Monument Valley - Magnificent

Monument Valley Utah - posted another post before this one today too. Remember if you click on a picture it will enlarge.
We left Cortez around 10 a.m. Friday morning as we didn’t have far to go to Monument Valley where we were going to spend the night.
Not a very eventful trip except for our stop at Four Corners. The road went right by the marker so had to stop. Not much there except the marker and the state flags.
A few Indian vendors selling jewelry and sand paintings. And the usual junk i.e. t-shirts, pins, shot glasses and magnets. Of course had to get a pin to put on our pin wall in Jennie. Did get my picture taken standing right in the middle of the four corners of the four states – Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. Surprised the camera didn’t break; very seldom get my picture taken. Just don’t like it.
It was weird but after we crossed the state line into Arizona the landscape seemed to get greener. More and more bushes and vegetation. Maybe because we were at a lower altitude. Don’t know. Have you ever noticed all the different kinds of flowers that grow along side the road? No where else but right next to the pavement. This trip there have been lots of black eyed susans. So pretty and happy looking.
Stayed at Gouldings RV Park – the only campground near to Monument Valley. Right at the Arizona/Utah border. The whole complex of Gouldings is very nice. The RV park, a hotel, gas station (Unleaded $2.99!), grocery store, museum and of course they offer all kinds of tours. It sits right up against one of the big red cliffs with lots of green trees.
That's us there behind the tree.
Very pretty place and again it’s the only place around so $$$. Got settled in and went into Monument Valley. It is on an Indian Reservation so is controlled by the Indians. Since we were there last they have built a big beautiful hotel overlooking the valley. Quite a view to wake up to. For a fee of $5 you can take your own car and tour the area. After looking over the hotel and the new “Trading Post” we drove the dirt road that goes throughout the valley.
This is one of the smoother places on the road.
– Words cannot describe the scenery. So magnificent and tranquil. John Ford made several movies there with John Wayne so any one who has seen John Wayne westerns has seen the area. Some movies filmed there were The Searchers, Stagecoach and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon to mention a few.
Formation after formation as far as the eye can see.
Driving through there is almost a religious experience, makes you want to whisper. The buttes, mesas, canyons and free standing rock formations set against the bright blue sky dotted with big puffy white clouds almost looked unreal.
A picture postcard view


The different formations have names like “Three Sisters”,
“Camel Butte”, (see him in front?)
but I also saw a Madonna
It is like looking at clouds, the more you look the more you can imagine you see. It is a place everyone should go sometime in their life. From there we drove north on the main highway a ways to the little town of Mexican Hat then beyond to see the rock formation that gave the town its name. It looks like a sombrero upside down. See the storm moving towards us?
After leaving there I mentioned to Bill that I’d like a glass of wine that night. He thought a beer sounded good. The problem was when we left home neither of us though about putting any beer or wine in Jennie. So I said “Let’s stop in Mexican Hat and buy some.” So we did. Well guess what. Beer was available to buy couldn’t buy wine because Mexican Hat is right at the border of the Reservation. So Bill got his Corona. Then just for the heck of it we stopped at the Gouldings grocery store – couldn’t even get beer there as it is On the Reservation. So I drank ice tea and he had his Corona.
Suddenly we heard the pitter patter of rain on the roof. The sun was shining brightly outside. Well we jumped in Willie and drove out towards the Valley where we saw a gorgeous double rainbow. Took pictures – only the main one shows up.
We watched as the rain and accompanying wind rushed toward us. When it hit it rocked the car – The rain was blowing sideways – lots of lightening and thunder – then it was gone! Got back to the campground and lo and behold there was another rainbow right on top of us.
A perfect wine sipping time and no wine. A perfect day in a perfect place.