Meet me in Monument Valley

Meet me in Monument Valley! (no internet last night so this was written Friday August 6th at 12:30am the 7th)

This was the best day I’ve had in two weeks!! We slept in today. I was able to get good sleep finally! I woke up and got my things done (gas, ice, check the van etc) My people were almost on time…and then we were off to my favorite park, Monument Valley!

Since we were doing the evening program in the park I decided we’d kill time and see some neat things before entering the park. We stopped at Hole in the Rock first. That place has really grown up since I was there. Really cute petting zoo (which I of course went and saw!) they had funny play on word sculptures. Jail house rock, electric chair. One of my couples went and did the tour of the hole in the rock. No one else wanted to pay.

After all of that we went on down the road and stopped next in Blanding. I missed the Pioneer Museum (I’ll do that next time) but we found a great market there and it had benches etc so we did picnic lunch there today. Kind of random but it worked out great. The other option would have been Navajo Twins Café in Bluff. But it worked out fine. We really kind of took our time, saw some stuff and then when Mexican Hat came along I made them all wake up and get out and walk for a minute so that they would be awake for the views of Monument Valley as we approached.

I took them to Gouldings to see the museum and John Wayne of course! They were half impressed half not but it was fun. They climed into the stage coach and took their photos. It was great fun I thought. From there we headed into Kayenta to see the Code Talkers display in the Burger King and also the Hogan display that they have there as well. It’s a great set up, with a really good museum, needs more time there for sure.

About the time people got into places this huge rain storm hit and it poured rain! It was lightning and rain and thunder too. Big show!

I wanted them to have time to shop for jewelry and see the Visitor Center before the Jeep tour so we headed back to Monument Valley again (all this as opposed to going to the Anasazi Inn and back again…boring!)

We stopped at a table stand along the way to the park and bought some jewelry and had some amazing views of the place with the light being dramatic and the storm on one side. It was the best views today!

As we entered the park we were chased into the parking lot by this huge dust storm and dark cloud. It was fantastic. What a mess it made! And then just like that it was done and the sun started to creep into the valley and there was light again. Beautiful! Absolutely the most amazing time to be there. Light and dark and dust.

John giving the safety talk. "Hold on tight!"

I was standing near the parking lot with my group waiting for our jeep to show up and I got a phone call. John was there looking for us so we finally connected with him and I got the group all loaded up and off we went. The jeeps are really a big pickup truck with a flatbed on the back and bus (or bench) seats bolted into it. Its pretty ingenious because you can put a lot of people in them and everyone can see out, no windows to get in the way.

John told them it would be a bumpy dusty ride but worth it and then off we went. We stopped at the Mittens and Merrick Butte first and had another little “shop” there before setting off to John Fords Point. I’m telling you, doing this tour with a guide is so much more fun. Never do that park on your own, you really miss out!

As part of the tour we get to go on roads that the regular public doesn’t so we see a lot more of the park. We saw Arches and heard flutes and singing and drove behind the dunes to see the Totem Pole Butte. It was great. I discovered what “tumble weeds” look like when they are green. Did you know those plants are spiked??! Very tough on your feet to walk through, yes I did that…

We were getting pretty hungry and the sun was setting and John pulls up to this picnic area right at the base of one of the buttes (a huge one) and there was dinner waiting for us. We got a big plate with a huge fry bread on it and then we dressed it with toppings. Veggies and meat. It was really good. We all had a good laugh about how to eat it and then took photos of it of course and had a great time eating. I was so happy to be there. What a great place that is. I really like it there! Love it there really!

We had fry bread with cinnamon and honey for dessert. Yummy!

After all that was done and cleared up here came this really tall Navajo guy called Ashley and he served us “John Wayne coffee” cowboy coffee. It was good, gritty. Terrific.

Carlos came out and told us a story about the beginning of the flute. He is a great story teller and I enjoyed it. He is very animated and runs around and is so entertaining. Then he has a “grass dancer” come and do some dancing and by then the fire has been built up and sky is dark and so you see the shadow of the man dancing there in front of you. It was great. He calls us all up there and has us do a dance along with Elroy the dancer and then at the end he gets us in a circle and has us do improve dancing to the beat of the drums and sound of their singing in Navajo. My group were amazing dancers. So hilarious and everywhere and really lived it up. We had such a good laugh.

And then it was over. It was too short. We got to take pictures with Elroy and then John ushered us back to the jeep for our ride home. By this time every star you can imagine was out and it was so bright from stars the Buttes were in silhouette. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to lay out under the stars all night long. The temperature was perfect and the bats and moths were busy keeping the bugs at bay, it would have been a really amazing night.

Listen to me, great, amazing, fantastic. I can’t seem to find any other words. I loved every minute of it and my group did too. They were all abuzz on the way back.

This day made all the others worth while. I officially love this day on my tour. Monument Valley is my favorite still. 

John says hi!

We made it to the Anasazi Inn in the dark, which helps ease the shock of the place. But one the rooms has no working toilet and I’ll find out what else went wrong tomorrow I’m sure, but I don’t care. This day was so good they can all walk to the Grand Canyon tomorrow. Ha!

We’ll have breakfast in the café and that will be a good start to the day for sure. Looks like good food. This place is way bigger than I thought. Having seen it before I never noticed these two outer buildings full of rooms. They aren’t much but they are clean and the water isn’t bad either so I’ll take it!