22 April – Monument Valley – Durango

Headed out of Monument Valley. Very awesome scenery. 

We stopped at the place on the highway that Forrest Gump was filmed (Run, Forrest, Run!) for some pics and a bit of fooling about running up the road channelling Tom Hanks.

Lots of desert later, we pulled into the Four Corners National Monument. 

It’s the only place where 4 states intersect, so you can stand in 4 states at once. There are flags flying and a bit of a big deal made of the place. The Navajo Nation charged us $5 each to get in, so we made the most of it. We also did a bit of souvenir shopping for the kids.

We had all had rather enough of the desert. It was really blowy and the dust was hanging in the air quite thickly making it hard to see anything in the distance and sand was blowing across the road. Given we had driven 4 states in one day (Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado) we were quite happy to head into the Rockies to Durango. We arrived late afternoon and once we had checked into an RV park, we went to dinner at the Diamond Belle Saloon in town. The waitress was dressed like a saloon girl, the food was great and there was an old guy playing guitar and singing. Good ole Western entertainment.

21 April – Page – Monument Valley

Up again early.  This time for a tour of Antelope Slot Canyon, which is a mere 20 minutes out of Page.  This is a very popular tour, as we found out by seeing about 140 odd people at the site….just at the time slot that we were there for. Boy was it worth it.  Antelope Slot Canyon is a very narrow canyon formed by flood waters rushing through.  

There are many curved and sculptured sections that rise up to the surface allowing light to come in at various places.  The most well-known is where a shaft of light comes through at different times of the day and we were lucky to see it on our tour.  Our tour guide, Rick, showed us some great locations to take photos. 

We were also quite lucky to be the first tour through on our time slot as when we turned to come back there were the 144 or so others coming through.  All in all, this was another very scenic location.

We got back to the RV, packed up and headed on to Monument Valley.  We arrived at Kayenta (a little town about 30 minutes from Monument Valley) to look for an RV park, but none were to be found, so on to Monument Valley and over the border into Utah, where we stopped into Goulding’s village RV park.  Goulding’s was a trading post set up by Harry Goulding that then became well known for being involved in western movies due to the spectacular scenery in the area.  Monument Valley is definitely that… spectacular!  We had a quick drive around, taking photos at every place we could find.  

The sunset brought out some brilliant colours. Monument Valley scenery was used for a lot of the old western movies (with the likes of John Wayne) and some later movies, like Forrest Gump (where Forrest finished his run across America with the words…” I think I have had enough”) and the third Back To The Future (where Marty McFly flashes back in time in front of a tribe of Indians…in the Delorean…)

We finished the day with a quick BBQ, a slice of birthday pie (oh yeah…it was Steve’s birthday today…45 years young…..and feeling every year of it LOL), then a quick walk to catch a short documentary of Monument Valley (and to walk off the B/day pie J).

19 April – Page – Zion Canyon - Page

Up a bit earlier this morning… hey.. 8am in the morning whilst on holidays is early J.   We had decided to head to Zion Canyon National Park tody from Page.  Being a 2.5 hr drive each way we thought we’d need to be up early to enjoy the park.  So, after getting ready, our first stop was…..Starbucks….for a coffee traveller.

The drive to Zion took us over the Glen Cameron dam and then into Utah. We passed through some lovely country side, cows grazing in grassy fields with daisies etc. This did give way to some spectacular red and white canyon outcrops.  

 We noted that there was a long section of the highway that had deer fencing on both sides with underpasses for the deer…we didn’t see any deer thoughL.

We eventually got to Zion and had to go through a mile long tunnel where anything RV sized had to go through the tunnel in the middle due to size restrictions.  Zion is quite simply stunning.  It is a bit like an oasis in a canyon, in the middle of the desert.  The canyon walls are very tall and coloured with many hues of red, white and light green.  The canyon is not large in width, but the sheer height is something else.  The canyon was originally inhabited by the indigenous who used it for farming etc. However later Mormon settlers came along to do the same.  Their success was a lot less and most ended up leaving the land very early due to drought, flood and other severe weather.

After a quick, yet satisfyingJ, lunch we went out to attack the Emerald Pools walk. The walk was only of a moderate difficulty (excellent J) and we reached the Emerald Pools without too much excursion (maybe could have done with a little more given the pancakes we had last night and previous Vegas buffets J). It was a really lovely, secluded section of the canyon that had a very small waterfalls (more like a seepage) into 3 pools at different levels.  

On the walk we also came across a ground squirrel.  Quite a cheeky little chap, for as soon as we stopped to get some photos he came up pretty close standing on his back legs looking expectantly at what we might have to offer. Seeing that we had nothing, he was gone.  We got some photos of him at least.

After finishing the walk, we caught the free park-shuttle back to the van and then headed back to Page.  We noticed that along one street of Page (Lake Powel Blvd) there were 10x churches, all of different denominations.  We figured that there must be only about 3 or 4 patrons to each on a Sunday, seeing as the majority of the town would be out boating or fishing.

We finished the day with a top little meal of salmon, followed by a shared Easter egg… or two….well…. there goes the exercise for the day LOL.

19 April – Tuba City – Page

Up this morning to get on the road again. Nothing to see around Tuba City. After uploading the blogs in the hotel lobby, we were away. The scenery was again pretty spectacular on the road to Page, Arizona. 

 Arriving at Page at around 11 o'clock we think. Its hard to tell, because daylight savings is optional in Arizona. The lady at the check in told us that Page doesn’t observe daylight savings, but the Navajo reservation a few miles away does. That explained why Tuba City was an hour ahead of the other towns we had been through in AZ.

We parked up and had a bit of a chill out for a couple of hours, then headed off to Horseshoe Bend. It is the most photographed place on the Colorado River. After a short drive and a 1.2k hike through the desert – it’s hard walking on sand! – we reached the edge of the canyon and looked 1000ft straight down to the river. The view takes your breath away. The river is green and winds its way around an enormous outcrop of rock, making a 270 degree turn through the red rock canyon. What a sight!

There were lots of people, and some getting right up to the edge and leaning over to take pics (Eddie!). We stayed for ages getting pics and just soaking up the view.

Heading back into town, we went to the Glen Canyon dam and visitor centre for a look around. Back to the RV park for a swim and a hot tub, then dinner.

18 April – Williams –Tuba City

Up early to watch the gunfight at the railway station. It was all a bit of fun, very hammed up and all the cowboys were shot by the sheriff at the end.

 

We walked into town for coffee at the local diner (and a piece of apple, peach and blueberry pie for Steve). After the coffees we did a bit of touristy sightseeing, including stopping at a Western outfitters to check out all the cowboy /cowgirl bling. Everything from saddles to boots has to have lots of diamantes and studs.

We stopped in at Safeway for some groceries, then hit the road for the Grand Canyon South Rim. On the way we passed Bedrock City so we stopped for a photo with the Flintstones.

The Grand Canyon was spectacular. We walked along the rim for a while, looking at the amazing views. Every corner revealed a new and wonderful vista to look at (and photo). We all agreed that the South Rim is the pick of the Grand Canyon. 

Quite a few little squirrels around for Eddie and Fee to see and we saw an Elk on the side of the road.

Leaving the Canyon, we drove out on a road that follows the rim. We stopped regularly at vista points for more photos and to soak up the amazing views. We stopped for a look at a tower called the Watch Tower, built in 1932 to a traditional design. The tower is made of freestone and is 4 stories high. Inside is decorated with Native American paintings and the views from the top were superb.

As we turned away from the Grand Canyon, we followed the Little Colorado River. It also had amazing views and as we descended to the valleys the views were very “Traditional Western Cowboy Movie”, we were expecting John Wayne to come galloping over a rise followed by Indians!

The soils are amazing colours. Rose pink, mauve, pale greens, greys, reds and all contrasted with bright yellow grasses. The hillsides look like Neapolitan ice-cream.

We arrived at a Navajo Nation town called Tuba City for the night. We tried out the local restaurant for some Fajitas. Yummy.