Four Corners

We left Utah with one purpose… to get to Four Corners and get pictures of the boys standing in four states at once. A few days before we left on our trip a teacher from Lisbon Elementary, Barb Hayes, called to warn us that work was being done at Four Corners and that it is only open on the weekends. Okay, fair enough. We went online and looked it up. The web site only said that they were making improvements and would only be open Thursday through Sunday, May to September. I don’t know about you, but it seems odd to me that the Navajo Nation would close down one of their main attractions half the week during the summer, but whatever. We arranged our schedule so that we would be there on Friday.

In the meantime, as we made our way to Four Corners we passed through Monument Valley. Monument Valley is home to hundreds of free standing giant stones. They’re not attached to any sort of mountain or anything. It looks like God just dropped them out of the sky and they stand where they landed. We didn’t go to the Visitors Center because it was miles away from the road we were on and we were ready to get to Four Corners and then to our campground. Monument Valley also stands in the Navajo Nation. I don’t know exactly how big the Navajo Nation is, but we were travelling through it for hours. So we meandered down the highway, pulling off when we could to take pictures of the monuments we could see from our vantage point.

Then we started to see the signs for Four Corners. I had been talking it up to the kids so they were really excited. Suddenly, there we were, pulling up to the booth. The excitement is mounting. The admission is $3 a person. I can live with that. How often do you get the chance to stand in four states at one time? Glenn pulls a twenty from his wallet; we get up to the booth and see a little sign. “Due to construction and limited access to monument, $3 per car.” Hmmmm. That doesn’t sound good. I got a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach that disappointment was only minutes away. Then I saw the big fences. We stepped out of the RV with trepidation and slowly walked towards the fences. I was still hoping that there was an opening in the fencing and they allowed people to see the monument. Alas, no. Not only were we left staring at ugly chain link fencing, but they didn’t even put signs on the fencing to tell you what state you were standing in. I began to feel $3 a car was a total rip-off. Apparently my complaining was a little on the loud side (I know, it’s shocking) because I was then approached by a reporter from the Farmington, New Mexico newspaper and asked about my feelings on the monument closure. Boy did I let him have it. He finally had to stop me and pull out a tape recorder. I guess I was talking faster than he could write. So, after much venting I got it out of my system, the reporter walked away and I looked at all the Navajo art in the various booths around the site. I even bought a necklace.

I guess this gives us yet another reason to head this way again. Are we disappointed? Sure we are. Are there worse things in life? You bet. It just goes to show you can’t plan everything.