[meteorite-list] My expotition to Meteor Crater

From: DNAndrews <DNA1_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Sep 27 22:57:16 2004
Message-ID: <4158D30E.3030604_at_cableone.net>

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
>>
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Received on Mon 27 Sep 2004 10:57:18 PM PDT