Trip Report Keep your eyes on the road, hands upon the wheel–A South West RT-The End!Bonus Tracks

[pharmjenn]

Oh my, your room was huge! You could put a large family in there if they allowed it.
When we toured MV last summer (in a jeep like you pictured) our driver had to get out at one point and drive a sedan out of deep sand. The two young girls were totally stuck. I drive a Ford Edge, and wouldn't want to try it with my vehicle!
Can't wait to read about your tours.

 

[Leshaface]

You're getting great at taking photos!

Not that I have that car anymore but could you imagine taking my Celica on those roads?! It would even suck in DH's truck! There is no suspension whatsoever, it's awful.

Beautiful sunset photos!

 

[ACDSNY]

Love the room and the view, too bad it was such hike to get there. You got some nice shots of the valley and sunset.

 

[Pinkocto]

Beautiful view, wow!

Hope you have an amazing rest of your trip heading to the port shortly.

 

[franandaj]

Oh my, your room was huge! You could put a large family in there if they allowed it.
When we toured MV last summer (in a jeep like you pictured) our driver had to get out at one point and drive a sedan out of deep sand. The two young girls were totally stuck. I drive a Ford Edge, and wouldn't want to try it with my vehicle!
Can't wait to read about your tours.

I can't even imagine what that would be like to get stuck there. I did some stupid things in my car when I was young and had to be pulled out of some sticky spots.

I wouldn't have even considered it in my Expedition!

You're getting great at taking photos!

Not that I have that car anymore but could you imagine taking my Celica on those roads?! It would even suck in DH's truck! There is no suspension whatsoever, it's awful.

Beautiful sunset photos!

Thanks! That's still with the manual no flash option. Yeah, you need a real 4WD option for that kind of driving.

Thank you. I like to think that they continue to get better, especially once I learn to use the functions of the camera!

Love the room and the view, too bad it was such hike to get there. You got some nice shots of the valley and sunset.

Thanks!

 

[franandaj]

Beautiful view, wow!

Hope you have an amazing rest of your trip heading to the port shortly.

Thanks! I really hated to leave that view! The rest of the trip has been quite amazing. You can read all about it when you get back!

Have a great trip!

 

[franandaj]

For someone who often likes to stay in bed until 10AM at home, I sure was an early riser this trip. When that 4AM wake up call went off I was up and atem! I grabbed us each a yogurt out of the fridge (no pics, go to the grocery store and look up Yoplait light, blue label, Peach for Fran and Raspberry for me). We got dressed a little bit more slowly but we were out the door by 5:00AM. We were supposed to meet our guide in the lobby of the hotel at 5:15AM for a 5:30AM tour.

We wanted to do a private tour so that Fran didn't have to feel rushed about getting anywhere or slowing anyone else down. On other TRs certain folks were rushed in taking their pictures while the rest of the truck was waiting and I didn't want either of us to have that feeling, so we hired a private guide.

When we came down he was waiting there. He was a little surprised to see the scooter, but we told him it was just to get her to the lobby and we’d be leaving it on the lift of the SUV. He had a 2013 Chevy Suburban with all the bells and whistles and they used our portable step stool to get Fran in the back seat while I put the scooter on the back of the Red Car.

Soon we were on our way down that road that only last night I had watched out silly motorists traverse. OMG! I am soooooo glad we weren’t stupid enough to try it. Within the first 100 yards of the road, there were huge trenches, you couldn’t even call them potholes they were so long and deep. The 4WD and our experienced driver navigated them easily, but I could so see Fran and I screaming at each other as I’m trying to help her navigate around these!

This is where my camera frustrations began to sink in. I know that with my DSLR I should be able to take photos in all kinds of conditions. Even if I don’t get decent photos, the shutter should at least click for me. Well evidently it was too dark and the camera didn’t think I should be taking the picture I was trying to, it fought me and wouldn’t release the shutter.

I had our guide stop and turn on the light and I futzed with a few settings, but the problem was I hadn’t really read the manual and caught back up with my Jr. High School photo journalism inner child. Back then I could have told what F-stop, shutter speed, and film you should have been using to capture these scenes. Problem was, digital cameras adapt for the film speed with something called ISO now. I can say this now, but that morning I didn’t know any of this or where the adjustments for them were on my camera.

So I just kept trying to click away until FINALLY it let me take a picture! I know you can’t see much of anything, but at least you can tell we were out on the valley floor in the wee hours of the morning, and it is a definite dirt road.



The next six aren’t much better, some are worse, but perhaps in this one, you can actually see the ridges in the road in front of us. If you think you see ridges about a foot deep, that’s not the camera out of focus, that’s the actual road.



Our guide Duffy was an expert driver and even though over the course of the trip we got a little bit stuck in a few places, he knew exactly what to do remedy the situation. A couple times he told us to “hold on”. And there were a couple times I was sure that we were on “the wildest ride in the Wilderness!” but never did I feel unsafe.

Here is a more typical and tame section of the road.



We arrived at our first destination and I was thrilled that finally the camera was going to take pictures for me. The fact that we had come all this way to see a sunrise and my camera wasn’t cooperating was really bumming me out. Fran was having a severe arthritis flare day, and she had informed me just before we left the room that we should only bring one DSLR camera since she couldn’t hold a camera the way her hands were feeling.



This was the spot where they had taken us to view the sunrise.



Our guide suggested that we hike some to get a better shot. I walked a little ways hoping to get that better shot, but realized that the sand was very difficult to walk in and I am pretty out of shape. I got this far away from Fran (who chose to stay there) and the guide stayed with her.



These are some shots of the area where I had walked to. See the sand, it’s pretty thick and hard to walk on as your feet sink into it quite easily.





A little critter peeped it’s head out of this hole and just as I turned around to look snuck back in, but I swear I heard it!



The sun started to come up on the horizon.





At some point in here, I decided I would rather see the sunrise with Fran because there was no way I walking to the point that they others were aiming for.





I looked back at all the vehicles from the guides who had folks out for the sunrise.



You can see the sun starting to peek out. The other folks walked quite a ways to try and center the sun in the bottom of the U-shape.







I tried framing it different ways.















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[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

And just some other shots in the area



The light reflects beautifully off the other monuments as well



Before we were off to tour all sorts of other interesting areas of the valley, we met Clint who was to be our guide for the starlight tour that evening. We were supposed to depart at Midnight, but he told us that he would be coming back from a tour at 10:30PM so we could leave then instead of Midnight.

Our first stop after the Sunset was an arch or hole, I don’t remember what our guide called it. Notice the indian head with the pony tail.



This is a view standing underneath it.



It’s a pretty tall cavern



Our guide showed me this one. If you look at the picture this was, imagine that the hole is the head of an indian. The hair sort of flails off wildly to the right of his head, and the body sort of dangles wistfully of to the lower left (almost like a dementor’s body).



Then take the same picture and turn it sideways (don’t worry I’ve taken the liberty of doing that for you) and it becomes the head of an eagle.



Our guide called this rock structure E.T.



We walked to the next arch/hole and there was a petroglyph on the way.



I wish I had taken notes on these items so I could remember the names of them.





By this point we were in the “guides only” area, but this road was typical of the driving conditions down in the valley. In fact this was one of the better roads.



One of the sights along the way.



This is one of those sections that was particularly sandy. Our guide told us to “hold on” before he powered through the sandy road.



Our next stop was sort of a double whammy. This was the arch/bridge and it was called Ear of the Wind. I didn’t remember that, I was able to zoom in on the sign!



There was also this really interesting tree.





It was a bit of a hike up the hill



Our guide suggested that I climb up the hill to get this money shot.







Looking back down at the valley floor from my climb up.



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[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

We got back in the car and headed to another spot. I believe that this one was called “Eye of the Sun”.



There were petroglyphs here as well.







The walls here were huge.



This was once a dwelling, you can see the remaining bricks of the foundation.



Another petroglyph



This rock formation was called “The Submarine”



I was really interested in these little plants. Evidently they are some form of poison Oak/Ivy so we were warned not to touch them.



At most of the stops, Fran just stayed in the car and enjoyed the sights from there. It was sort of difficult for her to get in and out of the car.



I believe this was some sort of dinosaur, I thought it looked more like a sea serpent.



Here is a shot just looking out into the monuments.



I believe this one is a Turkey.



I loved all the little desert flowers, and you will find many of them throughout my photos.



Another example of the road



It was still early in the morning, the sun was rising to it’s higher point of the sky.



These are the three sisters. It was said that as John Ford was sitting pondering this formation, three nuns came by and began to pray and that was where he came up with that name. The Indians have their own names for all these monuments, but even though our guide told me I couldn’t remember.



I believe on the group tours, this is a stop where you can purchase souvenirs and possible even drinks. I saw a sign that said something about that.



Out over the horizon



Our guide offered to take a picture of me.





Fran was also taking pictures.



She took one of our hotel



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[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Back on the road again.





Here we are on the tail end of the tour starting to head back out of the valley.





Some of the foliage near the edge of the valley.







And one more stop before we depart. The group tours were now starting to enter the valley.





Our guide explaining the White man’s and the Indian’s names for the buttes.



And that ended our tour for the day. We headed up out of the valley while our guide explained some interesting facts about the Navajo Nation and their people.

 

[ACDSNY]

This tour is going on my list for our trip and I'm not a morning person either. The pics are simply beautiful. Sorry to hear Fran was having a difficult day.

 

[jedijill]

Your pictures are really good...much better than I could take. The valley is absolutely stunning. Sorry Fran was having a bad day. The private tour was really smart.

Jill in CO

 

[pharmjenn]

Your photos are wonderful. The tree framing the hole was the best. We didn't get that one.
We had Clint for our (day) tour. It ended up being private, as we were the only ones booked. Did he play his flute for you?

 

[rentayenta]

Look at you all hiking and taking money shots.

Love the private guide idea. I wasn't sure how that would pan out but it seems like it was the perfect way to go!

Full fridge and huge room? LOVE!

 

[franandaj]

This tour is going on my list for our trip and I'm not a morning person either. The pics are simply beautiful. Sorry to hear Fran was having a difficult day.

This is definitely a must do! We booked a "combination tour", they do the sunrise tour in the morning and the sunset tour in the afternoon. Since we wanted the starlight, they let us break it up over two days. The sunset tour goes to Mystery Valley instead of Monument Valley

Your pictures are really good...much better than I could take. The valley is absolutely stunning. Sorry Fran was having a bad day. The private tour was really smart.

Jill in CO

Thanks! I learned how to be creative in Jr High, now I'm just getting back to how to use the full functions of the camera.

Your photos are wonderful. The tree framing the hole was the best. We didn't get that one.
We had Clint for our (day) tour. It ended up being private, as we were the only ones booked. Did he play his flute for you?

So you also booked with Monument Valley Safari Tours? What kind of vehicle did they take you around in? I think being in the Suburban was so worth the private fee. I think that open air vehicle would have been so hard for Fran to get in and out of, plus we would have frozen!

I'll get to that part about the flute in the update after next.

Look at you all hiking and taking money shots.

Love the private guide idea. I wasn't sure how that would pan out but it seems like it was the perfect way to go!

Full fridge and huge room? LOVE!

It was totally the perfect way to go. He was willing to stop whenever I said "stop!" which is how I got some of those shots with the sun just peeking out over the monuments. He was so sweet, we got to spend time with him later as well, such a nice guide. I need to give him good reviews on Trip Advisor when we get home.

 

[franandaj]

After our tour, I had a hankering for some coffee. Our room had one of those little pod things for coffee, but I noticed that near the restaurant there was a little coffee bar. So we headed there.



Conveniently it was located next to the gift shop, so Fran took a look in there while I got my coffee. Last night, I had taken a quick walk thru trying to figure out the HA route to the restaurant, in case Fran wanted to go there. I had noticed that they had some very beautiful jewelry in there, much more so than anything that I had seen elsewhere.

After some discussion with the clerk, and her insistence that these pieces had fairly large necklines, so I shouldn’t be concerned that they wouldn’t fit, I tried on a few pieces. It seems that the pieces I had shown from the Tuba City Trading Post were what you would call “Traditional pieces”. The ones that I had noticed the night before were “Contemporary Designs”. Funny that for once I preferred the Contemporary over the Traditional!

After some hemming and hawing, I eventually chose a piece of jewelry, however, I wasn’t done. For those of you who have met me, you may have noticed that I have multiple piercings (in the ears only! ) and since I don’t have much in the way of silver jewelry, I needed some Indian style posts for the additional holes in each of my ears. I wear four earrings in the right ear and two in the left. The trading post at the View only carried dangly earrings and no posts. So I needed to look elsewhere.

By this time we were both ravenous and headed back to the room for second breakfast (it wasn’t quite time for 11sies). We had some Corn Flakes and V8 juice in the room. I moved the table so we could enjoy our view.



Since you can’t see our view out the window, I thought I would share it with you.



We changed out of our warm morning clothes as it was supposed to be a warm day. It was then that I realized my packing flaw. For some reason, I thought I would be wearing my tennis shoes and socks all day for the three days at Monument Valley.

Well I couldn’t wait to get my overheated feet out of those tennis shoes after the sunrise tour, only to find that I hadn’t packed any nylons for this part of the trip. Now I’m not talking “Panty Hose” nylons, I’m talking the lightweight knee hi’s that serve as socks for me. My feet get easily overheated but I can’t go without some sort of foot covering, so a trip to the grocery store in Kayenta was in order for some Knee Hi’s. We had planned on skipping Kayenta this day, but now it was a necessary trip. Later I found out that there was a full grocery store at Goulding’s, but the one thing they didn’t have? Nylons!

So here we are heading down the road back to Kayenta.



All throughout Indian Country there were domestic horses pretty much running wild.



Another look at the Indian Jewelry shops, I don’t remember if we stopped on the way there, or the way back, but we bought a few items here from several of the different sellers.



As we were driving we crossed an area which was somewhat windy the day before, but today it was experiencing a full on dust storm.



This was driving through it.



As we approached Kayenta, we could see more of the housing in the area.



And some of the stunning landscapes basically in the backyards of the residents.



One of the things that our guide told us about was the Navajo Nation infrastructure. It is similar to a Socialist society in that everyone contributes back into the Nation, whether it was through taxes or voluntary or involuntary donation, he wasn’t clear. He was clear that they are in charge of their own maintenance, repairs and infrastructure.

We saw trucks in the parking lot of the grocery store we shopped at in Kayenta. They had something on the side like Navajo Nation Transportation Authority or something like that on the sides of their trucks. All the power to the various houses and other buildings is provided by the Navajo Nation and not through our US Government infrastructure.

In the store (and I had to go down every isle to find the nylons). They had no alcohol. Alcohol and Indians don’t mix. They had a wonderful smelling bakery and I ended up buying some homemade cookies in addition to what I came for. I thought it was interesting that they had this Indian phrase on the wall. I have no idea what it means!



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[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Our plan for today was to have lunch at Goulding’s. This is the original Monument Valley hotel. They have been serving tourists since the 1920s and their facilities were used by John Ford for his multiple movies that were shot in Monument Valley. The restaurant served as the cafeteria for the movie workers and actors (as well as tourists) and they had a modest hotel.



Today there is still a hotel, restaurant, museum, gift shop, plus on another level they have a grocery store, fast food location, laundry, camping and RV hookups. For anyone considering staying in MV with an RV, this location would be more desirable than the View Hotel as the RV parking probably still costs you an arm and a leg and you don’t get “the View” from your RV. Goulding’s offers many more services like laundry and the grocery store, at probably a lower price. They are only “across the street” from the park, and they have WiFi not only in the lobby.





We were here for the restaurant.



There was overflow parking down below.



But we drove around up the hill and found Handicapped Parking.



Goulding’s gets mixed reviews. I think many of these people are expecting suburban coffee shops or haute cuisine. Folks, this is the only place for 20-30 miles that offers a “normal” American and Navajo menu that isn’t priced out of most people’s price range. The View had sort of artsy weird dishes on their menu. This was burgers, sandwiches, salad bar, served salads, a few dinners and a Navajo menu. And nothing was priced over $15. Most were just around $10.

Of course we went with the Navajo Menu. Fran ordered the Navajo Taco. Navajo Frybread topped with Chile con Carne with Cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and salsa.



I ordered the Navajo Burger. A Ground Beef Patty atop a piece of Navajo Frybread with brown gravy and onions. OMG! This was so delish, like hot roast beef sandwiches only the frybread was even better than pieces of bread! I couldn’t finish it, but Fran was able to finish both. I did eat a few bites of hers and it was really good too!



Every table had one of these pitchers for water



And we ordered a piece of plain frybread with Powdered Sugar and honey



This was our view as we had lunch.



We walked around the area and then decided to head down to the visitor’s center before going back to the hotel.















Flowers outside the Visitor’s Center (note the flowers are plural, the Center belongs to the Vistor’s )





Now I forgot to mention that after our tour this morning, the “AR" (Accounts Receivable) gal for the Monument Valley Safari Tours came up to the lodge to take our payment for the three tours. When we went inside the Visitor’s Center there were quite a few tables of Navajo Jewelry, and she had one of them. We purchased a couple things at her table including some barrettes and a pair of post earrings.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the trading posts that were just outside the entrance to the park. I found the remainder of what I needed to give me enough posts to go with the set I bought that morning. Let me present to you my new Navajo Jewelry set.



Once we got back to the hotel, Fran laid down for a nap so that she could stay awake for our tour that night. I went down to the lobby to take advantage of their WiFi. I caught up on some TRs and posted some updates on my TR. This was the only place at the hotel where I could do this. I had one morning where my hot spot worked for about 45 minutes, but other than that we were cut off from email, and anything else while at the View.

I did ask the gal at the shops outside the Tribal park how they got a signal and all the Navajos used another cellular service that actually utilizes antiquated cell towers. They do not have updated cell towers in Navajo country so services like Verizon, AT&T and T Mobile that advertise such new and innovative service, are no good in Indian country.

Evidently they had some air show near Goulding’s a couple years back and the towers on that side of the valley were updated so the airplanes could get their necessary signals, so when we were eating there we had a signal. Some of you may have noticed that I responded to your posts while we were there because we were taking advantage of actually having a signal. Otherwise we had to go to the lobby for a signal.

Once I had completed my updates, I went back to the room to lay down as well. It was nearing sundown and I figured I needed some rest to stay up for the starlight tour.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Alison!!!! What amazing pictures. They are positively wonderful. I'm so glad you finally pulled out the manual and decided to reignite that photography spark.

Your private tour sounds like it was the way to go. It definitely seems like you and Fran got the best of the main valley and could come and go as you pleased. Looking forward to seeing how the night tour went.

Gouldings looks very interesting. And that jewellery you've gotten so far is lovely. I think I definitely prefer the contemporary style to the traditional. Not for any other reason than the contemporary fits in better with the fashion sense in Australia.

I can't wait to see the rest of your pictures.

Yeah. I know.
Act like a Grasshopper.

 

[Misskitty3]

Absolutely stunning pictures!!

Those roads through the valley look like something you would find on the moon only red! How cold was it that morning?


The Navajo taco and the Navajo burger looked so delicious! Yum!

I love your Kokopeli necklace and earrings. Beautiful!

 

[Luvchefmic]

Wow those roads had some trenches, so glad you had the tour I think your photography gene is kicking in gorgeous shots Really like the necklace & earrings you decided on too, lovely