Phoenix

29 September 2014

Weather: Early storm followed by a sunny day 22C

This morning Justin still woke with a headache so we didn't rush to check out of the Red Roof Inn leaving around 8:30am.  Justin drove from Gallup to the Barringer Crater where we did the one hour walking tour on part of the rim.  During the tour you learn about how the crater was created, early studies of meteorite craters, how the Barringer family bought the land and view some fossils.  We spent time looking through the museum and took photos from the two highest viewing platforms.  We decided to have lunch there as they have their own Subway and if wasn't much different to the ones back home in Australia.  

Holsinger Meteorite 

Barringer Crater

Barringer Crater Museum

Afterwards we drove onto Sedona as we wanted to see Boynton Canyon.  The road to Sedona was windy and most of the State Forest was closed due to fire, this meant that you couldn't stop at any of the pull off areas and so we didn't see any turn off for Boynton Canyon.  I freaked out when driving up to our first roundabout on the whole trip, driving on the opposite side of the road I wasn't sure if I could handle it, so we pulled over before the roundabout and Justin took over the driving.  He did a great job finding our hotel the Courtyard Marriott - West Phoenix/Avondale.  The hotel was of a high standard of accommodation and reasonably priced.  There was a NFL game being played nearby at the stadium between the Cardinals and the Redskins.  Justin watched the game in our King Room and I relaxed, that evening we dined at the China City Buffet which was not far away.  The selection of food on offer was amazing.

King Room at the Courtyard Marriott - West Phoenix/Avondale