I knew the moment I called Four Corners in NM, CO, AZ and UT an overrated place that my dad would comment about a geeky young kid who was utterly fascinated with the spot when we visited in my 10th year or so (I loved maps), and my mom would start searching through the photo archives. The case is not ironclad, because this is my brother, not me. If I had to testify under oath, I would have to say that yes, I was there, and I was really excited about covering parts of four states with my foot (yep, I have big feet). A picture may even exist.One of life's little coincidences is that my brother is a chemistry professor in one of those states today, after growing up in California.
I know people are waiting for the other half of my "overrated places" list, but I am on the road with limited web access the next few days. I will try to get it posted soon: sacred cows must be sacrificed!
As a young adult I was pretty excited about placing each extremity in separate states. Now, I understand the marker is being moved because it was actually not in the right place.
ReplyDeleteHave fun on your journey.
It's off by 2.5 miles according to news stories from 2009, and there are no plans to move the monument.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705298412,00.html
Wikipedia has a brief discussion of the issue on this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners_Monument
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is that the monument is in the wrong place by a small distance (feet, not miles), and nobody cares, because the original survey created the legal boundaries -- even if they aren't exactly where everybody thought they were.