SOUTHWEST ROAD TRIP, Part 2, New Mexico and Four Corners: Guest Post by Susan Kean

Four Corners Monument, where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet.

My friend Susan Kean and her partner George love to travel and recently did a driving trip from Southern California to Arizona, New Mexico and the Four Corners area of Colorado and Utah. I thank her for sharing her report and wonderful photos with The Intrepid Tourist. Her post appears in three parts. 

San Juan Inn and Trading Post.

Next stage of our trip took us along Code Talker’s Highway. This is named in memory of the Native Americans who are credited with helping the US military win major battles during WWI and II. They used their little known indigenous languages to help with secret communications. 

Ice floating down the San Juan River, a major tributary of the Colorado River.

We went through Mexican Hat, a small town on the San Juan River named after a precariously balanced rock that looks like a Sombrero. 

Books, books, and more books! Our bearded host at our B&B in Farmington.

Then on to the Four Corners Monument in the Navajo Tribal Park and Farmington, where we stayed two nights at a very rustic B&B! It was an Adobe house they had built. He was very impressed when he heard I lived in an adobe house too. Their house had huge wooden beams, all hand done, holding up the second floor. He loved to talk while his wife made a delicious breakfast.

Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. Part reconstructed kiva...worship center.

The next part of our trip took us to the Aztec Ruins National Monument… a world Heritage site. Nothing to do with Aztecs. We learned that this dwelling was occupied from 1050 to 1300 with people who had come from Mesa Verde. No one quite knows why these Puebloans left… suggestions are because of drought. It is an extraordinary place. 

Rooms along the north wall..

In one spot one can see the original wood ceiling. It is protected by a second story that still stands. The local indigenous people say it has not been deserted. All the spirits of the folks who lived there remain. Certainly one can feel their presence. Next stop was the Salmon Ruins National Historic Site in Farmington, New Mexico. A homesteader, Peter Salmon protected these ruins from vandals and preserved the artifacts that were found at the site.

The green line has something to do with water.

Next week: Part 3.