Winslow, Arizona was a U.S. Route 66 town. I-40 eventually replaced U.S. Route 66, which is a busy trucking highway. We wanted to stay near Winslow so that we could visit Meteor Crater and the Homolovi ruins.
Homolovi State Park
Homolovi is Hopi for “Place of the Little Hills”. From about 600 to 1390 AD, the Hopi lived along the Little Colorado River as part of their migration route. Agriculture was a very important part of their culture. They eventually settled north of Homolovi at the Hopi Mesas. Hopi is translated as “The Peaceful People” or “Peaceful Little Ones”. At one time it was estimated the population was as high as 3000 and the village comprised more than 1,200 rooms.
Along the trails there are numerous pieces of broken Hopi pottery. Visitors are not allowed to collect it, but some put the larger pieces on rocks.
We came across petroglyphs while hiking.
Ok, we got it! Not all the trails were hiker friendly.
The RV park had wonderful spacing between sites. We had 50 amp service, water, and no internet. There was a dump station on the way out. We really enjoyed the peaceful high desert views.
Meteor Crater
Not very far from Winslow, Arizona is Meteor Crater. The crater is privately owned by the Barringer family and previously called the “Canyon Diablo Crater”. Originally it was believed to be a volcano, because the area is surrounded by them. In the late 1800’s numerous meteorites were found in the area. Daniel Barringer in 1903, staked a mining claim to the land. He conducted research on the crater’s origins and concluded the crater was caused by an impact. He drilled to 1375 feet, but never found a large meteorite, believing a 110 million pound meteorite should exist. His goal was striking it rich off the iron ore from the meteorite. Impact physics were poorly understood at the time and so he was unaware that most of the meteor vaporized traveling through the atmosphere and primarily on impact.
This 1400 pound fragment was found miles from the crater. It wasn’t until the 1960’s, when the data from nuclear detonation testing in the Nevada desert was used to prove the site was from a meteor, not a volcano. The exhibit is very well done. There is a tour along the rim of the volcano. The tour is sometimes closed because of winds gusting to over 100 miles/hour. The crater is almost a mile across and more than 550 feet deep. It’s estimated that the meteor that impacted the earth was 150 feet across, creating this crater 50,000 years ago.
Winslow Arizona
We enjoyed lunch at Relic Road Brewing on Saint Patrick’s Day. The beer and food were good. We toasted, celebrating my brother Mark’s birthday!
Take it Easy, recorded by The Eagles in the early 1970s, inspired this little park with the lines “Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see”. Jackson Browne began writing the song in 1971. He had difficulty finishing it, so Glenn Frey helped him out by adding the line “It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin’ down to take a look at me”. Jackson Browne’s automobile malfunctioned in Winslow, Arizona on his way to Sedona. He amalgamated a separate event in east Flagstaff after seeing a girl driving a truck.
Little Painted Desert County Park
We went at sunset and the colors vibrant. The views were amazing.
