The Four Corners and Sedona.

When I left breakfast with Greta and Jase on Wednesday (trip day 3), I headed Southwest through Colorado, aiming for the four corners. When I went on a road trip with my family the summer after my freshman year of high school, we tried to get to the Four Corners and they had just closed the gates right before we tried to get in. It was like ten minutes before they were supposed to close. If you've ever been there, you'll know that the Four Corners monument is in basically the middle of NOWHERE, and then my mom was mad (understandably) that we had gone all the way out there for nothing.

So we never made it and I decided it's about time I do that. Honestly, all I did there was get out of my car, wait in line, and take this picture of my feet. I think it would have been more of a fun experience with my siblings. But hey, you do what you can.

That whole area of the country (Southwestern Colorado, Northeastern Arizona) is super beautiful with all the crazy rock formations and cliffs and red rocks, but it's also really desolate feeling. The houses that I saw along my drive were super falling apart looking and sad. It really kind of creeped me out to think about what it must be like to live in those places. I don't think I would like it at all. Not to mention the fact that it's so hot and dry but then when it does rain there is a huge risk of flash floods. Scary! I don't think I could handle living there.

After the four corners, I headed towards Sedona. I camped for the night in a campground tucked away in the hills outside of the city, and it was kinda wild. It was my first time using my brand new tent and the poles weren't very bendy yet and the whole thing might have been a disaster if a young man from the camp next to mine hadn't come over and offered to help me put it up (then again, who knows? Maybe it would have been fine if I just tried again after failing miserably at my first attempt alone). I was incredibly grateful, especially since it took like three minutes or less with his help-- and I only even needed him to like hold the side I wasn't working on. 

The next morning I made my way into Sedona, and it was super dead when I first got there, which I thought was sort of weird. I found a cafe to eat breakfast at and then started walking through town. I stumbled upon the Chamber of Commerce visitor center and stopped to talk to the people there, only to realize that it was an hour earlier than I thought. I thought I got into Sedona at 8:30, but really it had been 7:30! I knew Arizona doesn't do daylight savings time, but I'm never really sure which DST change makes in "on" and which makes it "off". Well apparently daylight savings time is "on" in August, because Arizona was an hour different than Colorado. The more you know. 

 

Anyway, after putzing around Sedona for a while (after the shops opened up), I hit the road again headed for California.  Crossing into California was a little weird. They're really serious about their borders down there. I mean, I was crossing in from Arizona, not another country! But I still had to go through this weird gate and talk to a border patrol person. (It actually happened in more than one location, not just at the border, as I drove the Southern California. So strange!)

As I drove through areas of California that are used primarily for farming (I think) it was sooo weird to see the almost desert-like landscape get broken up by lush farmlands. So very strange! Also, there were these little yellow butterflies EVERYWHERE as I drove on the weird, nearly deserted roads. It was kind of magical. Sunshine and butterflies, floating all around me, and the playlist I made of every song that I own that mentions or reminds me of California coming out of my speakers. It was pretty surreal, honestly. But truly magical.