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Published: October 6th 2011
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Another early morning as we head towards Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona and as we leave the Grand Canyon the scenery changes from glorious green forests and pastures to a dry arid landscape. Along the roadside there are Indian stalls set up selling thier wares, and as we approach the Valley, we site large sandstone formations reaching hundreds of feet into the air. We enter The Navajo Tribal Park and again it is bloody hot, tourist everywhere and the landscape is breathtaking. We arrive just on lunchtime and are unable to book into our room until 3 o'clock, we sit outside and have some lunch while Indian flute music is played in the background, it sounds so peaceful and spiritual and a serene calmness engulfs me, the stress and worry of the outside world disappears and I feel I am truly living in the moment!
Steve books us on a tour through the Valley with a guide from the Navajo Tribe to take us off the main road to see the hidden landscape at 4.30. We check in to our room and the whole interior of the building and our room is decorated with Native American Motifs and again the wonderful sound
of the Indian flute is heard through the reception area, truly I could sit here all day! Our room is large with the most spectacular views, a photographer's canvas out front and Steve is in his element!
It's now 4.30, we're refreshed and head off on our tour, our guide is Gerry from the Navajo Tribe and we set off in an open four wheel drive. We introduce ourselves to two Spanish sisters while waiting for another two tourists, they arrive and we set off on our 2 ½ hour journey, the two late comers are I assume a mother & son from perhaps Vietnam and when Steve and I are talking and having a joke, he laughs along with us, I introduce Steve and I and ask where he is from and in a very Aussie accent he says, "Melbourne, Australia"......... we all start laughing! The dirt road is bumpy and the red dirt is starting to get in my teeth, we stop at some glorious places along the way and see many different and varied formations in the sandstones that resemble a Dragon and Indian Chiefs head, mother nature has let loose with her pallet knife and
the end result is a true natural work of art. We see some ancient Indian paintings on the rocks and head down to the rock named Eagles Eye, we lay on the rock formation and look into the sky through the eagles eye, our tour guides sings an Indian song and plays the flute with the sound reverberating of the cavernous walls, the sound is amazing! As the sun goes down we head back to the hotel and on the way back Steve realises he's wallet has dropped out of his pocket from the Jeep, Gerry turns around and we start our back from where we came from and luckily after about 20 feet or so the young Aussie guy spots it, we stop and retrieve it. Steve, this is Mandy, "a note to yourself, always ensure wallet is safely in pocket"! We head back to the Motel and it's dark and walking into the Motel we notice a movie screen is set up in an open alfresco garden area and a John Wayne movie is playing,"The Searchers, I think". A lot of the the early Western Films were filmed around here and local features can be seen in the
Films. We have Dinner and off to bed, what an awesome day! Weather......Hot.
Accommodation:
The View Hotel
Monument Valley, Utah
Thoughts: Great place with big rooms, big beds and nice meals.
We highly recommend the tour with a guide, you can take your vehicle around a designated track, but the Navajo guided tours are not restricted to it.
Note: the Navajo nation is a non alcohol area and no alcohol is served at the The View.
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