Mancos, CO - Monument Valley, UT

September 20, 2024

On Thursday, September 19 we drove to Gouldings Monument Valley RV Park and Campground for two nights.  It's full hookups, as all of our Adventure Caravan RV parks have been.

On the way from Mancos to Monument Valley we stopped at Four Corners.  It's where the corners of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona come together.  I decided just to stand instead of getting down on all fours.  I'd been there a very long time ago and they've added some vendors since then.  I did buy a couple of things.

Then we drove by Mexican Hat.

We then took the road that was in the Forrest Gump movie where Forrest decides he's ready to go home.  It's become quite a tourist attraction.

Friday morning we got on an covered with open sides truck with seats for our Monument Valley tour.  I forgot to take a picture of the truck.  Our tour guide first took us to a hogan and explained how they were built (out of juniper cedar), as well as daily life for those who lived in a hogan. There was a wood stove in the middle, replacing an open fire of previous generations.  The ceiling was open and never covered, so rain and snow would come in, and the floors were dirt.  To build the hogan they stripped the bark off the juniper cedars and kept it.  They would let the logs dry for about six months and stack the logs into the hogan shape.  Then they would use the bark as chinking.  They would then get some of the dirt from around the valley and mix it with water.  Then they would cover the hogan with the dirt and water.  Some Navajos still live in the hogans with no electricity and running water.  In previous generations the grandmother would stay at the hogan for the day and weave and everyone else would leave to do their jobs, taking care of crops, etc. 

Our tour guide in the red jacket.  He had a lot of good information and was humorous too.

Then we started out into the valley.  God's creation is truly beautiful!

West Mitten (left) , East Mitten (middle), and Merrick Butte (right).

Here's a peak at our transportation.  It was a little dusty but worth it.

John Ford made several movies here with John Wayne and others.  They were selling fry bread there and I've wanted to try it for a long time.  They sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and it was very good.

The Three Sisters.

I caught an airplane flying by.  They call this rock formation John Wayne's boot or the thumb, depending on which direction you look at it.

The tour took about 2-1/2 hours and was really interesting. 

Tomorrow we'll be...

Roving on...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

Genesis 1:1