Monument Valley
More properly, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. It is the location for many of John Ford's movies starring John Wayne, the last one we watched was billed as taking place in Texas! Readers, I have seen much of Texas and there is nothing there that compares to Monument Valley.
Leaving the far reaches Arches National Park, we back tracked over about 100 miles in our journey south. Lunch at Blanding, a small town of less than 4,000, a look through a museum there and we were on the move again. The first landmark worthy of a photograph was around Mexican Hat, an odd name for a town. Hmm, perhaps it does appear as a hat?
Appears that we are getting close to Monument Valley. The formations appearing on the horizon are huge!
Near the entrance into the Valley. The Golden Passport issued by the National Parks is not taken here. The woman at the gate informed us that they were not part of the National Park System, that this belongs to the Navajo Tribe. Okay, come to think of it, I don't see anything about “National” in their name.
Once again, our RV is too large to take into the Valley. There is a very nice lodge recently built that I at one time thought of making reservations. At just over $300 a night, I decided we would just stay with the RV.
Below — on the left: “West Mitten”, in the center: “East Mitten” and on the right: “Merrick Butte.”
Amazing scenery
Both the above taken from our campground, Goulding's Park. (Nightly showings of John Wayne movies!) The photo of the Valley was an extreme reach for the lens that I had.
