Day Fifteen- GC Sunrise, a Detour and Monument Valley

[Twentyyears]

Day Fifteen- GC Sunrise, a Detour and Monument Valley

So a beautiful, if basic, cabin, clean beds, lots of fresh air, brilliant nights sleep?... NOT!

DS went off OK and so did I and then about half an hour later, cicadas, well not plural actually but one. And by the noise it made it must have been as big as the ****** Grand Canyon. DS woke me up as he wondered what the noise was. It appeared to have lodged itself outside the back door so I banged the door a couple of times and it stopped, then started again, banged again stopped.

It must have liked to move around, as I settled into bed it appeared to be on our windowledge and woke DH up too! Oh my, banging( the windowsill ) and dozing, noise, banging etc ensued nearly all night. Well unril around four then I got up at 6am for the sunrise- hopped into my clothes with my reading light on (never found it again?) and made way out to one of the chairs on the patio- I wasn't coming all this way not to see the sunrise on this less crowded rim.

It was murky still and then the most spectacular thing happended, there was a thunderstorm on the other rim and it was crazy to watch. I tried to get pics but it was so difficult. All I could think of were the poor people on the other side who had also made the trip of a lifetime and it was raining- same as Wiley Coyote I think?

Here is the sunrise; sorry if it is photo overload but it was stunning!

Another person who appeared to want to be in that book!

DH and DS came out later- a lot later!

We had danish and coffee on the patio for breakfast.Lots of coffee!

We then packed up and headed out of the lovely forest and meadows- stopped at Jacob Lake again for coffee on the way too!

We took the Alt 89, via the Vermillion Cliffs to cross the great Colorado river and canyon at one of it's narrow points-The Marble Canyon-it was hot again now!





It was our plan to drive one route to the Monument Valley and back another - today it was the faster route on the 89 and then on the
160.

As we drove through Bitter Springs there is short cut 89 route of 25 miles through to Page and Lake Powell. It appeared this was closed due to a landslide. I had never thought to check roads here when planning our route and this was so lucky as Page had been one of our possible stops. The alternate route from here, if you were heading to Page, was part of the the route we were taking to MV, another whopping 170 miles! There "but the grace of" and all that. We were so relieved our route was as it was, at least our 130 miles was taking us to MV!

We stopped at the strangest place for lunch, Tuba City. It really is a strip town but we found a Sonic Burger and had fabulous shakes too.

We the drove onto Monument Valley and in and out of Utah agin, just for moment! The route 23 tips into Utah and then you are back in Arizona for the real MV.


We had paid a whopping amount to stay in The View and it was worth it. This was built and is run by the Navajo; the room was fabulous, huge bathroom and you cannot get better than this view;








We relaxed for a while and had a coffee, again, and a biscuit. We then got ourselves down to the lobby for what, for us all, was to become the highlight of our trip- the Navajo Spirit Sunset Tour. They are so trusting and we booked this with an email and paid cash when we arrived. It was recommended by Florida Girl and was it was so fascinating, interesting and, yes, spiritual.

CONT in next Post.

[Twentyyears]

We were met in the lobby by a young man and paid cash. Our guide was Don, a retired teacher and he was great, with our son and smartly dressed compared to the other guides;



We used an old SUV rather than the open truck as it was raining, grrr, again. The clouds here and at the GC somewhat changed the spectacular light of all the canyons and valleys but this tour was still fabulous.




He stopped at usual stops to let us take pictures but also took us off the main track to places only the Navajo are allowed to go. We saw fabulous caves and arches, many things I did not existed here, apart from the Buttes everyone knows from the westerns.





They are big on the Hollywood connection and especially to John Wayne, westerns not being in my DH psyche but he loved this. We saw a native house, they look like mud huts from the outside but they were truly works of art with cedar wood from the inside.






The round ones with walls are female in nature and there are nine main upright posts that represent the nine months of pregnancy and the roof is layered in a circular fashion like weaving a basket and stays upright because of the way they work round the payers. The bark from the cedar is stripped and used in the gaps as lagging and the our side is re rendered annually with the sand and mud. the male is also round but is like a tipee shape with all the logs upright leaching towards the middle. The hole in both allows the light in and also allows the light to cast towards the door, east so they can then the time and also as it links with the sunrise and birth.

We saw these fabulous caves where he took us to spots to take these marvellous pictures,

The eagle is taken by lying back under a cave with a hole in the top and the arches are like eyes.

This panoramic shot is meant to be a dragon lying on its side.






There were caves with these;








At around the end of the two hours, we had two and half , he takes us up on a ridge, unfortunately the cloud was over again but these are the shots from the back of the valley.








These are our final shots at,a some what murky, sunset;





You can drive the unpaved rutted drive yourself. Some were driving this is normal cars but they must have been mad, it was rough even if you had and an SU. DH is a seasoned driver and wouldn't want to drive those roads, especially with the deep ruts and after the rain. You can just go in and there are Navajo guides there at the entrance but you just get taken round the normal route.

For DH and I this was the highlight of the tour. We were only us and a French couple and you might think it was a lot for $80 each but it was worth it. Don took loads of photos for us and was a good mix of talking and quiet to allow you to soak up the valley and the scenery.




So it was around 8.15 back at the hotel so we had a ready made SW from the deli which were really fresh and good, normal size with a bit more filling and $5 each not bad for out there.

I then set my alarm for sunrise, yes again! I had asked Don what time to get up and he said 5 so I did 5.15 and really I could have waited until 6!

More tomorrow...
:zzz

[parisdisneyfan]

Shame about the weather, but I will definately put that tour in my notebook, thank you!

[Twentyyears]

Julia it was wonderful, really recommend it it everyone .

[alanda]

Monument valley is on my list - very jealous - looks fantastic

[Pussycat Doll]

Looks stunning! What a great day and a lovely tour, Pussycat

[JudyC]

Amazing. Monument valley has been on my wish list a while

[florida girl]

Fabulous photos brought back memories of our trip.

[Twentyyears]

Thank you all for reading and we are so glad we did this, all the driving was so worth it; thanks to floridagirl for the recommendation!
Hope you all manage to get there some day.

[florida girl]

Originally Posted by Twentyyears

Thank you all for reading and we are so glad we did this, all the driving was so worth it; thanks to floridagirl for the recommendation!
Hope you all manage to get there some day.

See more...

Thats what the Dibb is for

The drive is definetely worth it.