Four States at Once!

When I was in sixth grade, my English teacher Mrs. Mann told us about a trip she had taken to the southwest, and about this neat place where four states touched. Ever since then, I've been slightly obsessed with going to that spot for myself. After doing some research on the site, located on Navajo tribal land, I had to adjust my expectations, because many reviews weren't that nice.

Yes, it seemed tourist trap-y, but it also was providing much-needed support to the local economy. So I paid my three dollars and parked.

Here's what it looks like:

And here's me, standing in all four states at once. (After I got home, a saw a snap on Flickr of a girl who sat criss-cross applesauce in four states at once...so, yup, one day I'm going to have to go back and do that).

I had many other fun Southwest adventures on this day, but the Four Corners needed its own spotlight.

Pics of the Day: July 20-22

July 20- Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. This formation is part of the Fiery Furnace.

July 21-This is Cliff Palace, one of the largest cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. Ancestral Puebloans (also called Anasazi) lived here from about 1200-1300 AD.

July 22- The first picture is from Newspaper Rock at Petrified Forest National Park. These are petroglyphs left by the ancient Puebloans of the Puerco Pueblo. It is so amazing that they survive in such detail after all this time. The second shot of my foot may not look like much, but it's actually me standing in Colorado, Arizona, Utah & New Mexico all at the same time, at the Four Corners Monument  on the Navajo Nation lands.

Driving All Night Through New Mexico

We left the Grand Canyon pretty late, after eating an awesome dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Tusayan, the tiny town outside the park. Our original plan had been to go up through the mountains through the four corners and into Colorado that way. But after our all-night experience driving the mountains in British Columbia, we opted for the less-scenic, better-traveled interstate. I slept all the way to Gallup, just over the Arizona border; I got the sunrise shift, which was awesome. We passed the El Malpais National Monument, and I pulled over. I was so glad I did.

Then we went through Albequerque and Santa Fe, driving along parts of Route 66.

We also saw the Rio Grande River. I'm not really sure why I think rivers are so cool, but I totally do. I want to see all of the major US rivers. If I had lived two hundred years ago, I would have dressed like a man and stowed away on the Lewis & Clark expedition.

When we went through Santa Fe, they were having this huge Indian craft market, and we couldn't find parking anywhere. I'm excited to be going back there this summer.

Up next, the Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak.