You may not know this, depending on how much you have read this blog, but I grew up traveling with my parents in their Airstreams.  They had 6 of them and gave us their last one, carrying on the tradition to us.  I remember going somewhere every summer during my father’s vacation.  Additionally, we go out on weekends, maybe 1-2 a month, with the trailer.  There were many things I have been fortunate to see in these travels and I am trying to share this with Roxie so we will at times do and see things that bring back memories for me.  Durango was one such location as my father loved trains and I must have ridden that train 3-4 times prior to this time but I could share this one.

This part of the country (the 4 corners region) has a lot of memory potentials for me.  My father really loved the desert and photographic locations.  Our next stop was Monument Valley (memories) but on the way was the true Four Corners.  Many, many years ago we stopped there as I was a child and a picture was taken.  I have remembered that picture for years and vowed to recreate it.  The Four Corners monument has changed quite a bit since my first visit.  The Native Americans are currently operating it, they have invested quite a bit with upgrades and they have many vendors circling it.  There was none of this back in 1967, and no admission charge.  Here are the two photos with about 50 years difference:

I noticed that 50 years made it harder to get up off the ground!  Notice I got the Airstream in the background on the new one also!

After the short flashback stop, we continued on to Goulding’s campground at Monument Valley.  The lodge has quite a history attached to it and the valley.  This is another place I am sure we stayed at during our visits here in the past.  Here are some campground shots:

Monument Valley has also changed.  Native Americans are the caretakers of the valley.  You pay admission to get to the visitor’s center which lets you also drive the scenic route through the valley.  You can hire guides that can take you on tours to the restricted areas of the valley.  We decided to utilize our truck and drive it ourselves:

I vaguely remember some of these views but it was all new to Roxie and she got to see the beauty of the area.  However, there is not much else to do here.  We took a short drive north and back again to get a different view of the rocks.  On the way out, on a long stretch, I noticed a lot of people on the side of the road and IN the road ahead.  I looked out my rear view mirror and noticed we were coming up to Forrest Gump Point.  I remembered it was here but forgot about it.  On the way back we got an on the road photo:

As we were leaving I recreated one other memory.  Here is another then and now shot to leave you with: