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. 

First Stop: Colorado.

It's been a while. My trip is more than half over at this point. Sorry about that. We all knew this would happen though, right? It's hard to spend time writing blog posts about things that you're doing when you're trying to actually just do them. Also any down time I have I spend sleeping or reading. So whatever.

Anyway, my time in Colorado. I stayed with Greta, who had to work because I didn't really consult with her about my visit, just told her when I was coming. Whoops. It was lovely to see her though, and check out her house and all that. I got to sleep in the first morning there and (eventually) made my way into Colorado Springs. I grabbed a coffee in town and headed over to this really wonderful place called Seeds Community Cafe for lunch. It was slightly challenging to find, because it's tucked away down a weird little covered alley between two buildings, but I am so glad that I went. First of all, the food was delicious! I got chicken lettuce wraps with a little kale side salad, and it was seriously all so darn tasty. The second reason it was cool is that payment is all completely voluntary and donation based. So I got to decide how much I wanted to pay for my meal (and it was tax deductible). The staff there was all super duper friendly and kind, and the decorations they had up were all posters and paintings and t-shirts about feeding the hungry and caring for the the earth and being sustainable. 

So basically it was awesome. Here are pictures of my meal and also of the mural on the wall outside. 

After that lunch, I made my way to a park with a fountain that kids are allowed to play in. I journaled a bit and enjoyed the sunshine and watched children run through the water jets and scream and play. It was great. I opened the cute little card Kendra gave me (pictured) before I left while I sat by the fountain. That morning I'd remembered that my RD from all three years I went to Gordon moved out the the Colorado Springs area a couple years ago. I contacted her (facebook is a pretty nifty resource, really) and found out she was around and available and we made plans to meet up. We went out for a drink, which was lovely (although a teeny bit odd, because I knew her at Gordon, where drinking wasn't allowed on campus, so that was the farthest thing from part of our relationship prior to this outing) and talked all about my trip and her upcoming road trip and how she and her family have been doing since leaving Gordon. It was really great to see her again. 

Wednesday morning, Greta's husband, Jase, was finally done with his two consecutive 24-hour shifts (firefighter problems) and the three of us went out to breakfast. Because I am silly, I never got a single picture of me and Greta, but oh well. That breakfast was the most I'd ever talked to Jase which is kind of funny. But overall it was a fantastic visit and a great way to start my road trip. 

The End of my Life (in Minnesota).

Believe it or not, it takes a lot of planning to go on a month-long road trip. Who knew?!?

It also takes a lot of planning and organizing to move across the country. Again, who knew?!? (Actually, I kind of didn't know. I mean, I moved across the country three years ago when I moved to Minnesota and it wasn't particularly hard then. Granted, I'd just finished college and I don't think I'd really ever unpacked the stuff I moved out of my dorm room. But it's been a lot more time consuming of a process this time around.)

Anyway, the past couple of weeks have been an absolute flurry of activity. From packing and organizing and cleaning my stuff, to moving my bigger furniture to new homes, I was on the go with almost all of my free time. Then you add in the fact that I'm moving away and wanted to see all of my friends as much as possible and I hardly had a spare moment.

It was wonderful though. I got to eat at some great new places and visit some favorites one last time. I got to hug everyone that I wanted to. It was a good last week in Minneapolis.

And now, I'm in Colorado! I hit the road before 6 am yesterday and made pretty darn good time. The highlights were seeing not one but TWO cars from Maine on the highway (they were a few hours apart, not together), and when a bird dive-bomb killed itself right in front of me (okay, that wasn't exactly a "highlight" but it did add some excitement to what can be a long drive).

I'm hoping to keep posting (fairly) regularly about my travels over the next few week here, but we all know how shady I am about posting when I say I will/want to. We'll just see. If you're on Instagram, I'll probably be posting there from every stop. I think I'm going to be using the hashtag #AleenaAcrossAmerica so you can follow along like that if you want.