Blogs from Monument Valley, Arizona, United States, North America

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, which is in fact not a conventional valley, but flat, with large sandstone formations hundreds of feet into the air, these remnants once covered the entire region. We enter The Navajo Tribal Park, again it is bloody hot, tourist everywhere, the landscape is breathtaking. We arrive just on lunchtime and unable to book into our room until 3 o'clock so we sit outside and have some lunch and in the background you can hear an Indian flute being played, it sounds so peaceful and spiritual, a serene ... read more

Dad and I got up early (4:30am) and drove down to catch the first sunlight over monument valley, only problem was we left the camera on the table at the house! at least we had a phone to take a picture. our new plan is to load the car the night before if we are leaving early. we've got some video to load later tonight. see ya.... read more

The trip was getting better and better, especially lately. We left Moab behind and headed to our next destination – Monument Valley. But first of all we stopped off in Natural Bridges National Monument to view 3 bridges that were naturally made. The first, Sipapu Bridge, was nearby the visitor centre, and everyone but Sarah, Zoe and me set off down towards the bridge about 1 km away. The three of us stayed near the van and looked out for the others to appear far below at the viewpoint to see the bridge. Sadly it couldn’t be seen from where we were standing, but I wasn’t that fussed. When the others finally returned, we all climbed in again, and headed to the second bridge, Kachina Bridge. This time I decided to join with the others and ... read more

Dinsdag 12 april Vanmorgen vroeg opgestaan voor een ochtendwandeling, helaas was er teveel bewolking voor een mooie zonsopgang. Maar de wandeling was wel leuk, beetje woestijnachtig, beetje klauteren over wat rotsen (oei, ik heb spierpijn in mijn bovenbenen van de tocht door Antelope Canyon ) en een mooi uitzicht over Lake Powell en omgeving! Na het ontbijt op weg naar onze volgende bestemming! Eerst een +/- 70 kilometer lange tocht langs mooie natuur, heel veel kloven en rotsformaties. Nog steeds zijn we op een hoogvlakte , zo ongeveer 1700m hoogte. De zon gaat weer schijnen en de temperatuur stijgt mee! We maken een stop bij Navajo National Monument, via een pad wandelen we naar een kloof waar aan de overkant een grot met grotwoningen van de Anasazi's te bewonderen valt. Onderweg een gezellig praatje met ... read more

March 22 Monument Valley In Kayenta at the Best Western. Had to get a high dollar room here yesterday to get out of the dust storm. As soon as the dust storm quit it started snowing. But I've been outside and it is clear and cold now so it ought to be a great day to tour Monument Valley. That's the place you see in dozens of westerns. I'm right here at the entrance to it. I probably won't leave till almost 1100 so that will give the snow or ice time to melt off of the roads. Looks like it will be a gorgeous day ! The dust storm of yesterday stopped when it started raining and then turned to snowing finally later in the afternoon. I had sought refuge in the Best Western in ... read more

For some reason, the long blog I wrote yesterday vanished into cyberspace. So I am just checking in. We will leave Monument Valley after four days of relishing the immense red rocks, remembering the John Wayne movies that were filmed here, and head south into Arizona. We are pretty well satiated with canyons, cliffs, red, Anasazi ruins. We even hope to find a bit of green landscape in AZ; might have to settle for golf courses... Best wishes to all.... read more