Trip #2 – Four States, Four Corners, Four Parks, Four Days

4 Days: Santa Fe, Grand Canyon, Four Corners, Arches National Park, Colorado National Monument, Rocky Mountain National Park 

I have seen this trip advertised by tour companies at THOUSANDS per person, and over a week. Let’s do it for under a thousand dollars combined for two people. 

This trip is called “Four Corners,” because not only will you be in four states in four days, but at one point, you will be in all four at the same time. This is one of my favorite trips. Hour for hour, you will not get more beauty on any roadtrip in such a short time.  

Day 1 – Fly into Albuquerque, NM. We want to go to Santa Fe, but if you fly into that airport, you just doubled the price of your vacation. So, fly into Albuquerque, rent the car, and begin the hour drive North to Santa Fe. It is over 70 miles, but at 1000000mph, you will be there in no time. 

Noon. Let’s assume that you took a morning flight. If you started on the East Coast, you gained a couple of hours, so 2 PM has just become Noon. Upon arriving in Santa Fe, you will notice that it’s very different than many places you have been before. By law, every business and building in Santa Fe has to be adobe. Even the parking garages. As for MUST SEES in Santa Fe, I couldn’t pinpoint one in particular. But, just walking around the Plaza and Palace of the Governors is worth the trip. Take your time strolling around, and enjoy or purchase the Native American art that is being peddled in the plaza. Also, be sure to sample some really good New Mexican Food. The Guadalupe Café is very popular in town. It’s mighty tasty, and is pretty cheap. It closes after lunch, so get there by 2 PM. Santa Fe is really nice, but you will find that two hours there is plenty to get the flavor. But if you want, take a third hour by going to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, or if you just want history, the museum at the Palace of the Governors. There’s much to do outside Santa Fe such as horse riding. But if you wanted to stay here a while, you wouldn’t have picked up this book.

It’s about 3 PM … time to start the 457 mile drive to the East Entrance of the Grand Canyon. You can drive this in about 6 1/2 hours … 7+ with a stop for dinner. So, that would get us there tonight. But, on experience, I have to tell you … there are some times when I just don’t feel like driving a million miles. In this case, it’s a matter of how you feel. If you feel good, drive more. For me, I would generally stop an hour or two at a hotel outside of the Canyon, and finish the drive tomorrow morning. If you want to stop really early, in Holbrook, AZ there is the famous Wigwam Motel, where you can sleep in a makeshift wigwam. Great for comical pictures.

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