Four Corners -- Arizona, Utah, Colorado & New Mexico!

I don't have a formal 'Bucket List' per se, but some of the places I've always wanted to see are the Four Corners, Shiprock and Chimney Rock. I suppose it comes from reading all of the Tony Hillerman books about Joe Leaphorn driving around this part of the world as he solved his murder mysteries. So this morning, we took the Toad and drove west from Bloomfield on Highway 64 over to the Arizona state border, the took Highway 160 up to the Four Corners Monument.





We stopped in Bektabito for lunch at this rather unique Mickey D's --

We could see Shiprock Peak from a long way away over on the horizon --

It's a pretty spectacular column of volcanic rock sticking out above the Mesa 1583 feet (7178 feet above sea level). Shiprock Peak is the eroded remnant of the throat of an ancient volcano. The Navajo call it Tse' Bit'a'i, or the Rock With Wings. It figures in many of the Navajo origin legends and is considered a very sacred place.

The Four Corners Monument is on tribal land and is run by the Navajo Nation which charged us $3 a person to enter --

The Monument area was rebuilt last year and features sheltered built-in booths around all of its sides for Navajo vendors of jewelry, rugs, knickknacks, etc. The booths are some protection from the wind, which blows incessantly here.

Walkways approach the center from each state --

If you place your feet just right, you can stand in all four states at once --

Each state seal is embedded in the corner of its state --

On our way back we followed Highway 160 north into Colorado and the Ute Mountain Reservation to where it connected with Highway 491 which took us back to the town of Shiprock and Highway 64. We got a good view of Chimney Rock which stands 7600 feet above sea level.

There have been unsuccessful efforts the last several years to get Chimney Rock declared a National Monument in order to protect the site, but so far Congress has not passed the necessary legislation.

We had a nice surprise after we got home late this afternoon. My friend Tina stopped by with a batch of warm fry bread that she had just finished making! She brought enough for me to freeze. I'll look forward to making some Indian Tacos as well as having some with honey and cinnamon!