Friday, July 28, 2006

Road Trip, ctd. - Day 6




Monday, July 16, 2006 - Day 6
Telluride to 4 corners to Monument Valley to Mesa - 505 miles

On Sunday night, after dinner, we sat in a hottub beneath a zillion stars in the clear, cool, Colorado night sky. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Monday morning, after breakfast and a brief tour of incredibly beautiful Telluride, including a gondola ride, we were off again, to the 4 corners and Monument Valley and Moab, Utah, before heading back to Mesa.

There’s just one place in the United States where 4 states come together at one point, and that place, located on Navajo Nation land, is called The 4 Corners Monument, or just "the 4 corners" for short. A and I took our firstborn, Alexandra, there when she was a baby, in 1977, and sat her tiny, diaper-clad bottom on all 4 states: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado & Utah.

For what it’s worth, the site, established by the US government in 1868, was a site of intersection in the 17th century, too, although the 4 groups represented at that time were not states but peoples: the Spanish, Apaches, Utes and Navajos of the region.


It was Arizon hot in that part of the country, and when we skirted through Arizona and stopped, so I could take a pic of my shadow, the heat was formidable.







From the 4 corners, we drove Hwy 160 west and south, to Kayenta, NM, and on to Monument Valley. If you haven’t been to Monument Valley, you need to go, preferably at sunset, when the shadows loom long, making the red buttes even redder.
Monument Valley is stunning, and it's easy to see why it's been the setting for more Westerns than any other site in the US. Happily, it still looks almost exactly as it did in 1938, when John Wayne and John Ford went there to film Stagecoach.

From Monument Valley, we drove on Hwys 163 and 191 to Moab, Utah. On the way, I spotted this amazing rock:

























In Moab, we had a bad dinner but a decent beer (Polygamy Porter) at Eddie McStiff's. A & I were both disappointed that on this trip, there was no time to spend exploring either Arches or Canyonlands National Parks. Nevertheless, as we drove out of Moab, on Hwy 128, we saw a spectacular sunset above the canyon walls before driving back to Mesa.

7 comments:

Judith HeartSong said...

I haven't seen the four corners area yet and want to go back!

judi

Chris said...

Emma these photos are stunning. I never realized the four corners were actually that established. I mean, I knew the four states came together, but I didn't know it was actually marked as such. I would have to skip from state to state like a little kid.


Chris
My Blog

odie said...

You have such a wonderful way of setting the mood and creating a picture both of words and photos. Thanks for sharing.

dreaminglily said...

Sounds lovely, and great pics. Beautiful!

~Lily

Tammy Brierly said...

Judi,
This trip sounded so fun :) I loved how you set the baby on the "spot." I bet it was really hot!!!!

emmapeelDallas said...

:)

It was hot this July, when we were there, and no way would I have put a diaper-clad, barefoot baby down on that spot then! But it was late September, the time we took Alex, and that's a better time to visit, for sure.

TJ said...

Hey I have been there!
What a great trip yiou are on...so cool. So very cool.
love TJ