More of the Southwest

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Now that we had wheels we decided to go ahead with our original plan and visit Monument Valley and Mesa Verde which is in Southwestern Colorado. Since both are roughly in the same area we thought we'd do both on the same outing. We left Flagstff and drove through miles and miles of NOTHING. The Navajo nation owns practically all of the land between Flagstaff and the Four Corners area that we wanted to explore. There are very few signs of modern life to be seen, mainly desert and once in a while the odd, humble home.
We reached Monument Valley in early afternoon and were enchanted with the magnificent rock formations, mesas and buttes that the park is composed of. It also is on Navajo land and is operated by the tribe. From the welcome center, there is a 17 mile dirt road that winds through the "valley" allowing closeup views of the formations. With names such as "Mittens," "King on his Throne," "Saddleback Butte" and "Merrick Butte"; each one is more fantastic than the other! While we were there, huge black clouds rolled in making everything even more dramatic looking, but the thunderstorm never did materialize and we were rewarded with a magnificent sunset later on as we were driving on to our next destination.
Our next destination was Mesa Verde National Park which is situated near the town of Cortez Co. It features very well preserved cliff dwellings that are believed to have been built by the ancient Pueblo people. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and certainly worth a visit.
Now, from Monument Valley, in order to reach Cortez, we had determined that we had to go through a small area of Southern Utah, back down into Arizona, then north into Colorado via the famous Four Corners area. The whole drive was probably about 60 to 80 miles.
So we left Monument Valley around 4 o'clock intenting to stop for supper in Mexican Hat, Utah. The rock formations in the area are breathtaking. It's like a gigantic bundtcake of multi-colored , multi-layered rocks. The village of Mexican Hat (Population 88, in 2000) takes its name from a formation shaped like a sombrero. We stopped at what looked like a nice restaurant called the Mexican Hat Lodge (duh!). We were hungry and they advertised huge steaks...perfect! However, we sat and sat and waited and waited but we were totally ignored. There were other diners, but the place certainly wasn't overly busy. So after a good 20 minutes we decided to take our stomachs and our business elsewhere. WRONG!!!! there was no elsewhere! Not in the town and not along our route. It got dark, our gas gauge got very low and our tempers very short. When we finally reached Cortez around 9 P.M. we almost cried with relief. Nothing was ever as beautiful as the lights of that town! We found a restaurant and a motel and

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Photos

Monument Valley
From a distance...

Monument Valley
From the visitors center.

Monument Valley
A closeup

Monument Valley
There is just so much to see and photograph!

Monument Valley
A different angle.

Monument Valley
This is my favorite!

Mexican Hat
The rock in the foreground in the shape of a sombrero gives the town it's name.

Mesa Verde National Park
It features well preserved cliff dwellings.

Ancient Cliff Dwellings
Believed to have been built by the Anasazi, an ancient pueblo people.

Cliff Dwellings
No one knows why these were abandoned by their builders.

Atop Mesa Verde
Relaxing after a long, pleasant day.