Oh, The Places You’ll Go….

On the Edge
Originally uploaded by EdnPHX.

There’s nothing like a big hole in the middle of nowhere. Yep, that’s right a big ol’ hole in the middle of the barren desert. (Well, it’s actually cooler than it sounds) This past weekend Tim and I decided to tour some of the wonderful tourist sites here in the great state of Arizona. Believe it or not, there’s a heck of a lot to see out here in the desert Southwest. So here’s the four destinations we visited in 48 hours last weekend. (Yes, we hauled ass all over the state).

Meteor Crater, Arizona: Four score and 50 thousand years ago, a big ball of metal fell from the sky and slammed into the earth at roughly 40,000 miles per hour. What was left was a big meteor crater and a subway sandwich shop. (Well, ok….the Subway was added later down the road, but it’s quite amazing where you’ll find a Subway now-a-days, let alone a Starbucks.) After watching the Discovery Channel one day, I was immediately interested in going to visit this strange place. So, we ventured up to see the huge crater and were honestly quite impressed. In the photographs it looks big, but until you see it for yourself, it’s hard to imagine the sheer force of the meteorite slamming into the ground. You may remember seeing the Meteor Crater in the movie “Starman” with Jeff Bridges. Well, fortunately there were no alien ships descending down on us that day, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any odd people there. Including Jolene who worked at the Subway shop at the visitor center, shlopping 6” Meteorite Subs for $2.99. (Which actually were just the $2.99 6” meatball subs…..very clever.) Tim and I laughed on the way out imagining Jolene saying to her friends (in a hick Texan accent) “I wurk at the Subwaay, at dem there Meteor Crayter” The place is interesting to see, though. I would pass on the Meteorite Sub, and go for a cool postcard at the gift shop instead.

Petrified Forest National Park: OK, first thing’s first: There are NO trees in this forest. In fact, there’s barely any vegetation at all. But, there are plenty of petrified tree trucks strewn all over the place. The neat freak in me came out and made me think “Geez…someone really needs to pick up after themselves!” It’s another pretty barren place, but it did have some interesting things to see like the petrified tree trunks, prehistoric wall paintings, and the lunar-like mounds of dirt. It’s definitely a wild place. It was quite peaceful. That is, until a tour bus the size of a football field pulled up and dropped off 3,000 senior citizens all with cataracts and hearing aids with low batteries. “Wha? Huh? Harold! Can you see that! Wha? Huh? My walker won’t make it up there! Shirley did you take your pills? Ohh! What? Huh?!” This went on for a number of minutes before I looked at Tim and we headed back to the car and drove our way to Flagstaff. On the way there we stopped at the Painted Desert which was quite nice.

Flagstaff, Arizona: We spent the night in Flagstaff which is a really cool town. Being that the town itself is at an elevation over 7,000 feet, it was much colder than the surrounding desert. Flagstaff is place where you feel like you should be walking around in ski boots carrying a snowboard. It’s so radically different from the rest of Arizona. You feel like you are in Colorado or Idaho in the mountains. There was still snow on top of the San Francisco Peaks which made for a nice backdrop. We had the best dinner I had ALL DAY at the Olive Garden. (That was sarcastic) We were hungry….starving actually…and it was there. That’s why we ate at America’s most sub-standard Italian restaurant.

Grand Canyon, Arizona: If you never been to the Grand Canyon, you really need to go. It’s quite a sight to see. We got up early on Sunday and drove to the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff and made it record time (less than an hour) with absolutely no traffic. We literally pulled right up to the park entrance and paid the $20 entrance fee with no wait at all. We spent approximately 10 hours at the Canyon, hiking the trails, taking pictures, enjoying the views and trying to translate what people were saying. There was absolutely no one (except us) from the United States. Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you’d be hard pressed to find someone who spoke English and was from the US. The Grand Canyon really is an amazing place. The pictures you can take there are simply amazing…that is, unless The Great Wall of China is blocking your view. (The Great Wall is not actually in Arizona, but a huge crowd of Asian tourists lining along the rim of the Grand Canyon blocking your view, is. Hence, what I like to call the “other” Great Wall of China.)

Overall, we had a great time and a lot of fun. It was a great stress reliever for me as I’m closing on the new house in a couple of weeks. By Memorial Day, I’ll be a proud homeowner….and all the fun (and stress) that goes along with it. Arizona is a beautiful state. I’m happy that I am finally getting to enjoy it.