Heading to Monument Valley................

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Lake Powell, with the exquisite "private" campsite overlooking the lake. Many nights Tom got out his telescope...the skies were amazing. I love looking for satellites orbiting overhead, and I do usually spot one:) But our time came to an end, and we moved on to Northern Arizona/Southern Utah.

setting up the telescope

setting up the computer control for the scope

Tom has a lot of really cool toys!!

Heading out to Monument Valley, the landscape was incredible once again. I had to laugh when I saw the sign in the road! It actually means "boring" as in "drilling", but I could just envision our kids (when they were younger) using that as ammo...."even the sign says its boring"....

hahahahahhaha

its pretty remote out here

heading into Monument Valley

lots of cool rock outcroppings

some wildlife too

they drive pretty wild out here in the west!

We stayed at Goulding's Campground, which is part of a complex really. Harry and Mrs. Goulding bought this property and set up a trading post and lodge. The area became really depressed during the great Depression (duh)..no one had anything to trade at the trading post...and with their last $60, they went to Hollywood with photos of the landscape and met with John Ford. He loved the landscape, and filmed several movies (John Wayne-Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon), and Monument Valley became famous. Goulding's is now a lodge, restaurant, museum, and campground right next to the Navajo Nation.

Gouldings Lodge on the left...the campground up and over the hill behind the hotel

The campground was perfect for us. The views were really great, it was clean and the tours ran from the camp store right on the property. Perfect! There was a little hike to an arch at the end of the campground. It was pretty short, maybe a mile...and a great way to stretch our legs after driving a few hours.

check out the view from our front window

side window view....very nice campground

view from my chair

we are going there tomorrow!

home sweet home for 2 nights

going for the short hike to the arch

nice site! (by the way,  the campground was full by the evening!

hike goes along the red rocks bordering the campground

still with me Susie??

heading toward the arch

some parts are a little narrow and steep

other parts of the trail are wide:)

the trail...

heading up now

just a short scramble

coming?

I can see without climbing up...could you take my camera Tom? (ha!)

the total arch 

heading back down

careful now

a view of the arch (the bottom one is the actual arch) as seen from the campground!

another view...who knew you didn't actually have to hike back there to see the arch

dinnertime

looks good!

Monument Valley is on Navajo land, and all of the guides are Navajo. The land is sacred. It really is!
There is a 17 mile dirt road that tourists can drive through the valley (fee paid to the Navajo Nation) or you can take a tour in a jeep. The road is suitable for 2WD cars, but we decided to take the Sunset Tour as a special treat. Wow...we were so happy we did that! It was awesome. And, our little car would not have done too well on that road...just sayin'). In the meantime, we spent the early part of the day exploring the Goulding's area...walked to the lodge, etc. up and over the hills....a pretty good workout!

heading down to the lodge and the museum

pretty!

its a long walk to the lodge on the road...about a mile?

oh hey....look at that

doesn't look too hilly (ha!)

sightseeing planes across the street...very popular it seems!

We went to the museum at Goulding's, which was quite interesting. Hard to believe the grit of some of the early pioneers in the area. The land is not exactly hospitable, being a high desert. These guys were pretty brave! I enjoyed the upstairs section of the museum particularly, because I love to see how other people lived "back in the day". Very interesting to me.

Goulding's Museum (trading post and lodge)

hey...I remember that rock candy from class trips when I was a kid (wow am i old!!!)

love this stuff

hhmmmm

lots of stuff in the trading post

bright kitchen on the top floor

lots of handwork

cozy nook with a great view over Monument Valley

cozy enough

check out the walls

Mrs. Goulding was a knitter! I spy the knitting basket!

love the turquoise jewelry

Another section of the museum was all about the films that were made in the area. I only saw Thelma and Louise, I think, so I really wasn't too interested. BUT....I do want to learn more about the Navajo Code used during WWII. I think there is a movie! Need to check that out!!

Navajo code ....  does everyone but me know about this?

Oh here's John now

lots of movies shot here

John Wayne's cabin (as well as the movie set in Hollywood)

okay

the movie theater...we were here last night to see the Earth Spirit show

cool fun stuff...but the background is amazing, eh? 

only an engineer would spot the solar panel with joy

Howdy pard'ner

this is interesting

Of course, there is also a gift shop located near the museum, and we enjoyed looking at all of the stuff. There was a lot of authentic Navajo-made jewelry that I really liked, but I only purchased a music cd. (Loved the music in the movie we saw...so....I got a cd with similar music. Nice)!  Oh, and we bought scarves for our jeep tour later in the afternoon...to keep the sand and grit out of our face.

 I have so many pictures of our Monument Valley tour, I will do a separate post. I know...I take too many pictures!!

it was highly recommended to wear a scarf on the Monument Valley tour due to wind and dust!