In Starman's Footsteps

Sarah and I were so proud after we hiked all the way to the bottom of Meteor Crater.

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Just kidding! Except for an occasional scientist and actors Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen (for the 1984 movie Starman, which concluded inside Meteor Crater), no one is allowed in the bottom of the crater anymore.

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We had to settle for posing in front of a big photo, complete with dirt and rocks, in the museum.
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Meteor Crater is only 18 miles from Winslow, so after dropping Jacob off, Sarah, Dylan, and I proceeded to the "best preserved impact crater on earth."
We live just 2 hours from Meteor Crater, so it was embarrassing when people asked if I'd been there and I had to say no.
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In the distance (4-5 miles away) you can see the rim of the crater, the massive piles of earth thrown out of the hole on impact. The dark area on the left is the museum complex perched high on the rim.

This is the complex, which includes the museum, a small theater, a Subway restaurant, and staff quarters. It was too big to get the whole thing in the picture from the parking lot.
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The aerial photo below will put the size of the crater into perspective. It's almost 1 mile across.
You can see the complex at lower left, left of the square gray parking lots.

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The distance around the rim is 2.25 miles. We took the guided tour, a half-mile hike. It ended at the red-rock outcropping at lower right, where there's a chunk of the rim gouged out. It's the only route into the crater.
Once inside, we got lunch at Subway and ate outside next to the American Astronaut Wall of Fame.

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It was pretty windy, which is common on the high plains (elevation 6,000 feet). That's why Sarah was chasing blowing napkins!

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On the monument we found the names of:

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Alan B. Shepard, Jr. "First American in Space"
John H. Glenn "First American in Orbit"

Neil A. Armstrong "First Man on the Moon"

Sally K. Ride "First American Woman in Space" and

Sharon Christa McAuliffe

(the teacher who died in 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger exploded after launch)

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Prior to the hike we watched a 10-minute movie about the meteor's impact and affect on the surrounding landscape. After our hike, we explored the museum.
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This is Dylan with the Holsinger meteorite, the largest remnant of the 150-foot meteor that created Meteor Crater. It was found nearly 10 miles away. It weighs almost 1,500 lbs!

We had a lot of fun inside the museum. There were many interactive games and activities. Dylan's favorite was a computer simulation in which you designed your own meteor to impact (or miss) earth or any other planet. You chose the size, mass, velocity, and trajectory--among other specifics--and then you sent it toward the planet. We each destroyed earth a few times. Sick fun!

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And we learned so much. For instance, the official name of Meteor Crater is the Barringer Meteorite Crater, after the man who bought mining rights to the property in 1902 (his descendents still own the crater) and first proposed that it was an impact crater. Scientists originally thought it was volcanic in origin.

We loved this glassless window, which perfectly framed the surrounding landscape. At first we though it was an actual painting!

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Here, Dylan is looking out on the San Francisco Peaks, where the city of Flagstaff is located. The tallest peak is Humphrey's Peak, the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 feet.

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Tomorrow, I will share pictures of our hike and the crater itself. There were just too many great shots to fit into one post!