September 11, 2008

• Four Corners

  Four Corners Monument

  
  

  Utah, New Mexico, Colorado & Arizona

  
  

  August 29, 2008

  
  

  Still playing catch-up on xanga entries.  After all the groundbreaking festivies were said and done our family hit the road to get to know the surrounding area a little better.  We traveled south through Blanding, where our stake president in Camarillo hailed from, then southeast through some beautiful remote country till we reached the Four Corners Monument.  That was pretty cool.  I had always wanted to go there ever since Mom told us kids that she went once upon a time.

  
  

  

  
  

  Here’s our family traversing four states at once.  You’ll notice my jeans were still wet from the ambush I suffered earlier that afternoon.  Lizzy isn’t pictured because she picked this 30 minute chunk of our several hour drive to take her nap.  She will likely regret that decision in years to come.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  “Here meet four states in freedom under God” – forgive me but that choked me up.

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  The Seal of each state.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  Flags of each state and the Navaho Indian Nation flying in a circle around the monument.

  
  

  On the way to Four Corners we passed some cool formations that I couldn’t help but stop and explore:

  
  

  

  
  

  This is the formation we could see from the road that made me bring the car to a screeching halt.  A portion of the cave is partially blocked off by a wall made of stone and dried mud.  The ceiling of the smaller portion is blackened, as though the wall was built to keep smoke from entering the other portion of the cave.  Cool!

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  Pretty country.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  This is a picture of Shiprock taken out the car window as we were driving to Four Corners.  In this photo Shiprock is about 15 miles away and is a most striking geological formation.  A year ago I stood at the top of Abajo Peak in Monticello, some 70ish miles away and could see it on the horizon.  They say the formation was used as a landmark by Spaniards and other early travelers through the region.  Shiprock, amazingly, is actually the remnants of an ancient volcano.  It is the plug left in the core and the surrounding core has since eroded away leaving only the plug.  Cool!  You can learn more about it at:

  
  

  http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/student/kuss1/shiprock.html

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  Other cool formations we passed on the way.

  
  

  

  
  

  Apparently they decided to renumber the highway from Monticello to Cortez, Four Corners, etc.  Can’t figure out why…

  
  

  

  
  

  Sisters bedding down for the night.

  • 11:50 am
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