Day 3 turned out to be mostly driving. My mom was still not feeling well, so I was doing the driving. I think I drove something like 9 hours that day, amounted to around 400 miles.

The day started at around 6:30 AM with me heading down Highway 95. It’s my second time driving this scenic byway, the first time was during my Christmas road trip of 2023 when I was heading to Monument Valley. During this time around, I noticed a lot more scenery I didn’t notice the last time but the worst part about driving is, I don’t get to take pictures along the way.

I did, however, stop at the same overlook as the last time – the Hite overlook. I absolutely love the landscape of this overlook. T

After the brief stop at Hite, we continued heading for the Four Corners National Monument until we hit a few snags. For one, there was road work. Normally, I don’t mind road work but when I am sitting at a spot waiting to be allowed to pass, then it starts to be an annoyance. Road work was everywhere around the Four corners.

To get the Four Corners, we had to cross into each of four states- Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. It was amusing to hear Google welcoming me to a new state 4 times in a span of less than 15 minutes until we finally crossed into Colorado. Just like the last time I was there, the monument was crowded and there was a line of people waiting to get a photo of the small metal plate signifying the border of the 4 states.

My mom and I took turns of taking each other’s photos. After that, it was time to head toward our next destination – Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This was my first time driving in a city that wasn’t Salt Lake City and I’ll admit, I was terrified. Albuquerque’s roads and traffic is a beast compared to Salt Lake City. The thing was, I wasn’t supposed to go to Albuquerque. The only reason I was there was because my mom needed Asian medicine.

So, there I was, navigating the madness that was traffic of Albuquerque during peak traffic. There were braking, cars suddenly darting out from nowhere, and narrow lanes. I made it though but unfortunately, my mom didn’t get her medicine and is still suffering.