As we began our day 4 trek to the Four Corners Monument in northwest New Mexico, the landscape seemed very familiar to me. It should be, since I took this same route in February, 2014 with Tyler, on his way to CA to start his new position near San Francisco. The difference was today it was about 25 degrees warmer and there was no snow on the ground. It was a fresh look at some of the same landscapes we passed through 15 months ago. Although it’s a long way from anywhere, there’s nowhere else in the U.S. where you can stand in four different states at the same time. It’s well worth the drive!
When it was time to leave, I asked Darby if she would like to drive the 3 hours back down to the highway. With a little hesitation, she accepted the challenge, even though it was unfamiliar territory for her and we had wind gusts of 25+ mph. After 28 grueling miles, she decided she had enough. She pulled Big Blue over to the side of the road, looked at me and exclaimed, “Thanks, but no thanks. It’s all yours,” and once she turned the map right-side up, turned out to be a decent navigator.
Some tidbits of nature in our travels today (below) included Western Kingbirds, blooming Prickly Pear cactus and skinks (lizards) that darted in and out of the rocks
Our last stop of the day was the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert. This was an awesome visit that actually combines several natural and cultural resources into one incredible location. At one viewpoint your gazing at buttes and mesas that seemed to change colors right in front of your eyes (as the sun hits them), and then you shoot up to another vista to see the scattered remains of 200 million year old trees that have turned to stone, that include beautiful crystals. And, if that wasn’t enough, you can experience, fossils, petroglyphs and ruins of ancient Pueblo villages. It truly has something for everyone.
Everyone likes snapping pictures. They post them on Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. They email them to friends and families, even though many of the friends and families may get tired of seeing them and simply delete them. But, does it really matter? No, not really. You see, you’re not taking photos for them, you’re taking photos for yourself-for your own memories, for your own stories to be told later. Sure, you may enjoy sharing your adventure, experience or event with others, but unless it’s a fancy remote control camera or one of the new types of motion-activated trail cams, the one thing that is needed to take a photo is that you have to be there to snap it, looking directly at the subject. I think sometimes (including yours truly) we just want to race out, capture the photo, and move on to the next “photo opp.” We simply ignore taking a few minutes to sit and enjoy what you’re looking at, or what you came to see in the first place. Today was one of those days. We snapped a lot of pics, but also tried just to stand for a few minutes and look. We had to. The sights that we were fortunate to see were better than any photo that we could have taken. It was pretty cool, and I highly recommend it! Stay tuned!