It was a long day, but Super!!!

September 19 – We were on the road by 9:30 and barely got out of Moab when we came

Wilson Arch

upon Wilson Arch on the left of the highway.  Of course we stopped to get a few photos and were back on our way.  We only had a drive of 135 miles but ran into 6 stops for road construction!  Geez!  Some were not bad but one took forever it seemed.

The drive was nice with more of the beautiful red rock and quite a few 6 – 10% grades to go up or down.  Of course there

Just along the way...

was a lot of picture taking on Bill’s part as we drove.

We arrived at Valles Store and RV Park in Mexican Hat, Utah by lunch time.  IT is called Mexican Hat after a rock formation.  I called it a Deliverance park, but Bill defended it.  It’s clean and very level with sewer and pull thru spots, but had only 30 AMP or 20 AMP and is just desolate looking.  Not much in the way of green

Rock for which Mexican Hat
was named

and puny little trees.  When we got home from our afternoon excursion, we were the only ones in the park.

It didn’t take long to get set up and have lunch and we rested a while and left at 2:30 for Monument Valley which is 22 miles.  We crossed the Snake River and Colorado Rivers and you could see some of the monuments in the distance.  Wow, so breath taking!  Such a different site than you will see anywhere in the world.

We had signed up for a tour at 4 so before that we explored Goulding’s area.  He established the first trading post in the valley and it has since grown to have a hotel, campground, gas station, grocery store and museum.  The original trading post is now a museum.  It is the only non-native American owned place in the valley.  There is a KOA but they have a long term lease.

Mittens come in pairs

We were to meet the tour at The View Hotel which is on the crest of the valley.  They have a restaurant and huge gift shop that is mostly Native American made jewelry, pottery, paintings, weaving and carvings.  Beautiful stuff for sure!  You can drive some of the monument for the $20 car admission that EVERYONE but natives pay, but to get into the sacred areas you must be with a licensed guide. 

Our guide and ride!

Bill booked our tour a few weeks ago and we had a super guide!  He knew so much about the names of the formations, history of his people, and he shared so much with us. He did native chants, explained about herbal use of plants we passed, their beliefs and rituals, we could not have gotten a more knowledgeable and personable guide than Derrick.  It was well worth the $85 each for 3 hours of history, stories and legends.

We visited John Ford Point which is famous for John Ford’s

Bill at Ford's Point

movies shot in the area.  He did the first movie there and starred John Wayne, The Stagecoach.  After that many movies have been made there and continue to be.  Along some of the stops there are craft booths with mostly jewelry for sale.  There was a place that sells Fry Bread but by the time we got to that stop it was closed!  Bummer!

Ceiling of Big Hogan

I can’t say enough about what a great tour it was!  I hope my pictures captured the essence of Monument Valley.  Since it was 7 when we got back, the sun was setting and I got some photos of the sun on the Mittens formations.  Then we had dinner at The View restaurant.  We lucked out getting a window table where we could see the Mittens!  Dinner was OK, the portions were huge and we both

Sun's Eye

brought half of our Fry Bread sandwiches home.  You get a trip to the salad bar with most of the dinners and it was adequate, but nothing special.  Most of the meals had spicy peppers and I can’t

Ear of the Wind

have that so went with something a bit milder.  It was a shredded beef but had no pizzazz!  Bill had a ------.  We left full and will lunch for another day!

It was really dark by the time we left and Bill took it slow on the single lane roads that curved and went up and down.  When we got back to the campground, we had

From the hotel as the sun was setting

no neighbors and were by ourselves for the night.  We’re behind the store and there’s an apartment above it and on one side is a park model where we think the owner and her son live, so we’re not really alone!  Plus we can see the 7-11 gas station from the RV!