Sunday, 7/24, Four Corners Monument, Travel to Albuquerque, NM

The boys and I went to Ahavas Torah Synagogue in Scottsdale for morning
services.  The synagogue is in a house in a residential neighborhood with no
distinctive markings on it.  If I had hadn't see someone else entering, I may
not have ever found it.  But I did have the address, so I probably would have
found the number,

We packed up and headed out of Scottsdale at 10:30AM.  Later than we really
wanted to.  Then we had to stop for a picture with a cool cactus.

We headed over to the kosher market to pick up some stuff for the next few days. 
It looks like Memphis has some kosher stores, so we can replenish there again. 
This was the same place that we went to on Friday that didn't have much for
takeout, but this time we just needed packaged goods, so it met our needs.

Naama REALLY wanted to go to The Four Corners Monument where Utah, Colorado,
Arizona, and New Mexico touch in one spot.  She had learned about it a few years
ago in school.  It's about a 5.5 hour drive from Scottsdale.  We had to
backtrack to Flagstaff and then it's to the northeast from there.  From the
monument it's 4 hours to Albuquerque, NM.  Together, it's about a 3 hour extra
drive.  But, hey, we'll only be here once.  Boring drive there.  The Navajo
Nation has a huge reservation where the monument is located.  They keep daylight
savings time, as opposed to the rest of Arizona.  So we lost the hour going
there and got there around 5:00PM MDT.  Surrounding the monument are many booths
where the local tribe members set up shop to sell their artwork mainly.  But
Naama found a kosher pickle at the snack booth!  The girls found some jewelry,
and we also found a shot glass.  (They only had a few, not enough for the whole
family.)  But no bumper stickers, either there or at the trading post right
outside.

Which state would I file a deduction for??

From there we headed to Albuquerque, NM (I hate spelling that out all the time). 
Karen would take over the driving until it got dark out.  She gets all the fun
driving, as the distant sky turned very dark, and we wound up driving on what
seemed to be the edge of the storm.  Didn't rain that much on us, but there were
duststorms blowing across the road.  At one point it was blinding.  And lots of
real tumbleweed scooted across the road.  Just like in the movies/cartoons.  And
nice rainbows too.

Dust storm, the tumbleweed just made it across before I could snap the picture

 

Inspiration for the Shiprock, NM town name.  Not sure that it looks like a ship, but it's just there in the middle of nowhere.  Looks like one of those spooky mountains or castles.

Once it got dark I took over.  For pretty much the entire rest of the drive
Mother Nature treated us to cool fireworks.  The lightening was incredible.  The
skies are so wide open that you could see every bolt shooting down (actually,
lightening forms upwards as all you meteorologists already know).  And lots of
sky lightening that seemed to have the reddish glow of the red rock formations
all around.  Pretty neat.  Once we got to the hotel you could hear the thunder
too.  And the lightening was like right overhead.

Tomorrow we head for Oklahoma City.