What a day! From a beautiful sunrise to Navajo park to a delicious dinner, we did it all today!

Michael and I started the day early watching the sunrise from our little porchWe weren’t quite awake when we started 😴 but the view made it all worthwhile ❤️☀️

We fixed a quick breakfast, packed the car and headed back to Arizona to meet our guide for the day. (Sounds a lot further than it is since the Arizona line was 5 miles away 🤪)

We met our guide Duffy and loaded up for a tour of Monument Valley. Duffy is a Navajo Indian and clearly enjoys his job as a guide. He grew up in this area, and knows Monument Valley! He took us to so many sitesLeft Mitten

Right Mitten

1 – Praying Hands

2 – King in his Thrown

3 – King’s Castle

We loved hearing about each butte and the stories of Monument Valley. The names were hilarious and named by visitors from years agoCan you see the Elephant and Snoopy?

The next Mountain was one we loved the “Three Sisters” but something was missing… Hahaha🤣🤣🤣

We saw John Ford point – it’s the point where many Hollywood Directors shoot their scenes 🎥🎞 Duffy told us about life as Navajo then and now, and the difference in Navajo life versus our lives. Work is done on a barter system here. He said often people will see Navajo and by looking at their homes, assume they appear poor. But for the Navajo, having material things are not important, and just meet physical needs like shelter, food and water.We got to go into a real Hogan and met a lady who’s family is one of the 7 families who own Monument Valley. She taught us how to take sheep’s wool, brush it in one direction (many many many times) and then spin it into usable wool.I know why Navajo rugs cost so much now – these things are a huge amount of work!

We visited some arches within the park, and listened to a flute performance by Duffy and the other guides

Remember the scene in Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom where the snakes are all around? It was filmed hereand we got to see a petroglyph on the rock wallOf course we did some climbing 😉Duffy showed us a poison plant that Navajo would mix with rattlesnake venom and dip the tip of their arrows into for battle, and of course boys thought this was very cool!

And we saw some petroglyphs that are estimated to have been draw between 500-1300ad

I kind of think the petroglyphs look like Dr Suess’ sneetches 🤨

This was a really cool arch called the sun’s eye, because… it looks like the suns eye!I think it’s safe to say the boys (and Mike and I) loved this tour today!Again with the black and white 🤪Duffy was awesome! So glad we did this tour today.

Once we finished the tour, we went though the Navajo Park Museum. It was clear from the plaques and wording that the presence was of non-Navajo people was tolerated but not preferred. Of course, it hard to blame the Navajo, when there were still Acts of Congress that prevented running water and electric lines to parts of the Navajo Nation until 2006 😳

Once we finished in the museum we filled up with gas and started making our way to the Four Corners area. And it was time to open Mom’s Restaurant on US Highway 163 🤗We passed the famous “Mexican Hat” and crossed into Colorado (clearly we aren’t on a major interstate with this mega sign 🤪When we say these are long roads, they are looonnnggg roads!But some are more familiar than others. Does this ring any bells?How about now?Yep! It’s the Forest Gump Hill and there was cars everywhere trying to get this picture – some crazy people were standing in the middle of road making a selfie 🤦🏻‍♀️. (or That could be nature just thinning the herd 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Anyway, we finally made it to Four Corners Monument. Monument is a strong word for this spot. It’s basically a Navajo park that they charge you $20 for admission. They have port-o-johns for use that have seen their better days. And then there are brick and mortar flea market stands around this big stone markerbut it’s still pretty cool to say you stood in 4 states at the same timeCrossing into New Mexico – Rabbit! (For those not related to me, you say rabbit when you cross into a new state for good luck)

We did some flea market shopping and headed on down the road… Go fish is our new pastime when we use all our iPad minutes 😀I have never heard such smack talk over Go Fish!!

This moment was one of my favorites today❤️

We arrived in Farmington, New Mexico today! The hotel is very nice – newly renovated and very clean. But Farmington isn’t what we expected. We were supposed to stay 2 nights here but we can cover all there is to do by lunch tomorrow. So we’ve adjusted plans and are headed to Colorado a day early.

We did find an amazing Italian place tonight that made coming to Farmington worth it. Trattoria di Barnardone. Wow!!! It was fantastic! Homemade pasta and sauces 🤗 And the dessert was awesome too

So tomorrow we are sleeping in, and then headed to Colorado for a little more fun before we head home on Saturday 😊