The widely touted Meteor Crater (daily: summer 6am-6pm; winter 8am-5pm; $8; ), six miles south of the interstate on a well-marked road nearly forty miles east of Flagstaff, might have been interesting 22,000 years ago, when a meteorite blasted a huge hole, nearly a mile across and over five hundred feet deep, into the scrubby plateau. These days, however, it's a privately run tourist operation, managed in mock-Park Service style and absurdly overpriced. Visitors cannot hike into the actual crater.

Two old Route 66 towns, WINSLOW and HOLBROOK , are kept alive by transcontinental truckers. Each town consists of little more than a strip of motels, such as the Best Western Adobe Inn in Winslow at 1701 N Park Drive (tel 928/289-4638; $50-75), and the concrete teepees of the Wigwam Motel at 811 W Hopi Drive in Holbrook (tel 928/524-3048; $35-50). In addition, Winslow is now graced once more by the restored splendor of the 1929 La Posada Hotel , at 303 E Second St (tel 928/289-4366, ; $75-100).

East of Flagstaff

• East of Flagstaff

Explore East of Flagstaff

• Petrified Forest National Park

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