[meteorite-list] My expotition to Meteor Crater

[JKG]

Tracy,
I wanted to let you know I very much enjoyed the story of your trip to 
Meteor Crater.  Although I've been there 7 or 8 times, I never get tired of 
seeing it.  The commercialism has always annoyed me, but I guess it's a 
tradeoff me must tolerate if we want to have access to the crater at all.
Best,

JKG

At 03:04 PM 9/27/2004, tracy latimer wrote:
>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
>
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