We woke to a glorious sunny day at the rim of the world. It was still icy cold and windy, so was nice to get back in the car and stay warm. We headed east out to the Desert View part of the National Park, stopping at some cool lookouts along the way.
When we got to Desert View we checked it the Watchtower, a steel framed atone building designed by America female architect in the early 20th century. The building replicates in great detail native Indian buildings and artworks. Was pretty cool inside too. Lots of interesting wall paintings as well as views out to the canyon. Was a really nice spot to stop and take in this world wonder.
We hoped back in the car and left the park, heading north on our way to Monument Valley. It was quite surprising how quickly the landscape changed, from snowy canyon country to flatter drier desert plains. Amazing the contrasts in this part of the world.
We ventured out past Tuba City and kept driving for a couple more hours until we got our first glimpse of monolithic buttes.
Entering into monument valley also meant crossing the Arizona/Utah border. It also meant heading into Navajo Indian lands. Was interesting to get a taste of the different culture, even if minimally.
The hotel where we are staying is the only one inside the park, with amazing views of the valley (the three famous buttes from lots of John Wayne movies are right out our window)
We ate lunch in the restaurant - really good nexican/native American stew dish with tortillas. Simis taco was insanely huge - came out on fry bread too - really different but nice.
After lunch we got back in the dodge. By the way Rodge the Dodge has a new nickname - The Guzzler. He ploughs through fuel.
We ventured offroad and onto the dirt tracks, putting the Dodge through it's paces. Was a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours drive through the valley. We saw so many different rock outcrops and monolithic formations. It's really hard to take a bad photo here, especially with such fantastic weather.
It was now around 4:30ish and we headed back to the hotel. Sim wrote a few postcards while I took the Dodge for a bit more exploring. Cruising further north east into Utah, I saw more and more parts of the valley and along the way stumbled across the scene from Forrest Gump where he's running in the desert -then stops and turns around and goes home! Was pretty cool!
Was a really awesome time of the day now too - sun was starting to set and the redy orange rocks had a magnificent glow to them contrasted with a bluet shadow in parts.
I headed back to pick up Sim and share the sunset together. Was a magical experience in a magical place.
We ate dinner in the restaurant again - was a little disappointed with what I ate (note to self chicken and apple not good flavor combo) but Sim enjoyed her steak. My spirits (and cholesterol levels) were raised however with dessert. Fry bread with ice cream (a la mode as they seem to say a lot here) and strawberries.. Yummy!
After such a Monumental day (oh dear) we were both exhausted and got to bed pretty quickly. Tomorrow will be another early start - hoping to catch the sunrise!!!
- Blog from iMat
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