Monument Valley & Four Corners

The other day my grandparents asked us if we'd like to join in on a little roadtrip.  It was kind of a last minute decision for us, because we didn't know until a couple of days ago that I would indeed have work off today.  So this morning we got up early and hopped into my grandma's van, not knowing exactly all of the places we'd end up!

I love road trips!  I love the excuse to sit and not have to do anything at all.  I slept a lot, read a little, and snacked the whole way.  Kylie and I both bought gummy bears at one stop and they were a huge hit, we spent about the next hour turning them into crazy creatures...

Soon enough we were nearing our destination!  I didn't actually know it was today's destination!  But apparently Kylie has always wanted to see Monument Valley, and today was finally her day.  I'd never heard of it, but it sure looked pretty from a distance!

We stopped at the little Visitor's Center and gift shop first.  It was full of Chinese tourists and that made me so happy!  I wanted to use my Mandarin on them, but was nervous because I probably wouldn't actually understand what they would say back to me.  Anyway, we shopped around a little bit and learned about the Navajo Code talkers before heading back out into the heat.

From the Visitor's Center, you could see their two most famous rocks, their "Mittens".

We got back into the van for the official drive through Monument Valley.  We stopped sometimes for pictures, but most of the time we just wanted to enjoy the view in the air conditioning!

We did stop and get out at an official overlook.  It was quite the sight!

It is really interesting to see all of the tourists who come across the country or even from different countries for these red rocks that I'm so used to.  I guess people want to see the "Wild West", even though to me, the "Wild West" looks like any of my normal (yet awesome) road trips!

We were then off to our next stop.  The Four Corners Monument!  This place is seriously in the middle of nowhere.  It was kind of a weird little monument, because it was surrounded by a whole bunch of vendor stands... but they were all empty!  I think it would be fun to go when the vendors are there.  Anyway, we still enjoyed it and of course had to get our obligatory picture of where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado meet!

It was to our hotel after that, and then to a local diner where I got lukewarm chili (I was so hungry that I didn't care!)  It is exhausting being in the car all day, so we didn't watch TLC for too long before we turned in for the night!