WST Day 14: Arches, Four Corners and The Navaho Nation

We were at Arches National Park at 6:38 this morning - we were so early that the fee was waived. The place is astounding. the weather was perfect - slightly overcast and about 71. Again, pictures can not capture the essence of this park.

Dawn over the canyon lands is an experience everyone needs to have, walking among the rocks and spaces in the total silence made me aware (yet again) of the spiritual elements of life.

Look below the fossil....can you see the bird eating a fish?

We had read that early park arrival was better than later. We drove in with no one before us or after us. When we left the park at 9:12 AM, this was the line awaiting entrance!

After the Arches, we paused in Moab and FB found me a quilt shop!! What a thoughtful brother!!!

We wound our way through the Navaho Nation to Four Corners, the spot where Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico meet. The Monument is respectfully presented in part of the Navaho reservation and the tribe maintains it. We chose a slightly unorthodox selfie as none of us really like having our picture taken.

The ride through the length of the Reservation on the way to Gallup to spend the night convinced us that most of the West is interchangeable in pictures: wheat field, sage, yarrow, blue sky, distance mountains and shades of brown and green. Then Shiprock loomed out of the land like something from Tolkien. It is sacred to the Navaho people, thus cannot be climbed. Basically a volcanic plug, in summer evenings it seems to "float" on the fields surrounding it.