[meteorite-list] My expotition to Meteor Crater

[DNAndrews]

Hey John,
I know what you mean about the commercialism at the Crater.  I tried to 
steer Traci in the right direction a couple of months ago, but got 
ignored.  Guess I'm in the same boat as Matteo....but out west.

Later bro,
Dave

JKG wrote:

> 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
>>
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's 
>> FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>