FourCorners2015

Four Corners Road Trip
2015

Ultimate Road Trip 2015

Four Corners
Road Trip

September 15-28, 2015

Thomas, Karin, Charlotta (2 yrs old),
Frank, Dana, Anna (9 years old)
& Zoe (6 years old)

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Why a Road Trip?

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“Go outside. Don’t tell anyone and don’t bring your phone. “Some “Sometimes the most scenic roads
Start walking and keep walking until you no longer know the beautiful in life are the detours you didn't
road like the palm of your hand, because we walk the same paths can't
roads day in and day out, to the bus and back home and we mean to take.”
cease to see. We walk in our sleep and teach our muscles to be
work without thinking and I dare you to walk where you discovered Angela N. Blount,
have not yet walked and I dare you to notice. Don’t try to get Once Upon an Ever After
anything out of it, because you won’t. Don’t try to make use without
of it, because you can’t. And that’s the point. Just walk, see, getting “It's a road trip! It's about
sit down if you like. And be. Just be, whatever you are with lost.” adventure! . . . It's not like
whatever you have, and realise that that is enough to be we have somewhere to go.”
happy. There’s a whole world out there, right outside your Erol Ozan
window. You’d be a fool to miss it.” John Green, An Abundance of
Katherines
― Charlotte Eriksson

“Now, on this road trip, my mind seemed to
uncrinkle, to breathe, to present to itself a cure for a

disease it had not, until now, known it had.”

― Elizabeth Berg, The Year of Pleasures

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Tuesday, September 15: Our trip began from Irvine to
Spider Spider Rock Campground. We left at 7 am and
arrived 16 hours later.

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September 16: Anna’s 9th Birthday!

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September 16-18: Canyon de Chelly

- People have lived in these canyons for nearly
5000 years - longer than anyone has lived
uninterrupted elsewhere on the Colorado
Peninsula.
- Predecessors of today’s Pueblo and Hopi
Indians are called “Anasazi, a Navajo word for
“ancient ones”. They built the multi-storied
villages, small compound and kivas with
decorated walls that dot the canyon alcoves
and slopes.
- About 700 years ago most people moved
away, but a few remained in the canyons.
- The labyrinth called Canyon de Chelly
(d’SHAY) comprises several canyons that
includes Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del
Puerto. At the canyons’ mouth near Chinle, the
rock walls are only 30 feet high. Deeper in the
canyons the walls rise dramatically unit they
stand over 1,000 feet above the floor.

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September 18-21:
Gallo Campground,
Chaco Cultural National Historical Park
New Mexico

-Chaco Canyon has a high-desert landscape. It was
the center of thriving culture 1,000 years ago.

- The Chacoan people’s culture began in the
mid-800’s and persisted for over 300 years.

- They build massive, multi-story stone buildings
with hundreds of rooms.

- 400 miles of prehistoric roads linked dozens of
Chaco Canyon great houses to over 150 great
houses in the region.

- In the 1100’s influence moved to other places, such
as to Mesa Verde to the north.

- The people walked 60 miles to bring back 250,000
trees to build their structures.

- Many southwest Indian people see Chaco as an
important stop on the sacred migration paths and as
a spiritual place to be honored and respected.

- The Gallo Campground is only accessible by 12
miles of dirt road that is often impassible in rainy
weather.

- There is no gasoline, repair services, or food
available in the park. The nearest town is 60 miles
away. The stars are bright in the park.

- We saw the moon through a powerful telescope
and listened to stories about the constellations as
we gazed into the sky. There we so many stars,
which are getting more and more difficult for the
world to see.

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September 21-23:
Morefield Campground in Mesa Verde,
Colorado

- Mesa Verde National park was created in
1906 to protect the heritage of the Ancestral
Pueblo people.
- The park includes over 4,500 archeological
sites, 600 of which are cliff dwellings.
- About 500 AD, people, which scientists call
“Anasazi” - ancient foreigners- moved into
Mesa Verde and stayed for about 700 years.
- about AD1200, these people began to build
their villages beneath the overhanding cliffs
made of sandstone. They made blocks about
the size of loaves of bread. Loving rooms
were about six by eight feet.

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The Balcony House

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Spruce Tree House

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Mesa Top Loop

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Camper Life

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September 23-27:
Moab and Devil’s Garden, Arches, Utah

- Water and ice, extreme temperatures, and
underground salt movement are responsible for the
sculpted rock scenery at Arches National Park.
- There are over 2,000 arches in the park.
- The longest arch is Landscape Arch, which is 306
feet from base to base.
- American Indians have been using this area for
thousands of years.

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Where we were

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