Day 9 Friday Sept 12 So Amazing...and Then

When we pulled out this morning it was sunny and 55 degrees...perfect for visiting the desert. We loved the colors of the Painted Desert, and the Petrified Forest was fascinatlng! Imagine trees turning into beautiful stone!

The Petrified Forest National Park is the only National Park that Route 66 passed through. The old phone lines that ran along side it are all that remain. 

From there we headed on west where we were "sitting on the corner" in Winslow, Az. The Eagles sure put this town on the map! It was great fun...loved hearing the song playing loudly on the famous corner. Decided to "take it easy" and have lunch at a 50s themed diner. Great fun! 

Our next stop was Meteor Crater, the largest of its type in the world. Amazing how huge this this is...circumference of about 2 1/2 miles and more than 550 feet deep. They figure the crash occurred about 50,000 year ago when the meteor traveled at a speed of 26,000 miles per hour and crashed here. Amazing. 

We traveled I 40 for a good part of the way to Flagstaff. We weren't sure where to stay so on a whim I checked to see if there were any cancellations in any of the lodges in Grand Canyon National Park. Generally these places are booked a year in advance but luck was with us once again and we secured at room at Bright Angel Lodge. The park was still at least an hour from where we were but time timing couldn't have been better. We arrived just in time to watch the sunset. Our cameras weren't sophisticated enough to catch the colors so you'll just have to take my word for it... It was amazing!

What was a beautiful sunset turned into a bit of a scare. It got dark quickly and we had 30 miles to go to our cabin and we had no idea how to get there. Our phones didn't work and we couldn't see the map very well. An elk appeared on the road out of nowhere and we narrowly missed hitting it. If I wasn't scared enough, we were low on gas. We stopped a couple of times to try to figure out where we were but finally ended up going back to the park entrance to get help. Wow...we were so relieved and happy to get to our lodge! Then sadly we got a call from our son that his beloved dog had died. So sad...what a range of emotions today!