Monument Valley

Two years ago while travelling across the states one of my friends, challenged me to use song titles for the blog posts, so I have tried to do that again this time as it always provides a context to review the days. Sometimes the song is one of my favourites, or a famous one I know. At other times the title prompts itself based on what we have done. This is the case today where having had a brilliant visit to Monument Valley I then looked for a song about the valley and found this by the Drive-by Truckers - more about the song, and its appropriateness for today, later in the blog.

In addition to Monument Valley we also wanted to visit the Four Corners Monument, so our route was not the most direct, but the trip only took us a little out of the way. We travelled down the US160 to Four Corners, then up the US163 and down the US162 to get to Monument Valley, rejoining the US160 at Kayenta until its end when we join the US89 until turning right for the Grand Canyon on US64. Our Route is shown below:






NB: There are no photos in this blog or on Flickr due to an inability to upload photos because of bandwidth restrictions on wi-fi at the Grand Canyon. Normal service will be resumed once we reach Las Vegas.

Breakfast

I was up at 4 am and drafted yesterday's blog. At 6.30 am Drew woke up, so I made a pot of coffee for us both. 

Having showered/bathed and shaved we went down to breakfast at 7.45 am. 

This is our second stay in a Holiday Inn Express, and like the last HIE in St Louis, the breakfast here was excellent. Both of us had turkey sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and biscuit. After this I decided to try the pancake machine, this is a one button affair which in 60 seconds produces a pleasant pancake (an American pancake not a UK one - of course), which I then had. There was sugar-free syrup for the pancakes, but I decided I was happy just with the thing itself. Drew meanwhile had two cinnamon Danish pastries. 

Four Corners Monument

We left the hotel at 8.30 and after filling up with petrol (a bit more expensive here, the equivalent to 49p a litre) we headed along the US160 with beautiful views of the Mesa Verde mountains to our left.

Once we left the main range of the mountains we came across massifs standing alone above the otherwise flat landscape. So when the photos go up on Flickr you will be able to see that whereas yesterday was a day of mountains and trees, today is a day for rocks.

At 9.30 we came to the Four Corners Monument, this is noticeable as the only place where four US states meet together. These four states, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah were all created at various times by acts of Congress with their borders based on lines of latitude and longitude, not on naturally occurring features of the land, hence the four come together here.

Drew got photographed at the point where the four meet, and in typical style noted that: "We could have got to 48 easier if there were more places like this".

From here there are fabulous views of the hills in Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, and Drew took photos from all vantage points. The Colorado side is less picturesque and the 'hole in the ground' style toilets are in that state! 

From Four Corners to Monument Valley

As you will know this year's holiday has been an opportunity for me to reminisce about previous trips I've made while Drew discovers new places. The route from Cortez to Monument Valley, apart from our brief detour to Four Corners is exactly the same one we did in reverse (Monument Valley to Cortez) on our first trip to the States in 1994. 

On that occasion we had left the Williams, AZ in the morning, travelled up to the Grand Canyon and stopped at all the photo stops along the route, then we had been amazed to find Monument Valley so near and been so caught up in the views here that we left the last leg of the journey until late. Not only did it start to get dark, but it also came to rain, and the roads were twisty and, being used to UK road signs, not as well signposted as we, on only our fourth day in the country, had expected. I remember now how grateful we were for my brother-in-law who drove that last part of the journey with eyes straining to see the road ahead. Thankfully we got there safely, so Martin, if I didn't thank you enough then I do now that I see the road again and remember how really treacherous it was that night.

In the daylight the road was just as twisty, when a rock gets in the way, the road goes around it. But in the daylight this is pretty rather than scary, but even so a piece of road that had corroded gave us enough of a bounce for Drew to pull a muscle in his neck. 

We crossed into Utah (though technically we had been there already at Four Corners). We travelled through Aneth, Montezuma Creek, with its bridge over a deep gorge, and Bluff, where the Fort was one of the first in this part of the states, down through the amusingly named Mexican Hat for a sombrero looking set of rocks, and on to the entrance to the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park at the border between Utah and Arizona.

Monument Valley

We first saw the iconic 'Mittens' of Monument Valley while still 30 miles away, the excitement built as we got closer and closer to the Valley, and finally turned off the main road onto the entrance road to the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. For a fee of only $20 we entered the park at Midday.

The first place you come to is the Visitors' Centre, there are lots of wonderful shots of this so evocative place than can be taken from here. After 20 minutes of photos we decided we would have lunch before undertaking the scenic drive.

We eat at The View Restaurant at the visitors' centre and what a view it was. The food was also very good, for the price of a main meal you also get an appetiser.  Drew opted for a salad plate which included the normal salad items with the addition of some very spicy peanuts, In my case I opted for the South West Green Chilli and Corn soup, this was rich and full of a light chilli flavour and included plenty of corn and beans. 

For mains Drew went for the Sheep Camp Mutton Stew which was a stew full of chunks of potato, carrot and celery with the mutton, a bit tough for Drew, but rich like only a Stew can be. I opted for the World Famous Green Chilli Stew which was similar to Drew's other than it was a chicken dish and had green chilli through it. The carrots and potatoes were the same, but my dish had no celery. It was warming and reminded me of stews of my childhood, though we didn't use chilli in them in those days. Very tasty.

Both dishes came with the option of a flour tortilla or Navajo Fry Bread, having come all this way to Navajo country we both choose the Fry Bread. It is clear that Native American Indian culture and Asian Indian cultures, while not directly connected, had come to the same idea about cooking bread, as the exotic sounding fry bread tasted exactly like a puffy Nan bread from any good Indian restaurant! It was very nice, but I had expected something more unusual.

After lunch we headed out on to the Monument Valley Scenic Drive, this takes you into the heart of the valley via rough roads which at time don't have enough space for two cars to pass. There are regular turnout points to take photos, including a large area named for John Ford. Which takes us back to the song for today's post. 

In many way Ford made Monument Valley famous, his use of it in The Searchers made it an iconic image for Americans, and indeed anyone who was influenced by American culture. It is its use in this film and many others (e.g. for my generation: Back to the Future 3) that means that this alien looking landscape is familiar to people the world over even if they have never been here. That sense of the very familiar being very strange in geological terms is the biggest impact for me of the Valley.

As the Drive-by Truckers put it:

It's all about where you put the horizon said the great John Ford to the young man rising. You got to frame it just right and have some luck of course. And it helps to have a tall man sitting on the horse...

In the end it's a silhouette framed by the sun and just the Monument Valley when the evening comes. - Source: Cowboy Lyrics 

This sense of Monument Valley being a real place which is fictionalised, a place where all these people, including us, come not because of the immense geological impact, but because we know its story before we even arrived. It is an extreme example of the concept of hyper-reality which I used to teach to my Marketing students. A real place but whose story is captured more in myth than in reality.

Even the story of the Navajo natives here has this sense of hyper-reality, they are here protecting a heritage which began when the white man drove them from their plains into this Valley as a place of safety, a reality underpinning the story, but in fact a hyper-reality now based on connection with the land and the values of balance, between what another culture calls yin and yang, which is at the heart of the Navajo faith tradition. Again as the Drive-by Truckers say:

It's where to plant the camera and when to say action. 

When to print the legend and when to leave the facts in.
- Source: Cowboy Lyrics 

So whether we were just photographing rocks, as the co-pilot would insist <<Co-pilot's note: I did not say they were not pretty rocks>>, or were caught up in the American and Native American myth, we were enjoying the ride.

On to the Grand Canyon

An hour after entering the scenic drive we were leaving Monument Valley and heading into Arizona. We were still passing amazing views of rock outcrops, but having been to the Valley they did not seem as amazing as they would have if we had seen them in advance.

We travelled through Tuba City and Cameron and at 2.15 I noticed that our odometer on the car showed that we had travelled 3,000 miles on the holiday so far. We then turned on to the US64 and drove along to the Grand Canyon National Park entrance where we paid the $30 fee and entered the National Park.

With a whole day in the Park tomorrow and time moving on we carried on to our destination, Bright Angel Lodge, where we checked in at what we thought was 5.25 pm but turned out not to be.

Having checked in we parked the car and walked up to Thunderbird Lodge where we are staying. This 1960s building is a few feet away from the Canyon Rim, yet has hotel style rooms of high quality. When I was last at the Canyon we stayed in a cabin, it felt a lot more authentic, though was no older than this building, but at my age I think comfort over authenticity is the rule!!

For the sake of clarity the lodge is called Thunderbird for the legendary creature of the Native Americans, not for the Tracey brothers' vehicles, though the lodge could easily have been of a Tracey Island design!

Arizona Time

I mentioned above that we arrived at 5.25 pm, as we thought, well like hyper-reality, time is a human construct not a scientific calculation and in Arizona the construct is not to move the clock on in summer time (except in the Navajo nation parts of the state which do, hence we had not noticed it in Monument Valley). So in Arizona in the summer the clocks are on the same time as Nevada and California (PST+1) rather than the same as Colorado and New Mexico (MST+1). So our 5.25 was in fact 4.25, giving us more time to settle into the room and look at the Canyon before Dinner.

Dinner at Bright Angel Lodge  

There are two restaurants in the building next to our lodge, the second of which is called The Arizona Room and specialises in local food rather than the more generic main dining room.

We opted to eat there and were seated within 15 minutes of arriving, you can't book in advance.

We were served by an engaging fellow called David <<Co-pilot's note: He was from Oregon!>>, who advised us on the specials for the evening.

For appetisers Drew had 1/2 Market Salad Organic Greens, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes Cucumbers, Aged Cheese, Spiced Pecans & Lime Vinaigrette, Drew liked the flavours especially the sweetness that the pecans brought to the salad. I had Heritage Tacos with White Corn Green Chile Tortillas with Pork Carnitas & Agave Citrus Chicken, Jalapeno Lime Slaw, Avocado Crema and Roasted Tomato Salsa - the salsa was excellent, but the jalapeno slaw was just out of this world, brilliant idea to complement the pork.

For mains Drew opted for the special - 7oz Kobe sirloin with roast potatoes and steamed broccoli and it was very special, the rich veining on the sirloin providing rich flavours.

I decide on the "Arizona Grown Ribeye Steak with Kettle Beans, Oven Roasted Navajo Pride Potatoes, they were able to cook it bleu, something US restaurants are sometimes not inclined to do, and it was excellent, the beans and potatoes nicely complementing the rest of the meal. 

After that it was 9.30 and time for a last look over the darkness of the Canyon before heading to bed.