FOUR CORNERS MONUMENT — How can you be in four places at once? Simple. Go to the Four Corners Monument, some 375 miles from Salt Lake City, the only point in the United States common to four states.

Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all converge at Four Corners, a man-made, geographical oddity that creates a magical element for visitors. Bend down on all fours, stretch your arms and legs and you can truly be in all four states at the same time.

Other variations are also possible. You could, for example, park your car in Utah, shop in Arizona, use the restrooms in New Mexico and picnic in Colorado — all within a few dozen yards of each other.

A surprising 400,000 visitors a year come to Four Corners. That's an average of more than 1,100 per day, according to San Juan County.

"It does attract a lot of visitors," said Peggy Humphreys, director of San Juan County Community Development and Visitor Services.

She's been amazed over the years at the contortions people pose in for photographs at the site, in order to be in the four different states at once.

May through September is the monument's busiest season.

Although the monument currently lacks electricity and running water, that's about to change.

Humphreys said $3 million has been allocated to construct an interpretive center. Architectural plans have been made, and the project will go to bid soon. It could be done as early as the end of this year, she said.

An organized effort by the Four Corners Heritage Council is credited with instigating the plans for the new interpretive center. Money for the project has been secured from a variety of sources — the National Parks System, American Indian tribes, plus state and nearby city funding.

Humphreys is also excited that American Indians in the area have realized that the monument is a perfect place to make personal contact with visitors. Native storytelling and dance are performed on an irregular basis at the site and American Indian vendors currently sell their wares at the perimeter of the monument. Items for sale include food and drink, even though water has to be hauled many miles to the site, from either Cortez, Colo., or Farmington, N.M.

"There's always at least one vendor there," Humphreys said, selling handmade jewelry, crafts and traditional foods.

Portable toilets and a very modest visitors center are the only such amenities there now.

Comments left in the guest book in the current small visitors center building range from asking for improved restrooms to all complimentary words — "great," "Awesome," "Beautiful" and "I like the shops."