Monument Valley

I was awake early thinking about all I needed to do before we met our tour bus pick up at 7:45 a.m.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of light.  At first I thought it was someone turning their light on.  I saw it again and it was followed by thunder.  I knew I needed to get up and get Sandy walked before the rains hit.  At 6:15 the rains came and it came hard. At 7:15 I walked to the office to see if the tour would be canceled and was told it was on.  As I was walking back to the motorhome a beautiful, perfect double rainbow appeared in the sky.  So thankful I was out to see it.  I wanted to get a picture but it was gone by the time I got to my camera. 

Rain was pouring down from the canyon walls.

The Monument looked hazy from the rain.

A bit of blue sky began to appear.

The tour bus.

Four flags fly over the Monument....Arizona, Navajo, USA, and Utah.

Right and left mittens.  These are probably the most photograph of all formations.

A lot of the formations have names.  This is the face of an Indian.  Can you see it?

This is Snoopy.  He is laying on his back.  His head is on the right.

Three Sisters.

This is called "The Hub" like the center of a wagon wheel.

A Navajo family lives in the shadow of The Hub.  There are 300  Navajo people who live in Monument Valley.

The sun reflecting on the wall through the arch.

Carol talking to our tour guide.  His English name was Dan.  He was very good and told us a lot about the traditions of the Navajo people.

Petroglyphs

This is known as "The Eye."

Sometimes the road was only sand.

This is called John Ford Point.  John Ford made several movies with Monument Valley as the location.

After Monument Valley we went to Navajo National Monument.  It has been a monument since 1909.  It contains three Indian dwelling dating back to the 1200's.  Only one is visible easily.  Carol and I took a 1.3 miles trail to overlook that dwelling.

View from the trail.

The dwellings.  This contained approximately 25 families during the time it was occupied.

The rains we had this morning left puddles in the rocks.

John Wayne made some movies in the Monument Valley area.  One of them was "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.  The Goulding complex has the building that was used in the movie.  The picture is below.

Below is the trading post the Goulding's built and operated since 1924.  Now the complex contains, this original trading post building/museum, motel, restaurant, gift shops, gas station, grocery store, campground, and tours into Monument Valley.  It is quite an operation which began so simply

We ate supper at the restaurant there.  The servings were so large that both Carol and I needed a take-home box.  We have enjoyed staying in the campground here and exploring the area.  Tomorrow we head for Mesa Verde.  It is cool so it will be good sleeping.  We found out that the rains caused the ground to become unstable and a sink-hole opened up on Highway 89 just north of Cameron.  We had come through there yesterday.  That highway is closed for now.  Glad we made it here before the sink-hole closed the highway.