If you look up the Four Corners Monument on travel advice sites, people say don’t go out of your way to visit there. They charge you $5 each to line up and take a picture, and it’s really hot, and there are vendors hawking stuff all around.

Well. We were on our way to Monument Valley and literally passing the turnoff for the Four Corners Monument, and it wasn’t hot, and in November 2021 not remotely crowded. Indeed, I was worried no one would be around to take our picture! The only oddities were...