[meteorite-list] My expotition to Meteor Crater

[tracy latimer]

My husband and I set off in the early forenoon from LV to go to Meteor 
Crater.  The trip took us about 5 hours, not including a lunch break, but 
allowing for driving through some thunderstorms the likes of which I hadn't 
seen since moving from the mainland 15 years ago.  We got to Meteor Crater 
about 1 1/2 hours before sunset, 2 hours in front of the band of storms 
which had been pursuing us since before Flagstaff, and Jon suggested we take 
the time to visit the crater before dark, as we had no idea how long the 
rains would linger.  I am glad we did so, as the following day was cool and 
rainy, negating the planned rim hike (too muddy, the guide said.)

There is still some bad blood between the present owners of the crater and 
Nininger; although he is now mentioned in the guidebook, it is in, at best, 
neutral terms.  There were some veiled accusations of Nininger 'poaching' 
Canyon Diablo meteorites after his agreement to search for them on Bar T Bar 
ranch land had expired, and some other disputes over the American Meteorite 
Museum vs. the gift shop and facility put up on the crater rim.  He was not 
mentioned at all in any of the other presentations or staff talks, and I 
didn't bring up his name.  The only spot in the 20 miles around Meteor 
Crater that seemed to have cell phone reception was the highest lookout on 
the rim, a great place when a lightning storm is approaching!  I did go to 
the remnants of the American Meteorite Museum, which has a big handmade "No 
Trespassing: violators will be jailed" sign in front of the ruins; I decided 
they could spare 15 minutes and half a dozen photos anyway.  Arizona 
hospitality at its finest, maybe provoked by the 2 burned out cars dumped on 
the vestiges of Route 66 in front of the ruins, though the ruins themselves 
did not seem to be vandalized beyond normal decay.  People in search of a 
streak plate will be sad to know that remains of the famous Nininger crapper 
have apparently been completely removed; the tub, however, is still intact 
until someone smashes it.  Although I think the old unmaintained and very 
potholed Route 66 is still public access, the area outside the right of way 
is heavily studded with No Trespassing signs.

The crater is still magnificent.  Although tempted, I did not put rare-earth 
magnets in my shoes to try to pick up spheroids on the q.t.  The gift shop 
sells baggies of the dirt from around the crater, pulverized quartz with a 
light sprinkling of ash from Sunset Crater and a few spheroids mixed in.  
Although the staff seems at least moderately knowledgeable about the 
mechanics of the crater, the gift shop was heavily commercial, with t-shirts 
and Native American trinkets made in China, without any more scholarly 
information than the crater guidebook.  The facility is about what you might 
expect, a mix of older displays and some modern computer animation.  They 
show a 20 minute film about the impact and related phenomena in a 
substantial auditorium that could easily hold 2-3 busloads of tourists.

We stayed overnight at La Posada, a landmark for anyone interested in the 
architecture styles of the Southwest, the history of the Fred Harvey 
company, and railroad history in general, returning to Vegas the following 
day after another brief stop at the crater.  Although the trip was very 
damp, I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

If you have any interest in our pictures of this trip, including a few taken 
at Penn & Teller's magic show, feel free to go to jediknight.com/gallery and 
look at the Vegas Trip section.

Tracy Latimer

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! 
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/