And now for a brief intermission …

FOUR CORNERS:  NEW MEXICO, UTAH, COLORADO & ARIZONA
But it’s Navajo Nation territory.

And it’s under construction … the monument anyway.  But the native craft stalls are open, and we talked to vendors, ate fry bread and shopped our way around the booths.  Amazing craftsmanship – sand painting, pottery, jewelry making.  And everyone wanted to chat a while.  It was too bad the monument isn’t open, but the best part still would have been talking to folks.

Weather here was 100 degrees two days ago.  Yesterday they got hail and thunderstorms and some rain today.  Temperatures down  in the 50s.   

Four corners sits in the midst of the Navajo Nation , the largest population of Native Americans in the US.  Navajo refer to themselves in their native language as Diné, which is translated as “the people.”   The Navajo people traditionally hold the four sacred mountains as the boundaries of the homeland they should never leave: Blanca Peak  (Tsisnaasjini’ — Dawn or White Shell Mountain) in Colorado, Mount Taylor (Tsoodzil — Blue Bead or Turquoise Mountain) in New Mexico, the San Francisco Peaks  (Doko’oosliid — Abalone Shell Mountain) in Arizona, and Hesperus Mountain (Dibé Nitsaa — Big Mountain Sheep) in Colorado.