Friday, November 4, 2011 (Meteor Crater RV Park, Winslow, AZ)

The wind started up around 9:00 this morning...and man, oh man, talk about a wind storm!  Our plan for today was to go see Meteor Crater, so even though it was so windy, we still headed out for the short drive just after 10:00.

While paying for our tickets a staff member radioed for a reading of the wind gusts....79 mph!!

Meteor Crater is “The most well known, best preserved meteorite crater on Earth! ...is the breath-taking result of a collision between a piece of an asteroid traveling at 26,000 miles per hour and planet Earth approximately 50,000 years ago.”  (http://www.meteorcrater.com/)

Meteor Crater is nearly one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep. It is an international tourist venue with outdoor observation trails, air conditioned indoor viewing, wide screen movie theatre, interactive discovery center, unique gift and rock shop, and Astronaut Memorial Park at the modern Visitor Center located on the crater rim.

After going into the theatre to watch the short movie "Collisions and Impacts", we wandered through the interactive discovery center and the Astronaut Memorial Park looking at all of the displays.  

Whenever possible, we would go to a window to look out onto the parking lot to make sure our truck was still standing...too funny...but it was even windier up at the crater. (There was a severe weather warning for high profile vehicles)

When we had finished going through all of the displays, I went down to the wander through the huge gift shop...Steve decided to brave the wind by going outside on the observation deck to take pictures.  It wasn’t long before he was back in...he said it was so windy that it was taking his breath away....and has never experienced such a wind before!

The crater used to be 700 feet deep but through erosion, it is now 550 feet...

Concerned about the trailer back at the campground, we decided to get back to make sure everything was okay.  I battled the wind as I walked to the truck...see all the dust in the background as well?...

We hunkered down in the trailer as the wind lashed it.  The slider with the recliners was continually moving up and down! The only time we went outside was to walk over to the laundry...where I put on a couple of loads. So other than making a few trips back and forth, that was it...it was just too cold and windy out!

The rain started just before we headed to bed and it was pretty heavy for a bit. Yuck, what awful weather...hopefully it clears soon but with the forecast for tomorrow, I don’t think we will be leaving.