Meteor Crater and Grand Canyon

We were woken up this morning by Hailey and Maddie who were eager to go to the campground pancake breakfast. So we enjoyed a morning without cereal for a change, it was pretty good for a campground set up, but the price was right $2.99 a person for all you can eat. :)

Once were were packed up and ready to go we headed an hour to Meteor Crater. Doug had to squeeze in something space related on this trip- LOL!  It was pretty cool to actually touch the actual meteorite (at least part of it) that made such an enormous crater in the earth.  We had a pretty good tour guide who was not only very knowledgeable but very excited about sharing information with everyone.  We learned all about the history of  the crater itself plus how NASA trained the astronauts how to excavate the moon for rock there as well.  It was all very interesting.  The size of the crater was truly amazing to see first hand too.

We then saw a movie about the creation of the crater and went to two of the look out points  to see it from different angles.  They had telescopes set up so that you can see into the crater, which is still set up and used as a laboratory.

After lunch, we headed about two and a half hours to Grand Canyon National Park.  OMG!  This park is like the Disney World of National Parks here.  Not only are there tons of people, but they have their own shopping, medical clinic, shuttle service, fire station, and school. Pretty amazing!!

We went to the Mather Point look out for out first view of the canyon. It was so beautiful and amazing to see, that words can not describe my thoughts.  I was so caught up in it that I did not get scared of heights until I was perched out on one side and realized how high it was.  Then it was "I need to get off of here NOW!"  We walked to other points on the overlook, me mostly standing far from the railing edge.  I did manage to get the nerve, with Doug's help to walk to the edge one more time.  It was amazing!!!

The wild life here is so tame and unafraid of humans.  I we saw an elk when were entering the campground he was just standing there with everyone snapping away on their cameras, and he just ate leaves.  We also had an encounter with a very brazen squirrel on the overlook.  He not only walked right past Doug he stopped at my foot for a few seconds before scurrying away, I even felt his tail brush against my big toe as he walked , not ran, away.

We went to dinner at the Canyon Cafe, and the girls did some shopping before we made it back to the camper.  Now it is dark and we are sitting at the picnic table, sadly we can not have campfires here. Tomorrow we plan to explore the Grand Canyon even more.