Post TAM Trip

[Hutch]

Thought I'd get this out here early, since people will be making plans soon enough for TAM.

I had planned to do this side trip before, but was unwilling to go it alone and never took the time to plan it out and find willing companions early enough for them to budget the time.

This time I have some folks going with me, and I will make this trip. If anyone else is interested, well, see below and add to this thread/drop me a PM.

The plan (subject to change)

Sunday, 17 July: Leave about noontime after the papers and goodbyes, spend a couple hours at that monument to masonry, Hoover Dam, and then on to Flagstaff, Arizona for the evening.

Monday, 18 July: Drive over to Meteor Crater, observe what happens when you hit a big rock with a small rock at 30,000MPH, then to several other sites (Williams Canyon, Sunset Crater, Lowell Observatory) in the Flagstaff area.

Tuesday, 19 July: Drive up early to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and spend 4-5 hours there. Drive back in the evening to Las Vegas, and either stay at a hotel that night or take a red-eye flight home.

ALTERNATIVE: Tuesday, 19 July: Take the Grand Canyon Express train from Williams, AZ to the Canyon, spend 3+ hours at the Canyon and return to Williams by train, then on to Vegas.

--The alternative is moderately expensive and does limit your viewing of the Canyon to those served by the tour buses, but I mention it because I love trains. Thoughts welcome.

So, if anyone is interested....

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Wherever you go, remember to turn the car off when you get there.

[Hamradioguy]

I'd not planned on doing TAM this year but those trips sound mighty tempting. Will let you know.

[Wowbagger]

Wherever you go, remember to turn the car off when you get there.
(Scrut learned this one the hard way.)

[The Central Scrutinizer]

(Scrut learned this one the hard way.)

No, I think the OP did.

[Wowbagger]

I might consider joining in on the crater day. But, I'm not entirely sure I would be able to do the whole thing, yet.

[kittynh]

sounds good as the crater would be fun, and I've still not made it to the Grand Canyon. People keep talking me out of a trip to Roswell and such.. really very boring....

[Horatius]

I did a similar trip last year, and it was quite enjoyable! Williams is an interesting little town, if you want to stay the night there.

[phyz]

FYI:

Meteor Crater: http://www.barringercrater.com/

Sunset Crater Volcano: http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm

Williams: http://www.go-arizona.com/Williams/

[SkepticScott]

I went to Meteor Crater a couple years ago. Even going by myself it was well worth it to see the hole left by a ~100m meteorite. And you can also go a little further east to Winslow and find the famous corner.

[Jeff Wagg]

We could possibly turn this into a bus tour... but someone should suggest to the JREF that they organize such a tour and get an astronomer to go to the crater. If they're not interested, I might be willing to organize something. At present, I don't think I'm going to TAM, but I might if something like this was going on.

[AdMan]

I'd be interested in joining as well, assuming I manage to take the additional days off--still TBC.

[ejk]

If you can afford the extra day, try to spend a night at the Canyon. 4 hours is nowhere near enough. Drive back Wed. a.m., catch an afternoon flight out.

[Geek Goddess]

We could possibly turn this into a bus tour... but someone should suggest to the JREF that they organize such a tour and get an astronomer to go to the crater. If they're not interested, I might be willing to organize something. At present, I don't think I'm going to TAM, but I might if something like this was going on.

If you arrange something, I will go.

Richard and friends had a good time going to Hoover Dam last year, as well

[Hokulele Mom]

We could possibly turn this into a bus tour... but someone should suggest to the JREF that they organize such a tour and get an astronomer to go to the crater. If they're not interested, I might be willing to organize something. At present, I don't think I'm going to TAM, but I might if something like this was going on.

If you organize, I will go..... Especially if you can get an astronomer to go to the crater.

Hokulele Mom

[AdMan]

Now that the theme has been unveiled as TAM 9 from Outer Space, I'd say a visit to the crater should definitely happen!

[Phlebas]

I may be driving to Vegas for TAM. If so, I may tag along on this on the way back, minus the "return to Vegas" part at the end.

If I don't make it to TAM, I'm considering going to Roswell, NM, first weekend in July for their annual madness there.

[kittynh]

wait the crater sounds FANTASTIC. Evelyn has been and she said it was really incredible, plus the whole story of what happened after it landed (even up to the present day) is interesting. It just needs to get organized so I can book my plane tickets!

[kittynh]

if all else fails Evelyn will be there. She's a geologist, not an astronomer, but she can fake it (seriously, we have astronomer skeptic friends... how about that guy from Yale?)

[Hutch]

wait the crater sounds FANTASTIC. Evelyn has been and she said it was really incredible, plus the whole story of what happened after it landed (even up to the present day) is interesting. It just needs to get organized so I can book my plane tickets!


Kitty; Not much organizing to it. I'm planning on taking the side trip anyway and I have (I hope) a couple folks with me already and I always rent a minivan anyway.

If we get too many, we may need a second minivan or a 12-pax Van (damn expensive, though). I'll pick the hotel(s) from the web, and everybody will make their own reservations.

If Jeff comes up with something more formal and within a reasonable budget, that's fine, but my trip is of the Indiana Jones School of Travel ("Hey, I'm making this up as I go").

[zooterkin]

I'm tempted, but I fly back on the Tuesday afternoon, from Vegas. :(

[Kochanski]

I would love to go to Meteor Crater. Jeff if you organize it, I am there.

[SkepticalDrew]

Might have to take another day off work for this. Been to Grand Canyon a few times but never seen this meteor crater. Sounds fascinating.

[hcmom]

These are a few pictures from when El Spectre and I took arthwollipot out to see a few of the sights before TAM 7. Pictures don't really do it, though.


Inside the pink box in the first picture is a group of people on a tour, just to give some sort of perspective to all this...

21498

21499

21500

[SkepticScott]

Meteor Crater on Google Maps
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=35.018891,-111.004829&spn=0.087162,0.138702&t=h&z=13

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Looks like it's about 2 hours from Phoenix. I've got a friend out there I used to go visit, but I'm way over due - it's been about 10 years. Maybe I'll plan a trip!

[Allecher]

I may be interested in this as well. It seems a shame to be so (relatively) close to the crater and canyon without visiting them.

[Hokulele Mom]

Hokulele: Can you stay an extra day or two and take me there? Once upon a time, she was an astronomy major.

Of course, if Jeff is willing to organize the trip, as I said, I will go!

H Mom

[Hutch]

OK, I have at least one other traveller, so this is a go.

For planning purposes, here is the cost/travel plan,

CAR: I will rent and pay for, but will happily accept donations for gasoline and such from any travellers. Planning on a minivan, but depends on how many actually join us. A 12-15 pax van can run $350/day, and in that case I might require a small donation.

HOTEL: I have booked myself at the Quality Inn on I-17 and I-40 in Flagstaff, AZ. The rates differ on Friday and Saturday, but average out to $80.80/night, or $160.60 total (w/tax) as I booked. There are large numbers of hotels in Flagstaff to meet all budgets, and there is nothing saying we need to all stay in the same place. If you room with somebody, that will cut the rooming costs in half.

PARK FEES: Not to bad, I'll list ones that I know about from my research and if there are other places you want to see, pricing should be readily available on the Web:

GRAND CANYON: $25.00/vehicle (my treat, per person costs up to the per person...)
METEOR CRATER: $15.00/person
LOWELL OBSERVATORY: $10.00/person, open until 10PM in the summer
WALNUT CANYON: $5.00/person
SUNSET CRATER: $5.00/person

GAS: Figure about 600 miles total, 15 mpg, $4.00/gal, carry the five..., about $160.00. I'll buy, but contributions will be cheerfully accepted.

FOOD: If it was me alone, McDonalds/Burger King/Wendy's and maybe one Steak dinner would see me through. The Hotel advertises a "Free Hot Breakfast" (this usually means you can make your own waffles), but it is a way to save. But I think we can manage to whatever our budget(s) are.

RETURN: I can't promise what time exactly we would be back on Tuesday, as it would depend on when we left the Canyon, but I would think we'd be there by 7 or 8 PM. Lots of flights to the east leave Vegas late, arriving in the early morning hours on the East coast, if you want to avoid another night in Vegas. There are plenty of cheapo hotels near the airport, not exactly the nicest ones, but for 8 hours sleep, they'll do. My flight is out on Wednesday morning, so I'll be looking for a place and maybe a roomie to cut costs.

Anyway, let me know if anyone is interested.

[Wowbagger]

OK, I have at least one other traveller, so this is a go.
I think I would rather opt for a shorter trip. I was hoping for a drive to Red Rocks or something, for a day or part of a day.

That's what this thread is for:
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=206324

( And, Hutch: I thought you weren't organizing anything this year:
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=204026 )

[AdMan]

Although I'm still interested, I was also hoping for a one- or a one-and-a-half day trip (planning on flying out Tuesday evening). Getting back by 7 or 8pm Tuesday is currently too late for me...

[Allecher]

Thanks for organizing this, Hutch!

I'm still interested but I'll have to see if I can work out the logistics. Right now it looks like a pre-TAM trip will be easier for me than post-TAM.

[hugsandscience]

My brother and I were thinking almost the exact same thing, we might want to join.

Going with some others would probably be a lot of fun!

[Kitten]

I'd be happy to lead a geo tour... see the other thread...

[DocM]

I've been to all of these places, and our plans for this year include Valley of Fire and Zion NP after TAM, but I thought I'd just throw in a comment to add to the confusion:

When you're in Flagstaff, you could also consider visiting the Sunset Crater VOlcano National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm). Surely less exciting than Meteor Crater, but a nice side trip.

Flagstaff also has a good number of brewpubs (I can recommend Beaver Street Brewery), and a large number of shops selling any kind of Woo. Skeptics should feel at home there. :)

M.

[Hutch]

Bumping for last time, right now Hamradioguy and I are planning for the Sun-Tues side trip and if anyone else is interested, let me know.

[StevenGlassman]

If you arrange something, I will go.

Richard and friends had a good time going to Hoover Dam last year, as well

Has anyone posted about organizing a day trip out to Hoover Dam earlier, such as Thursday morning? I won't be staying in town after TAM, so can't do a post-TAM trip, but I wanted to try to get out there during down time before the festivities get rolling.

I was trying to find this with the forum search, and haven't had any success.

[hcmom]

Has anyone posted about organizing a day trip out to Hoover Dam earlier, such as Thursday morning? I won't be staying in town after TAM, so can't do a post-TAM trip, but I wanted to try to get out there during down time before the festivities get rolling.

I was trying to find this with the forum search, and haven't had any success.

Did you try here? http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=210931

[StevenGlassman]

Did you try here? http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=210931

Thanks! I hadn't seen that thread.