It's Only One Day

Have you ever done one thing for 24 straight hours before? All day. All night. Performing the same activity. An entire rotation of the planet spent on one identical task. Perhaps it was a lazy day, spent binge-watching an entire TV series. 24 hours of Jack Bauer, or Walter White. That would be fun. Rewarding. Or maybe it was one crazy weekend on a long bender in New Orleans. 24 hours of Jack Daniels. Jose Cuervo. That would be exhausting. Similarly rewarding. One whole day. 1440 minutes. Now imagine that same stretch of time, only this time you're crammed in a minivan with 3 small children and a dog. Driving. Across the country. All day. All night. All 86,400 seconds. Surely this is a recipe for disaster, right? Certainly this could go down as the worst idea ever. There has to be like a million other things that you'd rather do for 24 straight hours, right? Well, against our better judgment, and defying logic, that's just what we did. A 24 hour road trip. And guess what? It wasn't terrible. In fact, it was pretty great.


Wait...What? How? More importantly...Why? Why would you? Why would anyone?
It was last spring, when Jenny first got the idea. “Wouldn't it be fun to drive out to Arizona someday and surprise our friends there? Just show up, unannounced, and be like Hey, what's up?” It wasn't a completely crazy idea. They had a guest house and we had a standing invitation to come. I liked the idea immediately. Right away, I clung to it, as if it were an inarguable fact.

“It's all set then. We are surprising the Murphy family in Arizona this coming winter," I declared.

And so it went. Our next adventure was planned.

A 25 year friendship

Now, our friends live near Phoenix, but are from St. Louis, and have made this drive many times over the years. They swear by their straight through approach. Non-stop. No hotels. No overnights. Just power through. Keep in mind, they also have 3 small kids and a dog, so their previous experiences were relevant when planning our own. I mean, the difference between traveling with kids vs. without kids, is nearly the same difference as driving vs. flying. They're not even in the same ballpark.


So, two days after Christmas, we were off. The five of us, plus our dog Smokey, piled into the Odyssey and drove 1500 miles, straight through, to the Valley of the Sun. We had a plan. And somehow, it actually worked. It was simple.


Step 1: Make the Journey Strictly About the Destination. This was the single biggest key to the success of our drive. Now, this sort of crazy thinking went completely against our previous travel mantras. In the past, it was always, “The journey is just as important as the destination!” Usually, we would stop to enjoy the scenery. We'd soak up the sights. Really take it all in. Not this time. None of that was allowed. This time, all that mattered was getting there. The only important thing was the destination. It helped that the drive to Arizona is a pretty dreadful one. Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, and Eastern New Mexico are nothing spectacular. By the time you get to the mountains of New Mexico, you can practically see Arizona. But, what helped us even more, was thinking about the surprise we were about to unleash on our friends. Jenny's lifelong best friend, Amanda, and her three kids had absolutely no idea the Woodman's were on the way. We had, for 6 months, planned a vacation to visit them, without her knowing. We did let John (the husband) in on our sneak attack, just to be sure they would actually be home when we got there. Cause that would've sucked. The anticipation of the eventual surprise was palpable, and it kept us going. It drove us on. Literally.

Destination: warmth

Step 2: Leave Early. This was another suggestion from a different road-wise friend of ours. And when I say early, I don't mean “on the road by 8:00 or 9:00”. I mean early. Predawn early. Pitch black early. We completely packed the van the night before, and set our alarms for 4:30. With the kids still in their pajamas, we quickly threw them in the car, and hit the road by 5:00, under the cover of darkness. The kids went back to sleep, and we got a quick 3 or 4 hours out of the way before the day even began. That early momentum helped carry us through. We would drive all day, and into the night. By the time the kids were ready for bed once again, we had made it to New Mexico. And when you're only one state away from your destination, it feels close. No matter how big the state is. You're right there. You can see the finish line. There's no way we would've been that far, or felt that accomplished without waking up before the rooster crows. 
 

“We can do this. It's only one day.” we declared.

Step 3: Minimize The Stops. This goes hand-in-hand with Step 1. The journey is just an ends to a mean. You cover a lot of pavement by minimizing the amount of time you're not driving. It's quite simple. More time on the road = more miles driven. There's no way we were gonna cover 1500 miles if we were stopping every hour or two. “I gotta pee!”... “I'm hungry!” … “Now, I gotta pee! … Now I'm hungry!” That would've been brutal. So, the plan was easy. Every time we stopped, everyone did everything. Everyone. At every stop. Gas. Whether we needed it or not. Potty. Whether they needed it or not. Boom. Back in the car. Always keeping it moving. Every stop. On top of that, we took all of our meals to-go. Eating in the car not only saved time, but also gave the kids another activity to keep them busy for a half hour or so. Something we had never tried before. It worked great. Other than an occasional potty break at some rest areas, that was all the stopping we did. We wasted little time. We were always back in the car. Onward.

Step 4: Get Lucky. This final step was not in the plan. It just happened. We got lucky. How can you plan for that? For whatever the reason, luck was on our side this trip. The kids were amazing. I mean surprisingly so. Real troopers. Somehow, a 24 hour car trip was easier than an 8 hour one. Heck, we've had drives around town that didn't go as smoothly as this one. Little, if any fighting. Little, if any complaining. Perhaps they could sense the magnitude of this drive. Maybe they were just excited to see their friends. It could've been that they are just getting older, and they are better equipped to handle a trip such as this one. Whatever the reason, it went off virtually without a hitch. There were certainly reasons to think there would be problems. The threat of car sickness was never far from our minds. Our previous travels had taught us that. Typically it's the youngest one who suffers. This time it was the 8 year old who actually threw-up less than a few hours in to the drive. (Hooray for on-board barf bags, though) After that, she felt fine, and it never surfaced again. For anyone. We'll call that a win. Luck was (mostly) on our side. The newest Woodman, Smokey, had barely spent even an hour in the car with us before. So 24 straight hours should be fine, right? Again, Lady Luck was with us. Smokey was even more amazing than the kids. A real travel dog. At times it was like she was barely even there.
 
By 2:00 am we were only a couple hours away in Flagstaff. Since they didn't know we were coming, we couldn't exactly show up at 4 in the morning. "Surprise!... Yeah, we know its early." That would not have elicited the reaction we wanted. So, we needed to kill a couple hours. We pulled into a Walmart parking lot to “rest” for a couple hours before the big reveal. And if you think that sounds like another horrible idea, then this time you would be right. When I say “rest”, I really mean just lay there, not really sleeping. And by “lay there” I mean sort of in a reclined position. Not enough to be horizontal, but just enough to be uncomfortable. Meanwhile, there's a kid's foot in your face, and the dog's nose is in your lap. Then one of the kids, or possibly the dog, or both starts farting. After a couple hours of this torture, we made our descent into Phoenix. Amanda and the kids were up, and it was time to announce our presence.

 
We had made it. Over 24 straight hours in the car together. And, in the end, it was absolutely worth it. Without question. In only one day, we made it all the way across the country. In only one day, we gave our friends a surprise of a lifetime. In only one day, we kicked off our vacation in the sun.

The One Great Sight Which Every American Should See

The Grand Canyon. If you've been there, you get it. You know. If you haven't, nothing I can say or write can even come close to describing it. So I won't even try. Pictures do not do it justice. It is, quite simply, the most amazing spectacle I've ever seen. If you haven't witnessed it for yourself, you need to. Jenny and the girls had never been, so cold weather or not, we headed off the one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World.

The cold weather only put a slight damper on our plans. The already treacherous hike down into the canyon was now covered with snow and ice. We weren't even going to attempt it. They sell a book at all the gift shops titled 'Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon'. It chronicled all the people that have died in the canyon over the years. It was a thick book. We didn't feel like making them update it on account of us. So, instead, we walked around the rim, and took shuttles to several of the best overlooks.

Canyon-schooling

The Grand Canyon is 'only' 6 millions years old, which in relationship to the Earth, is not that old at all. In that time, the Colorado River has carved out layers and layers of sedimentary rock to form the canyon. The layers were formed when the area was covered by ocean water, millions of years earlier. Then tectonic plate upheaval formed mountains, and the river did the rest. To this day, the canyon is ever changing, as the waters continue to carve it deeper and deeper.

"It's tiny." proclaimed Norah. Yes, tiny indeed...

Adios Arizona, Hello Winter

We were thankful for good friends.

Thanksgivin' groovin'

This is how vegetarians do Thanksgiving turkey

Our stay in Phoenix ended all too soon. The sunny, warm days were truly a blessing for us. Being able to run around outside, in shorts and t-shirts in November was awesome for everyone. But, alas, we couldn't stay there forever. The road was beckoning us. So, after a busy Thanksgiving weekend, that included tons and tons of delicious food, we packed it up, and sadly said goodbye to our friends the Murphy's. Goodbye warm desert days. Goodbye casita. Goodbye Murphy family.

Amanda, John, Clark & Jenny

Literally parked on the interstate for 4 hrs due to icy conditions

Almost immediately once we left the valley of the sun, the weather changed. It wasn't just due to our geographical change, however. Coincidentally, the day we left Phoenix, was the day that a major winter storm blanketed most of the western United States. And it hit us with full force. Cold, windy, icy conditions were everywhere. We had to alter some of our stops, due to the arctic conditions. Morning temps sunk below zero in some places. Roads were closed. Hiking trails covered in ice. It was frigid. Winter was here, and here with a vengeance. Sigh... Why can't it be like Phoenix everywhere?

Graffiti Loving Apartment Dwellers

Signs of the Native American culture are abundant throughout the southwestern United States. Everywhere we went, there was evidence of their rich and storied history. Roadside stands selling jewelry. Their influence in the local artwork. Casinos. Their impact could be felt all over the region. While in Arizona, we took several different day trips to check out some of the ancient ruins left by the Native Americans.


The different tribes of the region are collectively called the Ancient Pueblo Indians. A pueblo, as we learned is essentially an ancient apartment building. Made in the adobe mud-style, or with rocks and stones, these large buildings housed many families. Sometimes built into cliffs, and other times up high in the mountains, groups of these structures formed small cities. At one time, there were hundreds of these villages throughout the region.

Montezuma did not live here. Sinaguans did.

Our first stop was the inappropriately named Montezuma Castle. When discovered by Europeans, it reminded them of similar looking Aztec structures, so they named it after their ruler. It was not Aztec, and Montezuma was never even in Arizona. It also wasn't a castle, but a pueblo, built for the Sinaguan tribe to live in. But, as a park ranger told us, Montezuma Castle National Monument sounds a lot cooler than 'Ancient Native American Apartment Building National Monument.' She was right. The Sinaguan people lived peacefully there, along a major trading route, for hundreds of years. Then, for some unexplained reason, they up and vanished. What they left behind, was an awesome example of pueblo construction. Nestled up high in a cliff, they had to climb ladders to reach their homes. This not only protected the residents from invaders, but also protected the structures from Mother Nature. We learned that as recently as the 1950s , people were allowed to climb inside these ruins and explore all over. Once hearing this, that's all the girls wanted to do. I can't blame them. I did too.
















Next up, was the awesomely named Tuzigoot. (too-zee-goot....kinda rolls off the tongue doesn't it?) Located in the Verde Valley, north of Phoenix, this archaeological site was yet another example of pueblo construction. This excavated site was also once home to the Sinaguan people. Sitting high upon a plateau, these buildings once housed over a hundred people at its peak. Here, we were allowed to walk throughout the place, exploring and imagining what it was like to live there. Throughout the valley were once dozens of villages similar to Tuzigoot. This remains the only one to be excavated and open to the public. Tuzigoot!

In addition to leaving cool structures for generations to explore, the Native Americans of the southwest also left behind rock carvings, known as petroglyphs. Specifically in Arizona, the Hohokam tribes made lots and lots of these artifacts. Several different parks and hikes lead us right by some really cool examples of this ancient artwork.


There is still much that we don't know about petroglyphs. Mainly, historians don't really understand what their purpose was. They do know that petroglyphs, unlike hieroglyphics, do not represent certain words or letters. Were they emblematic of different clans? Were they directions to specific locations? Or, were they just graffiti? It remains a mystery. We know they looked cool, though. The girls sat and copied their favorite ones onto paper, and tried to come up with meanings for them. Some were obvious. A human shape. Water. Animals with antlers. Others though, were more abstract. Squiggly lines. Swirls. Scribbles. It was pretty cool to imagine a Native American carving them a thousand years ago, as the girls sat there, in the same exact spot they once did, copying them onto their art pads. Awesome stuff.

Saguaro National Park petroglyphs

Lots of Things That Can Poke You

Before arriving in Arizona, the girls all had an idea of what they thought a desert was. They had never actually been to one, and were excited to see one for themselves. In their heads, they pictured the deserts in 'Aladdin' or 'Lawrence of Arabia'. Saharan. Sandy. Vast. That's what they imagined it would be like. It is not. Instead of huge sand dunes and camels, there were scrubby bushes, brown rocks, and lots of sharp spiky cacti.

The Sonoran Desert in Arizona is a harsh landscape. Rugged. Unforgiving. Pointy. While in Phoenix, we spent a lot of time enjoying the outdoors. The weather was most agreeable, practically begging for us to be outside. So, we did. We hiked. We explored. We learned. There are mountains all throughout the valley, with several of them quite close to us. The trails on them were a great way to spend an afternoon. We studied the plants and searched for animals. The desert is a hard place for both, yet somehow they survive, and even flourish in this rugged environment.

Holla at ya' Cholla!

At first glance, the plant life of the desert is rather dull and unattractive. Scrubby. Haggard. Monochromatic. Spiky. Not the flowering, full of life flora we are used to seeing in the Midwest. Lots of brown. Some green. Not very pretty, right? Yet, there is beauty in these plants. Not the obvious kind of beauty, like that of a flowering rose bush or a blooming dogwood tree. No, the desert beauty lies in its majesty. 

The kids' favorite: the prickly pear cactus

Teddy Bear Cholla (choy-ah) appears soft & fuzzy. It is not.

The saguaro cactus rises high from the land, standing noble and impressive in stature. The shape of the prickly pear cactus remind one of a cartoon character's head . The fuzziness of the teddy bear cholla looks soft and fuzzy.. The ocotillo erupts from the ground straight to the sky like a firework or an explosion. There is definitely beauty to be found, once you stop and take a look. And, there are also things that poke you. Lots of things that poke you.

Perhaps we were all shell-shocked from the  toothpick incident. Maybe we were hyper sensitive, but we made sure everyone was aware of the treacherous nature of the plants in the desert. "Don't get too close." ... "Stay on the path" ...All good words of warning. And they worked. For a while anyways. Several hikes, and lots of exploring with no one getting poked. Until... 

The stately Saguaro (sa-wah-ro)

One day we took a drive down to Tucson to visit Saguaro National Park. Like all national parks, this place is impressive in it's natural beauty. It's main attraction: sharp, poky cacti. Everywhere. In our afternoon there, every single one of us got poked by a cactus spine. I got stabbed five times. My fault mostly. I ventured off the beaten path (a no-no). While taking pictures I backed into more than one sharp plant (so you better enjoy these photos).  The worst kind were the 'barbed' spines that, once embedded in your skin, are difficult to pull out. Think fish hook. Not fun to pull out.

The dangers of the Sonoran desert did not detract from our enjoyment of it, however. It's majestic plants, amazing sunsets, and rugged terrain added up to a memorable experience.

la casita

(kah-see-tah, Spanish): the small house

Our small house

For many years now, our dear, close friends, the Murphy's, have called Phoenix their home. Since moving there from St. Louis, they have also started a family of 3 kids. Despite the distance, our families have remained close. It helps that Jenny and Amanda have been friends for nearly 25 years. With help from us, our kids and theirs have built up a pretty decent long-distance friendship. We see them, almost annually, when they come back to St. Louis to visit. The girls are pen pals with them. We even vacationed together last year. The one thing missing, however, was a visit out to Arizona to see them. When they bought a place a couple years ago that had a detached guest house, the pressure grew. We had to come visit. There were no excuses. This journey would be the answer. The Murphy family was about to get a full dose of the Woodman’s.

Our time in “The Valley of the Sun” has felt like a long extended vacation. The weather here in November is spectacular. Seventy degrees and sunny during the day, and cool jacket-weather at night. Glorious for this time of year. Their casita has also been pretty darn perfect as well. We have our own space, complete with a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and living room, that's right in their back yard. It sits just steps from their back door, next to the pool and the barn. Their large backyard, complete with a playground and a chicken house, affords the kids ample space to run and play. And, play, they have. The Murphy kids (8,6 & 4 yrs.) have been the perfect companions for the girls.

The warm, lazy Arizona days played out much the same way. We rolled out of bed, usually late in the morning, then did a little schoolwork, typically outside. If we felt especially motivated, we headed out in the afternoon to do some exploring. The library. A park. A mountain hike. Then, once the Murphy kids got home from school, they played until bedtime. Weekends were even less motivated, as the kids just wanted to play the whole time away. So, we let them. Sleepovers. Pillow forts. Movie nights. Lots of laughs. A few tears.

Once the kids went to bed, the grown ups had their time. Clark and John played many fierce backgammon matches. Jenny and Amanda would hang out, and catch up. It was great for everyone. Our kids got to hang out with other little ones, not just each other (which can get old), and the adults got a lot of “grown up time.”






And just like that, three weeks passed by, as if it were only a day. Laying around, soaking up the sun, and enjoying the company of good friends will do that, I guess. It's going to be tough to leave the casita at the Murphys. Our own place. Perfect weather. Great friends. A good, lengthy vacation.

Take Your Pick

The complete (and sometimes graphic) story of Norah & the Toothpick...

Her mood changed this quick.

Our last day in Chicago was not supposed to be a memorable one. In the morning, we packed our bags to leave. Then, our journey hit a snag. A wooden kind of snag. While at our hosts' house, the kids had been engaged for countless hours playing what they called 'Shop'. They made various items, and then forced us to spend our actual money on these goods. It was a great game. For them. It did, however, occupy them completely, and it was totally self motivated, so we let it go on for days. The biggest hit in their shop was the 'candy'. This was basically raisins, chocolate chips and popcorn on toothpick skewers. The candy was so popular, that the shop owners themselves decided to eat into their profits. There's no telling how many of these candy kabobs they devoured. While little kids may be good at setting up a make believe store, they fall woefully short in the cleaning up department. A discarded toothpick, waiting in the plush carpet, was bound to find a child's bare foot. It did. And Norah wailed as she realized she had been impaled. Jenny came running. What she saw, was a small hole in the bottom of Norah's foot. Right below her toes. “I stepped on a toothpick!” she wailed. There was no longer any sign of a toothpick still in her foot. Some blood. But that's it. “She pulled part of it out”, said Nina. Then Jenny felt the top of Norah's foot. The opposite side of the entry wound. A pointy lump. Part of the toothpick was still in her foot, and it was in really deep.

Luckily, the nearest ER was ridiculously close, so Jenny raced there for what we hoped would be a quick extraction. We were wrong. The x rays turned up nothing. Not because you couldn't tell there was a toothpick still in her. You could. It made a cartoonish lump where it was sticking out the other end. No, because it was made of wood, it apparently didn't read on an x ray. So, without being able to exactly pinpoint its location, the orthopedist likened it to the proverbial 'needle in a haystack'. He worried that more damage could possibly be done to Norah's foot by digging around in it, if he couldn't quickly locate the toothpick. The alternative was to wait. That's it. Take some antibiotics. Some pain meds. And wait for the thing to work its way out. 

So, that's what we did. We waited. We were told we should follow up with another orthopedist in St. Louis, so we headed back that afternoon. With her leg propped up on the seat in front of her, we powered through Illinois quickly. Once back in St. Louis, we started doing everything we could to coax that toothpick out of her. And I don't mean the figurative 'everything'. I mean the literal one. Everything. She soaked it in Epsom salts. Several times a day. We tried salve. We tried just about every remedy that anyone recommended. It read like a nice sized grocery list. Bananas. Soap. Sugar. Bread. Milk. Salt. We learned what a poultice is. And we even contemplated wrapping her foot in bacon. All this to try and help her body works it magic, and start to eject the toothpick on its own. If it would simply 'present' itself, (meaning the tip of it start to poke back out) it could then be easily extracted. We waited some more. It wasn't easy at first. Norah's foot was swollen and she was in a lot of pain. We kept the pain medication coming around the clock at first. We tried to make light of the situation. Clark nicknamed her The Gimp. Jenny called her Woody. The follow up visit in St. Louis told us pretty much of the same. No digging around. Too risky. Waiting was still our best option.

*Authentic wooden leg (contain less than .01% wood)

It had been almost a week now since the toothpick became a part of our life. Norah gimped through Halloween. We called her 'Woody the Peg Legged Pirate' (now with actual wood!) After the holiday, we were ready to hit the road, and Norah was starting to cope better now.  Your body is pretty amazing sometimes. Once it recognizes a foreign body, it starts building up barriers around it, to make you more comfortable. It adapts to it. Some people incorrectly think that your body can 'absorb' or 'break down' something. It does not. It just builds up cushions around it and keeps it. For a long time sometimes. As we talked to others about Norah's condition, we heard many similar stories of things being poked into peoples bodies. For years sometimes. Decades other times. Then one day, pop, out they would come. These were not the stories we wanted to hear. We didn't need this toothpick to become a permanent member of our family.

Soaking rays, soaking feet.

It was time to leave, and Norah still couldn't walk. We got her some crutches, brought our box of remedies, and hit the road. We had to alter some of our stops along the way, because there was too much hiking, or walking at them. Instead, we had lots of layovers along the way where the kids could swim. Indoor pools at hotels. Hot Springs pools. Hot tubs. We hit them all. They were great for a couple of reasons. It was something Norah could do without pain. And all that soaking was bound to help work that thing out of there. Certainly a few hours in a mineral rich hot spring would draw that thing right out, right? The entry hole which had closed up, was starting to look a little bigger. We were hopeful. Any day that toothpick would present itself.

Eventually Norah got better and better on her crutches. The swelling on her foot had gone down. The pain had pretty much subsided. She even started putting some weight on the side of that foot. Her body was doing its job. It was adapting to the toothpick. It just wasn't doing the 'pushing out the foreign body' kind of work that we were hoping for.

Once we finally arrived in Phoenix, Norah followed up with a 3^rd orthopedist. This time we'd get different answers. They used ultrasound on her foot, and finally pinpointed the location of the toothpick. It was deep as we had thought. It was located between the 3^rd and 4^th metatarsal. It had not moved towards the entry wound as we had hoped. It was, in fact, still near the top of the foot. Surgery was set. It was coming out through the top. 

Slightly larger than a needle. Her foot, slightly smaller than a haystack.

The surgery was crazy simple. The most worrisome part of it, was having her go under general anesthesia. Even though the cut would be small, and relatively painless, they couldn't have Norah squirming around while they removed it. So, out she went. It would be a quick procedure. Just thirty minutes from the time they took her away from Jenny, to the time she could go back in to see her. A tiny incision was made, and the slightly larger than 1 inch toothpick fragment was easily removed. 

Recovery was almost instant. No stitches. No big bandages. By the next day, she was already running around like normal, glad to be rid of her little wooden companion.

Goodbye Woody the Gimp.

Good riddance toothpick. 

I Like Big Buttes

The "Mitten" Buttes

Near the Arizona/Utah border, deep in the heart of Navajo Nation, sits the magnificent area known as Monument Valley. This region is famous for its sandstone buttes that emerge abruptly from the desert landscape. Well known in many western movie settings, this majestic place is breathtakingly beautiful.

As we approached the park, we attempted to get the kids excited about this stop. No rides. No games. No activities. Just cool landscapes to look at. 

"Hey kids, we're going to Monument Valley."
"Will there be monuments? Like the Arch?"
"Not exactly.... just some cool rocks and buttes."
"What's a byoot?"
"It's like a small mountain that rises straight up out of the ground."
"Oh."
"It's spelled b-u-t-t-e"
"Like butt?"
"I guess."
"Yay! We're going to go look at butts!"

At least they were excited.

A tour through the visitor center showed us some Navajo art work and an insight into Native American lifestyle. We learned the names of the rock formations in the area, and bought some Navajo souvenirs. On the way back to the car, the girls discovered that there was hard packed sand covering the ground. A giant sandbox essentially. They were set. Geology be damned, there was sand to play in.

What State Are You In?

New Mexico...check.

One of the fun parts of this trip for the girls, is to identify each new state that we travel to. They each have a map of the United States where they color in the corresponding states once we've visited them. The only rule is that we have to actually do something in the state for it to count. Just driving through, stopping for gas, or eating lunch does not count. There has to be at least one destination within the state before they can fill in their maps. 

Colorado...check.

Arizona...check.

Utah...check.

You can imagine their delight when they learned about our next stop. The Four Corners Monument marks the point in the Southwestern United States where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. It is the only point in the United States shared by four states. Since, technically the monument rests in all four states, it counts as a destination for each one.

There are literally lines in the pavement that converge in the middle, in a cross pattern. We all enjoyed goofing around in what is probably typical Four Corners behavior. “Hey...I'm in Utah! Can you hear me all the way over there in New Mexico?”... “Where's the kids?... They're each in a different state!” … “My head is in Arizona, but my butt is in Colorado”. Good fun.

The girls were also interested to learn that there are still Native Americans living in our country. The monument sits inside Navajo nation, and there were vendors selling Native American trinkets all around the monument. “Why aren't they dressed like Pocahontas?” We really need to work on some more history lessons.

We're so close together, yet so far apart.