Ask many people to imagine the west, and they’ll respond with a vision of red buttes sticking up from a flat desert plain. This particular landscape is iconic thanks to a series of classic western movies directed by John Ford. No matter where they were set, he filmed them in just one place, Monument Valley. I never saw the films growing up, but I did see hundreds of cartoons that used the same landscape. Today I finally see the real thing. Of course, lots of other people want to see that landscape also. During summer, it leads to almost unbearable crowding. Thankfully, most visitors have left by late autumn. The popularity also leads to high prices, which I can’t do anything about. Like other things on this trip (see ), I decided I would enjoy the
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