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Published: September 1st 2008
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Two Buttes
They are about a mile apart. After the wonders of the Grand Canyon, we continued on our journey across the country into the land of the Indian reservation. These area's are quite unique in that they dont really belong to the states that they are located in and they have their own governments and laws, one thing that we all know but might not realise. The Simpsons and other popular culture references has taught us this with that of the Indian Casinos. Gambling is illegal in all but a few states, Nevada being the most obvious, but it is also allowed on Indian Reservations.
Monument Valley, the next stop is located on the Navajo (pronounced Na-va-hoe) Indian Reservation, as soon as we crossed into the reservation there was a Casino. Monument Valley is quite spectacular, huge mesas and buttes erupting out of the desert forming the colossal rock formations. Many a tv ad or western movie has been filmed in and around Monument Valley, there is even a shot from Forest Gump when he's running there, you may recognise it in the pictures!
We had a tour in a very rough around the edges "Jeep" down to a few good picture locations with a Navajo
woman who gave us information about the area and the Navajo people. At each stop there were Indians selling jewelry that they had made themselves. On the way back our guide even sang us a traditional song that is sung when their children return home to live on their land.
After a quick stop at the tourist shop, we continued on and into the state of Colorado where we spent the night at a sleepy town called Cortez. All that was there was a Walmart really. We went shopping there that night for cowboy clothing as on Friday night we would be going to a "cowboy" night club. heh heh.
The usual 7:45am bags to bus happened...again! We set off for just a few hours down the road where we stopped at Durango. First on the agenda was a group photo which you cant see because we got a hard copy of it! A nice Rocky Mountain backdrop was included free of charge, the photo wasn't. We then split into two groups depending on what option we had decided to take earlier in the trip, there was rafting or jeeping. Having not had enough of the jeeps in
Monument Valley I had chosen the Jeeps.
It was a bumpy off road ride through an area where mining was and still is very prominent. A lot of protest signs were on show for the mines too! We went all the way up a very steep, rocky road up the side of a mountain (so steep at one point we had to get out and walk a bit as the Jeep couldn't make it up with us all in). At the top was an old mine which we had a good look around in, quite blasted out on top with a few side tunnels which we went down.
Another bumpy ride back down and it was time for lunch. We found a quite nice looking place to have lunch. Service was it's usual top standard and we all ordered burgers....again!!! Probably one of the best so far. Back on the bus we muched on Pringles and M'n'M's til we arrived at our night stop, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
By now the scenery had changed dramatically from when we first set out in California. The harsh, baron desert had transformed into fields and mountains, if ever so briefly through
WV - We accept visa
Our guide joked about the shape the buttes make behind me being in the shape of "WV" Colorado and as we headed into New Mexico, the desert returned, but it didn't seem to have quite the same feel to it, it had lost it's edge, and its blistering heat!
That night in Albuquerque we spent in the hotel where we sat down to an included dinner, a rather spicy chicken dish with chocolate cake for dessert. After that the hotel had brought in a karaoke dj where we partied late into the night singing all those great karaoke hits. Some more than others. The funny thing is, nearly everyone had to get up at about 4am the next morning in order to go Hot Air Ballooning at 5am. I decided not to do that trip as it was an optional and would have been quite expensive if you didn't wake up on time as you still have to pay even if you miss it and didn't go. Not a nice way to lose $130.
I had a nice sleep in while everyone else had a nice early wake up call and flight in a hot air balloon while hungover, ah that was a good morning. I met the others, and the bus along with a
few others he decided to skip the ballooning at 9:30 that morning, oh how glorious it was. Our next night stop would be Amarillo, Texas with a stop in the middle of the day at the historic art town of Santa Fe.
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Nia
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O-M-G! The "hot air balloon" hangover!!! I cannot believe you have skipped over the having to take me to my room, and make sure I didn't die...lol stop me from going in the shower etc....that was a whole lot of the evening!! This blog is a lie! lol