Wow. Today was a really long day. With today being the off day for the runners, we were able to get out of our hotel 9:00 in Farmington, NM. I think that’s 11:00 back in Ohio. Once, on the road, we drove to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. It was about an hour drive. The entire drive, we tried to figure out which hike to do.

When we got to the welcome center, we still weren’t sure what to do. There was so much. We figured out that we would do the Cliff Palace tour. We bought our $4 tickets and jumped back into the car for a really cool drive up the mountains.

These views were beautiful. I think I was the only one not having a panic attack. It helps to not be afraid of heights. We were really high. About half way up the mountain, we stopped at the cafeteria. A cafeteria on the side of a mountain, imagine that. After eating there and browsing the gift shop, we got back in the car to finish the drive.

At this point it was 12:30 and we still have two hours until our guided tour so we went to the Spruce Tree House which had a bunch of cool cliff dwellings and even a Kiva — underground room — that we could go down into, built in the 1100’s Once it was 2:00 we went to our actual tour which they made seem really scary and treacherous, but it was really nothing. We saw some more cliff dwellings and kivas. Finally, we drove down the mountain with three of the four of us panic stricken.

At 5:00 we arrived at the Four Corners Monument which is really just an area owned by the Navajo’s that they close off to make money. For $5 a person, we got to stand in four states at once, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It was cool to walk around four different states in under a minute but I don’t think any of us have any reason to do it again.

Who ever told Arizona that it’s okay for them to not follow Daylight Savings wasn’t thinking. It screwed all of us up. I’m still not 100% sure what time it is now. It is supposed to be 10:41 but I think it is 9:41. We left four corners and drove for awhile. I hid away to watch a movie and soon enough it was dinner time. Along the side of the highway, we saw signs for a Burger King. But this Burger King was special. It had a Navajo Code Talkers museum exhibit inside of it.

We walked in and started looking at stuff. Little did we know, an actual 93 year old, former Code Talker, walks in with his family. He had the jacket on and everything. We got to talk to him, get a picture, and even sign my recently purchased book. That was really cool and he seemed really happy to have someone interested in what he did.

None of us liked that Burger King. We aren’t what you would call fast food people, so we kinda didn’t have dinner. But at least we met a cool person. As of now, 9:47 (12:47 at home) we have just gotten into the Grand Canyon National Park and will hopefully be arriving at our hotel soon.

Sorry for the long post, there was too much to say. Oh, I almost forgot. The girls are winning the license plate game. Well that’s it for today. Good night.