This is my eleventh post about our adventures traveling through Arizona and New Mexico. I recommend reading the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth posts before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received complimentary passes, media rates, and other benefits for several of the places we visited throughout the trip. Some of the attractions we toured are free to everyone; we paid full price for the rest. What I paid or didn't pay has no bearing on my reviews. Everything that I share is something I recommend without hesitation.
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Travel Adventures from Flagstaff to Gallup
On Thursday, April 16 we started our morning early with a delicious breakfast at the Drury. We had time before our first destination for the day opened, so we went for a walk on the Northern Arizona University campus. That statue is dedicated to the Navajo Code Talkers. It was sculpted by alumnus R.C. Gorman, whose father was one of the original Code Talkers.
It's well-worth the short stroll to check it out. How short? That's the Drury through the trees.
We continued on, getting a feel for the campus. Our alma mater is our favorite, but we love checking out other college campuses when we travel.
My favorite thing about the NAU campus is the mountain views.
We would have loved to have spent more time in Flagstaff. It's a great place. But it was time to move on. Next stop: Meteor Crater Natural Landmark. We started our visit with the introductory film. It discusses the history and geology of the impact that took place here and tells how it was proven to be a meteorite impact site. Then we took a guided tour to the crater itself.
Pictures don't capture how incredibly large the crater is. Heck, my own EYES couldn't capture how incredibly large the crater is. From where we are standing, it is approximately a mile to the other side of the crater.
The crater is approximately 550 feet deep.
Let's zoom in a bit...
.... now closer...
... and now you can see it. There is a 6 foot tall mannequin in a space suit down there! NASA used Meteor Crater as a key training site for the Apollo 11 astronauts before their 1969 trip to the moon.
Meteor Crater was the site of a plane crash in 1964 and the wreckage is still there. It's as difficult to spot with the naked eye as things in the photo above. Can you see it?
Yeah, me neither. The arrows are pointing to the fuselage and part of a wing.
It's much easier to see through the telescopes that are aimed directly at it.
Indoors, there are a lot of fascinating exhibits about Meteor Crater, including a simulation where you can experience being at Ground Zero. Without being crushed to death, of course.
This is the largest discovered fragment of the meteor that formed this crater. It weighs 1409 pounds.
Steve for scale.
We had a great time at Meteor Crater and both learned so much! I highly recommend this interesting and informative place.
... where we literally stood on the corner!
Standin' On the Corner Park was dedicated in 1999 and has been a popular stop along Route 66 ever since.
Everything in the area references the famous song (which was actually inspired by events in Flagstaff, not Winslow!).
It's fascinating how much the landscape changes as you drive the 28 miles through Petrified Forest NP.
We really enjoyed our visit to Petrified Forest National Park.
We walked down the block a bit, to make a brief stop at the Tiny Church of the Mother Road.
It's billed as the world's smallest Church. I have never been in one smaller, so I have no reason to doubt the claim.
Steve is takin' it easy before he's back in the driver's seat. I am so grateful that Steve does all the driving during our adventures. I'm much happier riding shotgun than being the driver.
An hour later, we were at the south entrance of Petrified Forest National Park.
The park has one 28-mile north/south road running through it. They recommend that eastbound travelers start at the south and drive north, so that's what we did.
We started at the Rainbow Forest Museum.
Then we hit the trail to see the petrified wood up close. It was really cool.
Take only photos, leave only footprints.
As we drove north, we listened to the excellent audio tour. It was really interesting and informative. We stopped at many of the parking lots of turnouts to explore the features further.
Petrified Forest is the only national park that preserves a portion of Route 66.
This is the Painted Desert Visitor Center. Originally built in the 1920's with petrified wood, it operated as an inn for Route 66 travelers before becoming a museum, visitor center, and National Landmark.
We really enjoyed our visit to Petrified Forest National Park.
We'd already done a lot of driving, but we had one more stretch before we were done for the day. Along the way, we crossed into New Mexico and instantly lost an hour. Finally, we arrived in Gallup and checked into our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn. We were more than ready to go to sleep, but we needed to get food first.
Blake's Lotaburger is a New Mexico institution.
Established in 1952, they are home of the original green chile cheeseburger.
So obviously, that's what we ordered! It was absolutely delicious - juicy, flavorful meat, crisp fresh produce, melty cheese, and roasted hatch chili. The fries were delicious too. I see why Blake's is so beloved in New Mexico!
We went back to the Hilton and had a great night's sleep in our comfy room. We had a luxuriously lazy morning, as our first destination was only a mile away and didn't open until 10:00. I'll tell you all about that tomorrow.
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