Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 7 years and 1 month old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

Today was the major driving day of the road trip: Flagstaff, AZ to Durango, CO, with points in-between.

Originally we were going to swing by the Meteor Crater and Petrified Forest, but since we had already spent some time looking at a big hole in the ground 😉 we decided to just start towards Four Corners. We basically took US 160 all the way northeast through Arizona, with a quick jaunt north on US 191 to grab a photo at the Utah state border. It was quite a scenic drive and we arrived at the Four Corners monument (in New Mexico) mid-afternoon.

Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time, which went into effect back on Sunday, so we had forgotten to take that into account while driving so we “lost” an hour after crossing into New Mexico and Colorado. We continued on US 160 through southwestern Colorado and then drove into the Mesa Verde National Park. The visitors’ center was closed, but we drove the 21 (twisty and cliffy!) miles into the park proper so we could take the Mesa Top Loop and look at the amazing cliff dwellings and preserved pit houses. It was a “quick” trip as we were losing light (we joked it was like historical speed dating) but we made it out of the park before sunset.

We continued driving on US 160 to Durango, CO and checked into our hotel for the evening. For dinner, we went over to the Animas Brewing Company for some local refreshment and good burgers. For dessert, we managed to get into Cream Bean Berry on Main Street just before it closed. I had the strawberry vinaigrette ice cream, which was really good.

Tomorrow we start again on US 160 but then start heading back south to New Mexico on our last big driving day.