Day 5 – Long Road Home – Page AZ to Green River UT – Monument Valley

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Written late afternoon. Had a GREAT visit to Monument Valley. It’s in the Navajo Nation and is a Tribal Park. The reviews say the dirt road is rough. It’s beyond rough! As usual, pictures don’t do Monument Valley justice. Here are the ones that have uploaded so far. And the Forest Gump movie features a shot of Monument valley in the background. The spot where he suddenly stops running?

Monument Valley. Many formations and spires like these. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

This one is the West Mitten and the next is called the East Mitten

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Just more pictures

And more spires. This one is called “The Three Sisters”.

In for the night. Made a reservation last night for Moab UT. I’m used to making them same day so forgot to check the date. Made it for last night so forfeited a night. Bummer. She said Motel 6 had rooms for $90. Should have told her I’d sleep in my car before a Motel 6! Nothing else to find in Moab so moved on to Green River UT. It’s a Super 8, but I’ve had decent experiences with Super 8, especially when traveling alone and have it just to sleep. Anyway, I’m upset with myself and forgot to put in gas. Got to I-70 and wasn’t sure if I’d make it 18 more miles. So that made it the most expensive gas on the trip. $4.79! Only put in 1.8 gallons and filled up here for $3.11 per gallon.

Here are additional pictures from the day.

Wish I could have been here at a different time of day. Too many shadows. Or maybe I could spin the world around the other way!

  Want to see a shop for my road trip photos? You can have them printed as wall art or puzzles. They also work on coffee mugs, t-shirts and more! So, take a look. Maybe you'll see something you will like!

Speaking of spinning, this looks like a top that could spin. Anyone want to try?

The wide angle view shows more of how it looks when viewing it in person from a distance.

…and another shape

After leaving Monument Valley, seeing more trees. Also some farming around here. Until now, it was ranching or public land.

Into Moab UT, approaching Arches National Park, seeing cliffs and rock formations again.

Would like to see Monument Valley again. Was better than I expected. If you think some of the scenes are familiar, it’s because a lot of Hollywood Westerns were filmed here. John Ford did a number of his pictures here. John Wayne was also in several, such as Stagecoach and The Searchers. The scene in Forrest Gump where Forrest stops running is also filmed here.

As I reach this point, I realize my trip is winding down. That was my last sight seeing destination. Visit some family on my way home. Extremely hard to believe I will have been gone a month, but in other ways, it seems longer yet because I’ve seen so much. Editing the pictures and creating a coffee table book will be another adventure. The thing about coffee table books, is that the next generations doesn’t want any books, want everything to be digital. I’ll tell my daughters that one of them will have to keep it or I’ll come back and haunt them! You who have read this blog have been a part of it. I’ve tried to write it as if I’m speaking directly to you, in a very informal conversational style. Hope you’ve enjoyed it. But, I’m definitely not done posting. More to finish the trip and more about road trips and travel after that.

If you have travel topics you’d like to hear about, let me know. I’ll see what I can find and write a post when I’m between travels and between planning for travels and between “recovering” from travels and.. you get the picture!

According to the song by America, “the ocean is a desert with it’s life underground and a  perfect disguise above”, does that mean a desert is the opposite? 

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Beverly Blinde

    What an awesome place! Dave and I will have to put it on our bucket list. We camped in Moab – one of the most memorable things about it was the terrible tasting water! Interesting town though.

  2. Gerry Mortenson

    Thank you for your memories, an adventure of a lifetime

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