Road Trippin’ – Day 3 – Four Corners Monument To Close To Our Destination

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22756 – 981

Here’s the haps:

Dear and Beloved Readers of these epistles, I really appreciate everyone stopping by and especially the comments. I will go back and respond to every comment, as my wont generally is, but I am trying to get these posts done first.

I found out something interesting about myself although I’m not sure what you call it. The hotel in Salida was under a hundred dollars but even though it was somewhat sparse, it had character. The next one we stayed at in Durango was a chain under two hundred and I can’t even remember the name of it. It was bigger, the beds were bigger, and it had an “office” chair but nothing stands out in my mind that makes the place memorable. This seems odd to me, but, oh well. I guess I just like quirky.

The route became more desert-like and barren and the scenery changed as we neared the Four Corners Monument.

The monument was interesting enough, I guess. One of those kinds of things that you must see once but there’s nothing to go back to. The novelty wears off after you’ve done it once. I wouldn’t mind doing the whole thing over again but I would probably just drive past this spot and look at something else the next time. There were a number of stands run by Native Americans selling a variety of wares, so if you’re into that sort of thing you might want to go back. And I am not saying the things weren’t nice. Beautiful pottery and hand-beaded work and it really was cool standing in four states at the same time.

We bought a few mementos and yes, Uncle Herb even bought a baseball cap and rediscovered all the things he loves and hates about them compared to cowboy hats. The land surrounding the place looks the same no matter which state you look at.

Then it was back on the road again.

We stopped about halfway at a little convenience store called Shonto Marketplace. The place was clean, including the restrooms and the gas pumps had a nice shady awning over them and there was a dog who must have belonged to someone there who greeted everyone. The people tolerated us and took our money. TNT spotted this in the sign:

Then some more driving. It’s kind of strange how much driving there is on a road trip (wink-wink. nudge-nudge).

An unexpected surprise that had the potential to be an unpleasant one happened as we made our way to the small town of Valle, AZ which is where the hotel was at. The directions we followed on Google Maps took us on the most direct route via highway 64. We had chosen a place that was a little over a half-hour away because anything close to the tour company we were going to use or the park itself was over four hundred dollars a night. We could stay at the five-star Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, for a little over that. Anyway, unbeknownst to us, this road went directly through the Grand Canyon National Park entrance which shows up on the map as a “toll road.” The entrance fee to the park for one to seven days is thirty-five dollars per car. Thankfully the young man was a good egg and said that this happens from time to time. The place we were going is directly south of the park and he let us through on our word that we were going to go straight there and stay on the highway. We thanked him profusely but the glimpses we had from the road were incredible and tantalizing.

We got to our hotel, the Grand Canyon Inn, and relaxed, excited about the guided tour we were to get the next day (which did not disappoint). The hotel had a “lodgy” feeling to it and they accommodated our request for handicap accessibility nicely.