Monument Valley

Saturday - 2 April 2005 - On the Navajo Nation, Arizona: The weather today was unreal. 75 degrees! No wind. No clouds. Simply a beautiful day in The Nation. DT drove down to the high school and did a track work-out on the field. It wiped him out for the rest of the day, but he feels it is still good to exercise at altitude. Everyone reading this knows he is crazy, right?

We drove in the Honda today into Monument Valley with my parents. When you enter the visitor center, The Nation requests $5 per person to enter and drive the 17 mile round-trip loop through the valley floor past eleven points of interest. (We clocked 13 miles on the odometer.) Visitors can drive the loop solo, or hire a Native guide in a 4x4. With a guide, you are allowed access to private routes along the valley floor.

The Mitten


Monument Valley floor
 

The North Window

The entire day was filled with amazing views of the Monuments. At several of the turn-outs we were able to shop for Navajo jewelry - and we do admit to purchasing a few choice pieces for assorted nieces and daughters, but there was no serious sales pitch and the prices were some of the most reasonable we have ever seen in the southwest. There was some sort of dance competition at the high school tonight and we came across several families taking photos of their teen children in splendid costumes, using the monuments as a back-drop. Fabulous colors!

After our tour of the valley floor we were famished and went to the visitor center to use our 10%-off coupon at the restaurant. They were offering a taco special for $6.95 and everyone seemed to be eating this delicious-looking option - so we ordered four. Seems everyone seating around us had order the Navajo Tacos and we were each served regular old Taco Bell style tacos! Dang. Not to mention our coupon was not valid on "specials". Double Dang. Just as well. Mom had started a stew in her crockpot this morning and if we had eaten the Navajo Taco - we would have never been able to eat again today.

Mom on the porch of the Goulding House

The campground where we are staying, the next-door hotel, resort, gift shop, restaurant, gas station and grocery store, and possibly the Seventh Day Adventist Church, are operated by the Goulding family. They originally came here during the Great Depression and convinced Hollywood (and John Ford) to use Monument Valley as a back-drop to the popular Western films of the day. Many John Wayne movies, including She Wore a Yellow Ribbon were filmed here. More recently, scenes from Forrest Gump were filmed at Monument Valley.

The Goulding family home is now a museum - they lived upstairs in the building pictured above - and there is much Hollywood movie memorabilia housed in the fun and interesting building. Their hotel was featured in Life Magazine as one of the "Most Interesting Hotels in the World" in the 1930's. Mrs. Goulding said this honor was because of the "giant red rock" behind the hotel. I think she was right.

After our exciting day, we gathered back at our campsite, watched the Final Four and - much later - enjoyed Mom's delicious stew. Nothing like a little home cookin' on The Nation.

Did I mention Mom made biscuits?

RV Park: Gouldings Lodge Campground