At least this time we made it to Goulding's before the restaurant closed.
We made it in time to eat, but not in time to enjoy the sunset or the warm glow on the rocks provided by the setting sun. We were just happy to be fed.
We also noticed something kinda funny. We were in the middle of pretty much nowhere, yet we had high speed internet access. Hell, we can't even get
high speed internet at home, in alleged civilization, yet here in the middle of a Navajo reservation we were able to connect to high speed wireless system.
We also noticed that we were probably the only Americans staying at Goulding's Lodge. There were at least three large tour buses parked in the lot, and
the restaurant was filled with Japanese tourists. The following morning we got up before dawn and had hoped to beat the tours to the nearby Navajo park,
but alas, the Japanese were up before we were, and we followed the buses into the park. It was made even more weird by the fact that today was Memorial
Day...65 years ago we were bombing the shit out of the Japanese, but today I'm using a Japanese camera to photograph the scenery. Go figger.
Sunrise over The Mittens, the signature rock formations of Monument Valley.
Goulding's Lodge, currently the only place to stay in Monument Valley. We discovered that the Navajo Nation signed a
deal with a hotel developer to build a resort complex near the park visitor center called The View. A percentage of the
hotel's income would be directed back to the Navajo Nation, and all the rooms would have views of The Mittens.
http://www.navajonationparks.org/htm/monumentvalley.htm#view
Happy Japanese tourists waiting for their tour bus.
Note the tour guide and her "authentic" headdress.
The Mittens in the late morning.
There is a 17 mile dirt trail that leads through Monument Valley that takes you near most of the major rock
formations. The road is fairly smooth and can be navigated by most vehicles (although I seem to recall some
idiot trying to drive his 30' Winnebago down into the Valley and getting hung up on the tight turn near the
Visitor Center.) If you're not all that willing to risk your vehicle, you can sign up for a guided tour from
Gouldings, or from one of the many tour operators that work out of the park's visitor center. We were happy
to see that a tour guide that Dad had hired to take us into the back parts of the valley in 1990 was still in
business here, and doing rather well. Virgil Bedoni took us on a tour in his Chevy Suburban back then; now he
operates Totem Pole Tours using a fleet of 16 modified tour trucks. Good for you, Virgil!
Once again, the Jeep was annointed with the natural land, much the same way
the native Navajos marked their Jeeps before raiding the covered wagon trains.
Bucky strikes a pose.
Linda heard about a jewelry supply store in the nearby town of Kayenta, so off we went, passing
this large volcanic plug named Agathla. This is the solidified and eroded core of an ancient volcano.
After our adventure in Kayenta (Linda bought some turquoise stones and I bought more gas), officially started to
head home, as we were now heading east towards Colorado. On the way, we passed the only spot in the US where
four states meet at one place...sort of. There's a reason this area is called the Four Corners, and the photo above of
the BLM benchmark proves it. The monument itself is on Navajo land, so the tribe charges three bucks a head to
climb up onto the concrete slab and put your left hand in Arizona, right hand in Utah, left foot in New Mexico,
right foot in Colorado and your butt facing Mecca.
northwest of the convenient flat spot where its easy to park cars and set up small shacks selling Navajo fry bread,
putting us technically in northwest Arizona. Allegedly it has to do with what USGS map datum you're using and the
fact that surveying methods back in the 1800s weren't all that accurate. It took a Supreme Court
ruling to say that the actual Four Corners was here. Personally, I think its all a scam to sell more fry bread.
From Wikipedia...
"The Four Corners
Monument marks the quadripoint in the Navajo Nation and Ute
Mountain Tribal Lands
in the Southwest United States
where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet.
"It is located on the
Colorado Plateau west of U.S.
Highway 160, 40 miles southwest of Cortez, Colorado. It is
centered
at .
The point was originally declared by Congress to be 37°N, 109°W,
but an
early surveying error misplaced the location. The US Supreme Court
later ruled that the current location
had become so standard that it
should be officially recognized as the actual boundary between the four
states."
Next...On to the Green Table
(Mesa Verde National Park)
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