We didn't stay long--just long enough to do the photo op as we had a long day ahead of us, but they were playing Eagles songs (sounded like it was coming from the building on the opposite corner) not just Take It Easy. The wind was howling that day and it was only in the '60s which made it a little less inviting to linger at Meteor Crater. It was hard to grasp the scope of how huge it is although looking down through the binoculars(?) at the replica of the astronaut helped put it in perspective. I think the altitude helps, too, although the lack of light has more to do with having the stars be so prominent and feeling much more like you can reach out and touch them. The daytime sky has that same quality to it for me, i.e. that the clouds seem so much closer. Maybe it's just me.
The wind was wicked at the Petrified Forest, too, but I'm glad we took the time to go there. The drive back down State Route 77 was really pretty. The range of terrain (I think there's a better word but my brain is apparently still on vacation) in Arizona would probably surprise most people--or at least most of the ones I know--who think that Arizona is nothing but desert. Driving down 77 was almost like being in Maine (except the mountains are much higher) because there were "real" trees as far as the eye could see but driving up I-10 and then SR17 to 89 from Tucson to Sedona was desert and then red rock country and then in the Flagstaff area we could see snow on the mountain tops.
Understood completely. We started one vacation day in the California desert, and then by the time we hit the Flagstaff motel, we were running through falling and gathering snow from the car to the room in our T-shirts, shorts, and sandals that we'd worn that morning. And yeah, the distance across Meteor Crater is deceiving. It's just surreal, and the air is high and dry, and you don't get the same visual distortion over distance. We also drove through a town called Jerome, which is built on a slope - as you go down a length of road of the main street, you're looking at the residential fronts on one side of the street and, on the other side, over the roofs of the houses that you're about to cross in front of after you back the hairpin turn and double back.
It's a great place. Glad you enjoyed your vacation!
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