For the July 4th weekend we are off on a road trip to Durango, Colorado for a reunion with Elaine’s brother and sisters. We left Scottsdale at 6:15 am on Wednesday, and after losing an hour when crossing into NM/CO, we were at Ann’s place in Durango by 3:00 pm.

We briefly stopped along the way to see Four Corners, the only place in the USA when the borders of four states (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado) meet. We came here about six or seven years ago on another long road trip, and it was closed for renovations. The site is on the Navajo Reservation and is administered by the Navajo Tribe. It isn’t quite clear what renovations they might have done. There is a cement patch with plaques of the four states, and you get to stand in a line to actually stand on the spot. The site is surrounded by stalls where various Navajo (and perhaps Hopi) tribe members sell hand made jewelry and trinkets (and, of course, tee shirts). The rest rooms are pit toilets and not very well maintained. On a ten point scale this place gets a one as a place to stop. $5 per person to enter. Well worth missing. We also passed very close to Monument Valley and Mesa Verde National Park, but stops were not in the plan. Maybe another road trip in the future.

At Ann’s, we settled in and the reunion commenced. No shortage of wine, beer, and other sundry alcohols (including Absolut gimlets). Elaine had prepared dinner in Scottsdale and transported it here: delicious chicken casserole, salad, and bread. After dinner we sat on the porch/patio in the back and played music trivia using my Surface Pro music collection. Caroline guessed “Frankie Avalon” for every song. We over served ourselves on alcohol and hit the sack around 10 pm.

More family pictures will be forthcoming over the following days.