Our last official diversion on the way home was Meteor Crater.

Meteor Crater was formed about 50,000 years ago when a meteor approximately 50-yards in width smashed into the Arizona desert at somewhere between 30-50k miles per hour. The crater, which was formed in less than ten seconds, is 4,000 feet in diameter. Scientists originally thought the crater was part of a dormant volcano. It 1903, Daniel M. Barringer was the first to suggest that the crater was the result of a meteor impact. Barringer’s theory was not confirmed until 1960 by American geologist Gene Shoemaker.

Most of the meteor was vaporized upon impact. What’s left is on display. This chunk weighs around 1,400 pounds.

For those who want to spend the time and money, you can hike down to the bottom of the crater. We instead chose to pose in front of a picture of the crater and take pictures there. Seemed easier.

Oh yeah, the crater. It looks like this:

Unfortunately I left my SD memory card in the car, so the only camera I had at my disposal was my iPhone.

As we pulled out of Meteor Crater, the sun was setting to our backs and I snapped one last picture before hitting I-40 one last time. We made it to Albuquerque Thursday night, had lunch with friends there on Friday, and pushed through to make it back to our own beds Friday evening.