Drive Across America...Day Seven

The states we were in today:
Colorado
Utah
New Mexico
Arizona

We drove 329 miles and this is the route we took:

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We finished listening to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and started The Silver Chair.

Our first stop today was at Four Corners.  The corner where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona meet.

Rose and I both found some hand crafted jewelry to buy from the booths at 4 Corners, which is located on a Reservation

Here we are standing in 4 states (in the background you can see the booths set up all around it)

Rose laying in four states at one time

From my window...

Sonic for lunch

I forgot to mention that Rose lost a tooth yesterday.  She pulled it in the van.  She calls it her Golden Tooth since it was her 7th tooth to come out and she is 7 years old.

We saw this.  We don't know what it is.  Do you?

We really enjoyed seeing the Grand Canyon today. 

For you trivia lovers....... Rose asked a Ranger and we found out that the Colorado River is on average 300 yards wide and the canyon is on average 10 miles wide.

Rose has been doing the Jr Ranger programs at the parks.  She is very proud of her badges she has earned.

my favorite pic today

Dinner tonight was at the Yippee-I!-O! Steakhouse

We stayed at the Best Western in Williams, AZ

Chad and Rose had time to hit the pool before going to bed

We had a great day and felt that we got to see a lot today. 

Drive Across America...Day Six

Our states today were
New Mexico
Colorado

We traveled  320 miles and this  is the route we took:

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We finished listening to Prince Caspian and started The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

We got up earlier than usual today, so we could get to Mesa Verde and have time to spend there.

Can you see the camel shaped rock out Chad's window?

The over passes were so colorfully painted in New Mexico.

from my window

We were stopped for road work for about a half hour or so

but we were stopped right at the Continental Divide!

The change in scenery today was vast.  In Texas and Oklahoma everything was so flat and dry.  All the rivers and creeks we saw were just dry beds.  But today we saw green grass and flowing rivers.  We saw hills and trees and mountains and valleys.  Plus it was not too hot!

Here is a video of pictures Rose took today.

We were so happy when we saw this sign!!  An organic deli!

 It was WONDERFUL to have a healthier lunch.   YUMMY!

We made it to Mesa Verde

inside a kiva

this is how they would grind the corn

Seeing these cliff dwellings was so neat!  It was definitely worth coming up into Colorado to see it.  This was our most interesting sight seeing day so far.

Rose finally spent some of her saved birthday money.  She bought a book at the bookstore 'Ancient Dwellings of the Southwest'.  She spends her money so much more wisely than I did as kid.  (I would have bought candy as a kid, she buys books)...I can see my parents nodding their heads in agreement...sorry mom and dad about having to pay for those for those cavity fillings.  love you :0)

We also purchased one of the Mesa Verde National Parks books.  I thought it would be interesting for Rose to read and look through and remember our visit.

Supper was not near as good as lunch was

hotels in Cortez were slim pickings...we booked the Baymont through hotels.com

We had a great day!  Mesa Verde was very interesting.  We could have spent days there.  Plus it was good to get out and do all that walking.

Drive Across America...Day Five

Our states today were:
Texas
New Mexico

We traveled 277 miles and this is the route we took:

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We finished listening to The Unexpected Return by Lamplighter and
and started The Prince Caspian: Chronicles of Narnia.

Chad and Rose started of the morning with a swim in the beautiful pool and then we ate our free breakfast.

from my window

Tucumcari, NM on route 66 is so much like Radiator Springs in the movie 'Cars'.  If you are ever driving by, I strongly suggest getting of off I-40 and taking old Route 66 through this town.....It was neat,  I would love to see it at night with all the neons.

Lunch was at a little dinner...

We had originally planned on going to Albuquerque today, but decided to go to Santa Fe instead.

Thanks to Name Your Own Price on Priceline, again,  we stayed at another 4 star hotel. 

This was also suppose to be our 'rest day', but we found Santa Fe so charming we ended up not resting until (after) bedtime...
We visited the country's oldest church...

The country's oldest house....

And Loretto Chapel, which has the famous spiral staircase...

We walked around the Santa Fe Plaza....

Rose and I played and swam laps in the pool....

We walked around in Santa Fe some more and then had some pizza here....

We had a lovely day!