Monument Valley and The Four Corners

Yesterday's drive was long, diverse, beautiful, and long (oh -- did I already say that?).

We left Williams around 8:30 AM and drove along I-40 to Flagstaff where we filled up with fuel and then headed north on Highway 89 and then northeast on Highway 160. We started in Flagstaff at around 7,000 feet, dropped to about 5,000 feet and stayed near that elevation for most of the drive through northeast Arizona. 

Somewhere along that route we took a good look at the map and found that the famous Monument Valley was near our intended travel path and then decided that we couldn't miss that opportunity - afterall - who knows when we might venture this way again? 

And I'm really glad we did! Monument Valley is certainly a unique and absolutely gorgeous place to see. This area is not only beautiful - it is sacred ground for the Navajo Tribe and a large part of the Valley is tribal lands. We drove to the Monument Valley Tribal Visitors Center and paid our $5.00 each to visit the Visitor Center. Let me warn you RVers out there that there isn't much room for large RVs in the parking lot. What large spaces that do exist are taken up by the many tour buses that visit daily. We didn't stay long at the Visitor Center since we had many more miles still to travel - but Peggy did get some nice pictures. Someday we'll have to return and take the 17 mile drive among all the "monuments."

After leaving the Monument Valley Visitors Center we pulled over for a quick lunch and then retraced our path back to Highway 160 and moved along to our next stop - at yet another Navajo tribal lands monument at "The Four Corners." This spot was surveyed some number of years ago and determined to be the "spot" where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona meet. I understand that modern technology has determined that the "spot" is actually some number of yards away ... but who cares! We paid out $3.00 per person to the Navajos for the privilege of viewing the spot where they installed the bronze plaque - so I say this is "Spot."

After obtaining the required photograph of the "spot" ... we continued on to our final destination just east of Cortez, Co at A&A Mesa Verde RV Park - right at the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park.

Yes indeed ... a long travel day. But one of the prettiest drives we have ever taken.

So here it is Thursday morning and after a poor night's sleep for both of us we are getting around to starting our day. It looks like a great day for sightseeing so we plan on visiting Mesa Verde National Park and seeing what there is to see. At least some of it!