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There were tons of these boarded-up
buildings with random artwork on them. |
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| Mars? |
After I left Phoenix, I backtracked towards Flagstaff and took small state and US highways through Northeast Arizona. I felt like I was driving on another planet. At first, the flat, dry landscape turned shades of light red. The flatness gave way in the distance to steep canyons and ravines that initially seemed like a mirage. Suddenly I was in a rocky, red wonderland. I couldn't stop recklessly taking terribly framed pictures out of my car window while driving. At certain points, I had to stop and take in the landscape properly. There were smatterings of dilapidated souvenir stands and hawkers' gimmicks. I stopped once and was mildly hassled by hawkers trying to show me dinosaur tracks for an unadvertised sum of money. The highway wasn't a well-traveled one, but it was filled with all sorts of graffiti art mural-ed crumbling buildings, lonely souvenir stands, and other oddities. Monument Valley, the only major tourist attraction within a couple hundred miles, was halfway down the road. I didn't explore the rock formation "monuments," but from the highway you could see the impressive rocky skyline. I'm now in love with the Southwest's landscape.
I reached Four Corners in the afternoon. The Four Corners monument is maintained by the Navajo nation and charges a small entrance fee to see and stand where the borders of Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado supposedly meet. I've read that modern GPS tools have indicated that the monument is anywhere from 2,000 feet to 2.5 miles away from the true latitudinal and longitudinal borders where it should have been placed. The original 1868 survey, while technically a bit inaccurate because of the surveying tools available at the time, is legally recognized as the measurement for the states' lawful boundaries and monument's placement. Therefore, I can confidently say the law recognizes that the picture to the right is legit. Thus, the law also justifies the money I spent on Four Corners souvenirs from the booths set up by Navajo artisans at the monument.
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| Downtown Durango |
Leaving the Four Corners, I entered Colorado en route to Durango. In Durango, I was meeting yet another great friend, Chris. I worked with Chris this summer in Connecticut at Cato Corner. Chris had been making cheese at Cato Corner for a couple years when I arrived. Shortly after I left Connecticut for Washington, Chris also left to test the waters in Colorado. When I got to his house, I discovered that our friends at Cato Corner had sent him some cheese a few days before. We had a nostalgic cheesy dinner of Cato Corner cheese. The previous six months had come full circle. Afterwards, we hit up a few bars on Durango's obnoxiously cute downtown strip. As I drove toward Durango, I went through a lot of dingy, remote towns. There wasn't much to see in any town other than Dairy Queens, one of which sated my afternoon snack craving. Durango, however, was a beautiful small town tucked between a few mountains that smacked of a resort village for ski- and outdoorsy-types. Coffee shops, local stores, historic buildings, and small bars lined downtown. We first went to an old-timey themed bar inside a historic hotel. The waitresses dressed in turn of the 19th century costumes, which seemed mildly humiliating. The bar was a great, laid-back place to hang out. The second stop offered a taste of the potentially annoying side of living in Durango -- lots and lots of drunk and obnoxious, fresh-out-of-college girls and beefcakes....Ok, so I guess that's only annoying if you're not into that sort of thing. I had a great time hanging out in Durango. Also, Chris has the cutest puppy in the world, so that was a plus. The next day, I returned to yet another lonely winding highway en route to Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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| It must be lonely being a hawker in the desert |
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| Monument Valley in the distance |
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| Cutest puppy in the world |
I reached Four Corners in the afternoon. The Four Corners monument is maintained by the Navajo nation and charges a small entrance fee to see and stand where the borders of Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado supposedly meet. I've read that modern GPS tools have indicated that the monument is anywhere from 2,000 feet to 2.5 miles away from the true latitudinal and longitudinal borders where it should have been placed. The original 1868 survey, while technically a bit inaccurate because of the surveying tools available at the time, is legally recognized as the measurement for the states' lawful boundaries and monument's placement. Therefore, I can confidently say the law recognizes that the picture to the right is legit. Thus, the law also justifies the money I spent on Four Corners souvenirs from the booths set up by Navajo artisans at the monument.
Leaving the Four Corners, I entered Colorado en route to Durango. In Durango, I was meeting yet another great friend, Chris. I worked with Chris this summer in Connecticut at Cato Corner. Chris had been making cheese at Cato Corner for a couple years when I arrived. Shortly after I left Connecticut for Washington, Chris also left to test the waters in Colorado. When I got to his house, I discovered that our friends at Cato Corner had sent him some cheese a few days before. We had a nostalgic cheesy dinner of Cato Corner cheese. The previous six months had come full circle. Afterwards, we hit up a few bars on Durango's obnoxiously cute downtown strip. As I drove toward Durango, I went through a lot of dingy, remote towns. There wasn't much to see in any town other than Dairy Queens, one of which sated my afternoon snack craving. Durango, however, was a beautiful small town tucked between a few mountains that smacked of a resort village for ski- and outdoorsy-types. Coffee shops, local stores, historic buildings, and small bars lined downtown. We first went to an old-timey themed bar inside a historic hotel. The waitresses dressed in turn of the 19th century costumes, which seemed mildly humiliating. The bar was a great, laid-back place to hang out. The second stop offered a taste of the potentially annoying side of living in Durango -- lots and lots of drunk and obnoxious, fresh-out-of-college girls and beefcakes....Ok, so I guess that's only annoying if you're not into that sort of thing. I had a great time hanging out in Durango. Also, Chris has the cutest puppy in the world, so that was a plus. The next day, I returned to yet another lonely winding highway en route to Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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