Four Corners

We left our Tucson base in out Persian God III (Mazda 3 rental), mostly geared up including a Martha Stewart garlic press. The folding chairs would come later at the True Value hardware store in Page, Arizona. The bleak low desert landscape north of Tucson, is interrupted by the sprawling city of Phoenix, the fifth most populous city in the U.S. It does make you wonder where all the water to keep the golf courses green comes from. Once clear of Phoenix, the drive gets more interesting, punctuated by the charm of old Flagstaff. The North rim of the Grand Canyon was our first destination. We were literally blown away by the canyon and the 65 mph winds, which made even taking a picture challenging. Our expedition was hampered by blow-down trees (road closures) but we did find respite from the wind deeper down in the canyon amongst the autumn splendor.

Monument Valley (Arizona) is truly monumental. Much like the Taj Mahal, first time visitors immediately reach for their cameras on arrival and take pictures in case the buttes might suddenly disappear. We pitched our tent at the exposed campground for superb sunset and sunrise views. An RV “camper” who was parked above us on the next level, asked us if we could park our car elsewhere because it blemished their view of the valley. Persian Gods don't seem to be of value in the USA.

Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah has not attained national park status (requires Congressional approval) even with its three natural bridges average 215 feet in span. It makes you wonder what does it take to become a national park? Four or five natural bridges? In any case, we thought it rocks!

We slipped into Colorado to Mesa Verde National Park which features staggering Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. The cultural group was often referred to Anasazi, but that term is not preferred by their descendants. Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning enemy (Navajo are, by the way, not Ancestral Puebloan). Interestingly, American Indians are OK with the term “Indian” while north of the border, the First Nation people don't take well to it. Whatever the terms, Mesa Verde is another must-visit!

Back in Utah, the Needles district of Canyonlands beckoned. We don't want to give too much away but in the words of a local ranger, “If you like the Needles, tell all your friends that you loved the Arches”. The Needles area is relatively quiet while Arches National Park is well-trod. The Needles area is magnificent (but, you didn't hear from us). We stayed for 3 nights and for sure, we'll be back.

The better known section of the Canyonlands is up on the plateau, Island in the Sky. That is where visitors wonder a variety of views over the barren Colorado and Green River canyons far below. It is also where keen photographers arrive pre-dawn at Mesa Arch to capture the sun rays on the inside of the iconic arch. On our morning assault, two full buses of Chinese tourists arrived and swarmed over the tripod positions. The crowd was not as intense as a Chinese train station at New Year, but it was fun nonetheless. Look out America, the Chinese are coming!

Photographers were complaining about the week of on-going cloud cover that reduced the blazing red rock sunsets to dull brown. Our stopover at Fisher towers (Utah) failed to yield a memorable sunset but the towers themselves were impressive. Our drive through Southwest Colorado was a blur with snow falling, we chickens kept moving. When “hell freezes over” took on a new meaning when it was snowing in Purgatory, Colorado. We kept driving.

Think ranch country, Indians, pottery, adobe with some incense thrown in, and you have Northern New Mexico in an adobe shell. Taos features plenty of adobe, just about every building in town is tan colored including Wal-mart. Sometimes, it has a contrived, manufactured look; we were afraid to park our car too long in one place in case someone plastered adobe on it while we were gone.

We visited the other Las Vegas (New Mexico) which for many years was larger than the Nevada version. Remnants of its importance include hundreds of listed historic buildings. Interestingly, Las Vegas NM has daily direct train service to both Los Angeles and Chicago. Not too far down the road is the city of Santa Fe, NM which lived up to expectations. It is a great place especially if you want to buy art or live in an adobe suburb.

Just west of Santa Fe, is the town that never was: Los Alamos. It is a 'company town' (National Laboratory), birthplace of the atomic bomb. It is a pleasant, tidy, clean place with one of the highest concentrations of P.H.D.'s around. It is a city born out of secrecy. Early on, people born there had birth certificates listing birthplace as “P.O. Box 1663, Sandoval County, New Mexico”. The town was not open to the public till many years after WWII. The attention to security lingers on with open wifi near- impossible to find. Even the wifi access at the public library requires a password.

We visited a blur of Ancestral Puebloan ruins. They were all very nice (Bandelier, Chaco, El Morro) but at that stage we were getting close to “ruined-out”.

We had an volcanic interlude at El Malpais, New Mexico. There we clambered up cinder cones and ventured into über cool lava tubes (dark inside!). Later we wandered around the Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona) and nearby Holbrook where you can purchase legal massive petrified logs for your garden. All cool stuff.

FOR THE RECORD

Four Corners Banana Index: 4 for 1 USD (as high as 8)