Day 4 Mesa Verde, Four Corners and Monument Valley

Up and at 'em with the sunrise. Oh, it is so beautiful when the sun rises over the mountains and snow!  We pack up and head across the road to the national park as the campground is only 1/2 mile away!  

We are delighted that the park is open today!  It has been closed for a week due to the extreme snow and they have been working everyday to get everything they can plowed and opened, for their employees and those of us that are winter vacationing!  There is a sign that says snow tires or chains required but they said we could go on through but be cautious around turns and watch out for snow plows.  Some of the areas were still closed off but we were amazed at what we could see.  

This area was home to the Pueblo for hundreds and hundreds of years.  They had pit houses and then cliff dwellings, both requiring so much determination and planning.  We could do a drive through and stop and go to see various areas and we saw quite a bit.  They did a great job of clearing out the sidewalks so those of us that did decide to visit in the winter could still see and access some things.  The cliff dwellings --wow.  They built rooms and layers and they are just tucked into the cliffs! Little toe holds and ladders to get from one place to another, and did I mention they are built into the cliffs!  During the spring-fall they do offer tours of some of the cliff dwellings so we definitely will go back to explore some more.  The museum was also closed so we'd want to check that out too. We got to spend quite a few hours here.

Time to head to a special place called four corners.  It is located in the Navajo Nation and four states meet here: Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.  So we could visit 4 states at the same time!  A random 5 year old joined us on our picture! They had a very unique permanent vendor set up, but only a few vendors were there while we were. We did buy some post cards and met the artist that had created them.  That is always a bonus. 

We are aiming to get close to Monument Valley yet today so hit the road.  Do you remember that scene in Forest Gump (such a great movie!) where he is running and running and then one day he just stops.  He says he's tired and wanted to go home.  We found that exact spot, and it is such a very popular spot now due to the movie that there is a sign and everything where people (including us) stop to take a picture in the road with the famous monuments in the background.  The signs warn that people have been hit on the road so to use caution. 

We arrived at our campsite for the evening. We weren't sure if we'd have a snowy camp or not as we drove through a little, a lot and none, but we did have snow.  It was actually 6-8" deep and we had a choice of several spots.  No electricity this evening!!  We set up and took a quick hike up the hill.  The monuments are massive and red due to the dirt and when the sun sets all is glorious!  Andrew had this set up through Air BnB, so our "host" basically rented us a spot in his front year/field. The site was nice with fire rings, picnic tables and chairs, and a shelter house for each site. Not busy with snow and extremely cold temperatures but the neighbors were nice--two horses!

Andrew built a fire and we had a warm supper (Someday we can explain our food rations for our trips but not today!) and climbed into sleep. We'd had a busy day!  It was supposed to be a cold night. :) Sunsets and clear skies with all those stars are amazing where there is no light pollution!