We started off the day with a delicious breakfast at the casino before making a short backtrack of about 10 miles to Meteor Crater, the "first proven, best-preserved meteorite crater on Earth." It is 550 feet deep. Casey was a little suspect if it was worth it, but it was a pretty unique experience, well worth it.
We then head north to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. We hiked the Lenox Crater Trail and got a chance to see some of the lava flow and basalt formations. The volcano erupted over 900 years ago.
Just past Sunset Crater is Wupatki National Monument. This is one of the driest and hottest places on the Colorado Plateau. While there we saw the Wupatki Pueblo. It was once home to 85-100 people, but was abandoned in the 13th century.
The highlight of the trip so far was seeing the Grand Canyon. We hiked the rim trail from Mather Point to the Bright Angel trailhead. The sun was just starting to set when we got to the trailhead, and we walked down into the canyon a bit for some spectacular views. On our way back up we ran into a sheep! He was very much enjoying his dinner and could have cared less about us.
We ended the day at Canyon Lodge in Seligman, AZ. It is a classic Route 66 motel with Marilyn Monroe and Elvis themed rooms.