'Rest Day' in Monument Valley

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Monday September 29, 2008

The weather was beautiful, scenery spectacular, facilities pristine, campground almost deserted, campsite well-treed and shady all day. Why wouldn’t we stay another day?

It’s so nice to get up whenever we want and not hurry through the morning! (Can you tell that Kayla is writing this blog?) Ahhhhh, just to kick back and admire the scenery while the rest of the world scurries around. We watched the school bus pick up the kids and remembered that this was a school day and some of the Navajo kids have to travel many miles just to catch the bus. They live all over the huge reservation.

Well OK, so we did a little laundry - washed the sheets, towels and some clothes.

Oh, and then we thought it would be nice to bike across the highway back into Monument Valley Tribal Park, see the visitor centre, and gaze some more at the Mittens. It looked so easy from the car driving in, and then from the open-bed truck we rode in the night before. But what looked easy from a motorized vehicle turned into a long 10-km slog peddling uphill. In the heat of the day. Under a hot sun. With only a liter of water each.

So we made it, little by little, inch by inch. Enjoyed the visitor centre. Bought some pottery at their end-of-season sale. Found a place for the pottery in Richard’s panier. Kayla’s panier now held both cameras and all the heavy stuff. Took a few more photos of the Mittens. And headed back to the campground.

What a ride down it was! That was when we realized just how far up we had come. Not one peddle was necessary for well over 7 km and we even broke the speed limit at one point. Yeah! And the wind was at our backs. Did I mention the wind in our faces peddling up? We breezed all the way back to the campground and didn’t even blink an eye when we had to climb four little hills back up to the campsite.

Home-cooked meal eaten outside while watching the sun set on our little piece of paradise. What a way to end the day.

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