Experience the Impact of Meteor Crater, Arizona

The colors of the Southwest are stunning, and I enjoyed driving through this part of AZ and beyond. Before leaving I totally geeked out reading up on all the inspired Cars locations so I could spot them out when driving on good ol route 66! (Singing ensued, and also through "Winslow Arizona")

But the next major destination was a big hole in the ground. And by big whole in the ground, I mean a ginormous...gargantuan...IMPACT CRATER!!

The Crater was awesome! Huge! Technically known as the Barringer Crater, it's over 4,000' across and nearly 600' deep. Sadly, they no longer allow tours down into the crater but you can tour the rim (I did not, it was SOO windy!!!) On the right side of the inner circle (down at the bottom of the crater) is a small building and a life size astronaut cut out...you can't even see them in the picture! And to think, they've only found one piece of the meteorite that made the impact, a 1,406 POUND hunk known as the Holsinger Meteorite, which is on display inside the Visitors Center, crazy!

This photo (1) is an aerial shot just to show how big the crater is - just amazing!

Although not as graceful as this head scarf tutorial it was so incredibly windy that I didn't care. A moment on the glasses - these are possibly the best 5$ purchase I have ever made ever. Sunglasses that fit over my glasses. Yes, it is a little dorky. Yes, you can still see the glasses underneath but the amount of pleasure I get from not having to squint all day far outweighs anything else. Thank you to my friend TinyMartin for discovering that WalMart sunglasses are crappy and cheap - and perfect for our purpose!

Meteor Crater is minutes from the interstate so it is a stop worth making. However, if you have a National Parks interagency pass, it's no good here because the Crater is independently owned not federally owned. Just a heads up! So, next time you're in Arizona make sure you "Experience the Impact!!"