I Like Big Buttes and I Cannot Lie

Day Seven, Thursday, August 26

Action-packed day today, to be sure, despite the fact that we only really had three destinations. We woke up and were on the road a little bit earlier than usual, aided by the fact that we were now in the Mountain Time Zone. We grabbed a quick bit of breakfast from the lobby and we were off, headed up toward the first stop of the day, the Four Corners. On our way up, we caught US 491, formerly the Devil's Highway, US 666. Spooky! After crossing the border from New Mexico and into Colorado and back, we were there!

Dana at the Four Corners

All the states have these cool seals on their quadrant

It was a fairly cool monument. Additionally, it was surrounded by little shops operated by the Navajo, selling jewelry and t-shirts. Interestingly, in our drive from Farmington to Four Corners, we crossed into the Navajo Nation, a largely independent region occupying pieces of Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. We would remain within the Nation on the drive to Monument Valley, our next stop.

And speaking of, as we drove through the Utah area, we'd began catching sight of the huge red-brown rocks, called variously buttes and mesa, depending on how broad they were on the top. They were absolutely beautiful, but nothing really prepared me for the awe-inspiring Monument Valley.

The Three Sisters

East Mitten

West Mitten

View from the restaurant, "The View"

Lunch was delicious - I had an "Indian Taco", which consisted of blue corn fried bread with a topping of beans, chicken, salsa, and tomatoes. Absolutely delicious and great. After we ate, we headed out in the car to stumble our way to the monuments. The long track was about seventeen miles long, so we cut it a bit short. The going was rough, but the Infiniti did a heroic job of bouncing over the rocks and bumps.

The final stop for the day, after about a three hour continuous drive, was the fabled Grand Canyon. Of course, I knew what to expect to some extent, but what I saw surprised the hell out of me in a wonderful way. Absolutely stunning!

We wandered around the Grand Canyon National Park for a bit and decided to take off toward the hotel a little before sunset. We enjoyed a lovely light show provided by the thundercloud off to the southeast as it got darker and darker. Desert thunderstorms are beautiful and seem to rarely come with rain. We arrived at the hotel a little after eight and, after a quick Del Taco run, settled in for tomorrow.

States: New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona

Cities: Farmington, Grand Canyon Village, Flagstaff

On the chopping block for tomorrow:

• Heads roll
• Dam it
• Aminals!

See you in Las Vegas!