Day 8 = Canyon de Chelly, AZ, Four Corners and Durango, CO

Waking up in a campground on a National Park is great. The smells of fresh air and evergreen trees were amazing and welcomed. We walked around the campground looking at the different hogans available for rent. These are made out of wood and mud and looked like little huts. There were several two person hogans and really cute one person hogans. We also saw a few sweat lodges. Collin thought all of this was really “cool”and had lots of questions for us.

We then spent over 4 hours driving the Jeep to different lookout points around the Canyon de Chelly.  It’s not the Grand Canyon but it’s just as breath taking.  I thought it was also more intimate because there were not as many people, it was really quiet and it was not so massive like the Grand Canyon.  The colors of the rocks are beautiful.  Also, there were lot of trees and other green plants.  At almost each lookout point, we could see Indian ruins that were at least 800 years old.  It was amazing to see how these survived all of these years.

At one of the stops, there was a stray dog that followed us around.  Collin named her Tour which I thought was appropriate.  When we stopped to look at the canyon, she would find a shady spot to lay in until it was time to follow us again.  She was too cute.  We gave her some water when we got back to the car.  Collin wanted to go back and see her when we packed up and left the park. 

Picture of Tour following us

Maybe places where the Indians lived so long ago?

One of the many ruins we saw.  Hard to believe these are still standing after 800 + years.

White house ruins

Collin really liked using the binoculars to look at the ruins closer and the farms down below

We also took the Jeep off road which the boys really liked.  Collin loved having the wind blow through his hair.  He put his tough out and acted like a dog at times.

We packed up around 1pm and headed to Four Corners.  Collin has been asking when we could go to Four Corners since he read it in the Arizona kid book I got him.  The day had finally arrived!  I could not believe the line to take pictures of the monument.  I guess it makes sense though.  After at least 15 minutes, it was our turn to stand on the monument.  We then packed up and headed to Durango, Colorado where we plan to stay for the next several nights.

Collin already knew he wanted to stand in Arizona and New Mexico when it was our turn for pictures

Why not plank on the 4 corners?