[meteorite-list] My expotition to Meteor Crater

From: JKG <h3chondrite_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Sep 27 21:20:17 2004
Message-ID: <6.0.3.0.2.20040927182115.0271fb00_at_pop.west.cox.net>

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
Received on Mon 27 Sep 2004 09:24:13 PM PDT