Goodbye Flagstaff, July 7 and 8

Thursday was a laundry and oil change day. We also took another drive past Lake Mary to Mormon Lake to see eagles. The weather didn't cooperate. It was fun to see the clouds boil, the sky turn angry and see the lightning streak, but we did not see any eagles. It was still a fun drive. One of my most treasured experiences on our wacky adventure is getting to know Carrie's dad, Dick. He is funny and goofy and smart and a great person. We had a lot of fun doing exciting things like driving and sightseeing as well as mundane things like fixing dinner and washing dishes. We especially had tons of fun teasing each other.

We got a call from Carol at the hospital, finding out that the doctors were working on transferring her to Tucson. Within two hours, she was scheduled to leave as soon as the ambulance got there for her. We visited Carol before she was wheeled off to the ambulance and home to Tucson, showed her our elk pictures and said goodbye. Carrie was sad to be separated from her mom and I won't be surprised if she flies to Tucson later in the summer. We began making plans to leave on Friday morning.

Dick left Flagstaff by car on Friday at the crack of dawn. He was hyper and ready to get home! It was sad to say goodbye. (It's always nice to know that you have made a lifetime friend.) We left a short time later and headed north. We stopped at Cameron, which is a Native American trading post and tourist trap. The Gallery of Fine Art at Cameron is fantastic! Beautiful jewelry, blankets, bead work, baskets, pottery, you name it. I would highly recommend a visit to the Gallery if you are ever in Cameron.

From there, we took off toward the east. We stopped at "Dinosaur Tracks" where local Navajos gave walking tours of a prehistoric site of dinosaur fossils. Our tour guide was pretty cute. She used a sports water bottle to outline the tracks and prints we were seeing. When you see our pictures (eventually), you will see her water outlines. Weird.

We drove from there to Monument Valley. I don't have the vocabulary to describe Monument Valley. I will give it a go. When we got there, the weather was iffy. There was a storm brewing on three sides of us and there was a "haboob" on the fourth side. (A haboob is a dust storm that only occurs in the Sahara Desert and in Arizona. There was a huge haboob in Phoenix last week.) Carrie took me on a driving tour around the monuments, driving on the most rugged road I have probably ever been on. I am so impressed with her Toyota Highlander and her driving! We stopped, got out and spent a long time at Artist's Point. Carrie said it should be renamed Carrie's Point. It's her favorite vantage point. I can understand her point of view, so to speak. I really don't have the words to describe how incredibly gorgeous Monument Valley is from this perspective. She said she'd never been there when the sky wasn't clear and blue. The sky was stunning because it was blue and sunny here and there, gray and boiling in other places, and it was constantly changing. We did tree pose in the shadows of the monuments. You can't beat that!

We drove on and on from there, heading toward "Four Corners." We got there just as the sun was setting, at 8:15, only to find out that the Navajos close the Four Corners Marker area at 8. There was a bit of foul language in our car. We made our way to Durango, Colorado by midnight. We have quite an adventure planned for Durango. Stay tuned!!