One of my goals in life is to travel to all 50 states. Though I had been to 44 of them and many of them several times, there were still a few that I hadn't hit. This goal has become somewhat of a family goal now. We have a big map of the US on a wall in our house, and each of us has a colored star. When we visit a new place we record it on the map by placing our star on that location. This road trip was a way for us to visit more states. I had already been to Texas, California, Nevada, Arizona, but I had not been to New Mexico. The kids were able to add all of those states to their lists. Kristi was able to add Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The nice thing about having a goal to get to New Mexico was that Kristi's Aunt Mary and Uncle Kevin lived in Santa Fe. This would provide us with an opportunity to see family that was far from our home. The main plan for day nine was to sleep in a little and head to Santa Fe. It would be a long day of driving, and we didn't have anything else planned for the day. With most road trips, we found a couple of surprises.
Our first surprise was a sign that advertised the site of the Arizona meteor crater site. We had heard about this on TV. The sign told us what exit to take, but we didn't know how far off the expressway this landmark was. We decided to exit and see. It was only about six miles so we decided to check it out. It was a little pricey. It was $15 for adults and $8 for the kids and we knew we weren't planning to stay long. But, it was hard to be right there and not see what it was really like. Kristi decided to read in the car while the kids and I went into the complex that led to the viewing area. We were able to see the crater, hear a presentation from a guide and watch a brief movie about the crater. They also had a small museum. There wasn't a lot to it, but it is another of those things where you can say, "Oh, I have been there and seen that."
After our quick stop, we hit the road again. We didn't get too far down the expressway when we noticed a sign for the Petrified Forest National Park. Again, we wondered how far out of the way this would take us. We really didn't have a time schedule so we decided to check it out. It looked like it was relatively close, and we had purchased a National Park Annual Pass so we wouldn't have to pay to get in. We were glad we made this little side trip. The petrified pieces were very cool. They also have the Painted Desert in this national park. We mainly drove through and snapped some pictures. It was a good side trip, though. 
We didn't have any other jaunts from then on. We ran into a little traffic issue, and we lost an hour going from Arizona to New Mexico (Arizona does not follow daylight savings time) so was got in a little later than we had hoped, but we were at the Chapmans' by about 7:45. They had dinner all ready for us and welcomed us very graciously. We spent the evening visiting. It was nice to be in a home after so many days in hotels. Our initial plan to was stay in a hotel in Santa Fe, but Kristi's Aunt Mary had offered to have us stay with them. We didn't want to impose, but decided to accept their generous offer. We were so glad that we did!
So, day nine ended in the comfort of home, surrounded by family, and eating a delicious home-cooked meal!
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