Day 24: Out of This World - Passport Diaries

Today was so much better than yesterday. I made jokes, but seriously, yesterday had me considering jumping out of the moving car on the freeway and hitchhiking. Today, people were praying for us and we drank more caffeine and we (mostly) didn’t bicker.

We woke up with trains rolling by between us and the rocky hills of Gallup, NM. Historic Route 66 led us out of Gallup and to I-40 West, and in a few minutes (just kidding. We had to stop like three times so it took like an hour) we crossed the border to Arizona.

Then there was NOTHING for a long time. The kids were hungry and crying. Chris tried to eat their goldfish and I swatted him. He didn’t like that.

“Look,” I tried to soften the blow, “if you eat their food, you’ll never want to stop for lunch and they need to eat.”

“It’s not MY FAULT no one’s built a city here yet!” Chris grumped.

I was looking at Chris to see if he was kidding, and he wasn’t, which made me laugh really hard. Chris smiled a little too, which made me laugh harder.

“You’re welcome for that little gem,” Chris said. “Is that going to make it onto your blog for today?”

We DID find somewhere for lunch: the Painted Desert Diner in the Petrified Forest National Park.

By now it should be evident that WE LOVE NATIONAL PARKS. We love them. Or at least I do, and Chris likes them ok, and the kids may be bored but whatever. We’re building the foundation for their future of listening to NPR and boring their own kids someday. AND we have a FREE military annual pass. Love.

Please note Eloise’s SHOES. The turquoise Minnetonka moccasins that matched my boots weren’t in her size but I love the red just as much. DELIGHT!

Ok, next we stopped at Meteor Crater. This was SO COOL. A storm rolled in as we arrived so no one was allowed up to the top of the rim, but we walked down to the vertigo-inducing viewing platform until the rain started. The rim is a mile in diameter. It’s pretty impressive. A big chunk of the 50,000 year old meteorite is on display in the on-sight museum, and you can touch it!!! It’s kind of expensive at like $16 per person, but under fives and military are FREE, and I got a discount, so it was only $9. There’s a 10-minute movie about the impact and every time there was a shot of the meteor exploding into the earth Eloise SCREAMED…with laughter. Every single time. ….? She was very cute…and a little terrifying. Isaac also loved it. I’d shown him a photo of the crater that morning when we talked about where we were going today, and he asked questions about meteors all day. So that little jaunt was awesome and totally worth it. The storm sweeping in over the ridge, rumbling with thunder, only added to the excitement. It is NOT a national park, but I highly recommend it!

Midday we gained another hour, which totally confused us until we remembered Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings. So that was nice too. We drove from rocky hills, through towering rock formations, to genuine desert, to snow-capped mountains, to forested hills—all in one day. Tonight we are in Williams, Arizona’s Grand Canyon Railway Hotel. I was a little afraid Isaac wouldn’t be as excited about trains as he used to be, but that concern was completely unfounded. He is in train heaven, and the rest of us are right behind! Tomorrow we catch our train north!

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