cuz! 

So it was a long, long day today and a highly satisfying one. We've passed through a lot of country this past week and a half and we are stunned that our two weeks is almost up already. How did that happen? Talk about time flying!