Monument Valley

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Had breakfast in the hotel (waffles, cereal, fruit, yoghurt, sausage and gravy) and then headed out for the valley. Stopped at an Indian market, which are all along the roads and the boys bought a flute (Steve’s split after 5 minutes,much to our relief]) and i bought a necklace. Entry to the valley was $5 each. As you get in there is a brand new visitors centre with a small museum and a huge shop with loads of John Wayne memorabilia. His most famous film shot here was Stagecoach. It inspired lots of talk about cowboys and Indians with the boys and Andy and I relived some memories of playing cowboys and Indians and watching Westerns on TV. Steve wanted to know why we played it and they didn’t but it is all to do with the television, that is what we watched to inspire our play, they watched Teenage Ninja Turtles or was that Robbie and Lewis? Steve and Nick were more into Power Rangers. Steve wanted to know why the Indians were the baddies????? The views from the gift shop were amazing but not so awe inspiring as the Grand Canyon. One reason is because at the Canyon you don’t see anything until you get there but with Monument Valley you get a taste of it as you drive up and know more what to expect. From the Visitors centre you can take a truck through the 17 mile drive on unmade roads but we took our car. The first mile was very bumpy and we wondered if we could make 17 miles but it got better. The drive had numbered stopping points along the way and the views were incredible. Steve thought it was ‘ultimate’ and it truly was. My only disappointment was there were no giant cacti. They sell quite a few baby ones in the shops but where are they? Have i missed them? All i have found so far are tiny ones or big ones in people’s gardens at Lake Havasu. The search continues.....The temperature was 34OC but it is not at all uncomfortable as it is a very dry heat, but it is nice to get back to the air conditioned car. From monument valley we headed off for Bryce Canyon and took in some beautiful views along the way. The roads are so straight and fairly empty and you can travel 60 miles without a turn off at some points. Stopped for petrol and got directions to a Chinese restaurant which was more like a cafe, but we had a nice meal and were served by Misty who was the sister of the girl in the garage. When we got to the hotel, Great Western, Ruby’s Inn, for the first time this holiday they could not find our booking. It turned out we had been upgraded to the brand new Best Western - The Grand, over the road. It was beautiful, the most comfy bed and the pillows were delicious. A strange adjective for a pillow but they were. Andy and I raced down and caught the last swim, then watched The Hangover on TV which was very topical as we were heading for Vegas.

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