The centerpiece of the road trip on which Bob and I had embarked was Monument Valley. Although I had been seeing some equally amazing locations that were all new to me, Bob had visited most of them at some point in his life and had been kindly obliging some of my ‘want list’. But for him, Monument Valley was a first time visit and he wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to see it. Not only was the area – which spans te Utah/Arizona border – gorgeous, but it had been used in dozens of Hollywood films over the years, so the locations would seem familiar to even the most casual film buff.
We arrived in Monument Valley at about 2:20pm on the afternoon of Monday, March 28, 2011, after about a 3-hour car trip from Moab. Bob set the mood by putting on some John Wayne soundtrack music as we drove. The place that we were staying was a quaint little motel complex called Goulding’s Lodge, nestled amidst the monoliths of Monument Valley. We checked in and then checked out our room and an amazing view of the most popular and familiar monoliths found in the area.
The view from the balcony of our lodge
Bob and I didn’t stick around admiring the scenery for too long, as we had another nearby site on our agenda. Although when looking on a map, it didn’t seem like it’d be too far away, it took about 90 minutes for us to drive to Four Corners, which is the only place in the United States where four states intersect: New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. Although the location of the monument has often been disputed, the Supreme Court maintains that this site is the legal boundary of the four states.
My first time in New Mexico, even if I did only visit its corner
The entrance to the Four Corners Monument
The monument – which was initially surveyed in 1861 and first marked with the first permanent marker in 1912 – is the third such monument to rest on this location, having just been re-built in 2010. I naturally did the standard tourist poses, gyrating every which way withing the four states. After all, if you’re going to drive out to this remote location and pay a fee to the Navajo nation that owns the land – all in the name of seeing this giant plaque on the ground, you may as well have fun with it. And you also may as well have a frybread taco – which I did. I dined on part of this in Utah and part of it in the car in New Mexico.
Crawling through four states
Four Corner Twister
Overview of the monument, with the clear state markings
Pals in every state
Grabbing a frybread taco in Utah – and making it last through four states. This joke never gets old.
Bob and me and a couple of Indian weenies
After our drive back to our motel, we convened in the lodge Dining Room for dinner at 7:15 . Bob had a friend and former student named Thomas living in the area. He and his wife Lorraine and kids Lelani, Jeron, and Max met up with and joined us. Bob treated everyone and I quite enjoyed my Fiesta Steak and Navajo Frybread. Max in particular was quite a hoot and gave Bob the funniest look I’ve ever seen as he accepted lettuce from him.
Dinner with Jeron, Lelani, Lorraine, Max, Thomas, and Bob
Bob’s new iPhone was a source of constant entertainment for me throughout the week – in this case, showing Jeron photos of Bob sleeping from this here website.
The irrepressible Max
We got to bed at a decent hour that night so that we could get up early and be fresh for the tour of Monument Valley that would be departing on Tuesday morning. It was rather costly, but it was a long tour in an open-air jeep capable of climbing the treacherous sand terrains that would last from 9am – 5pm. We were hardly concerned that the license plate on our vehicle was 666 LED.
The first half of the tour mostly centered around an area known as Mystery Valley – so named because Navajo tribes had vanished from the area without so much as a trace. This area is located in the southeast region of Monument Valley just over the Arizona border. Being part of the Navajo tribal lands, Mystery Valley is only accessible to the public when on a tour with a Navajo guide. There was a man and wife on our tour with us, and I first mistook them for folks running the tour. They made it abundantly clear that they were not.
Setting out on a chilly Utah morning
Even Bob bundles up, no matter how silly it looks
Not long into the trip, I was wishing that Don would lower the plastic windows over the open-air jeep
As we passed into Arizona, we could see the familiar buttes
For the first couple of hours – which by the way, were pretty darn cold – our jeep took us over some very sandy and rough terrain out amidst the tumbleweeds. We would periodically see grazing cows and sheep, rock structures, all of whichour guide Don (or as he explained it, D-O-N) seemed to have names for, Navajo dwellings – which were always a mile or more apart from each other, cave dwellings within the walls of the giant rocks, hieroglyphics that dated back 1300 years, giant arches, and big rocks that we could climb.
Famous buttes as seen from afar: King on His Throne, Stagecoach, Bear and Rabbit, Castle, and Big Indian
This is King Kong: laying down on his back, head on the left, big belly in the middle
Fred and Barney
In fact an hour into the tour, I got to climb my first rock. It’s difficult to see in the picture – or even explain – but the slant on the rock walls was just flat enough that you could walk up it sideways. Before I knew it, I was a the top of a giant mountain-like rock, looking down at Little Bob, and not the paper one on a stick.
Bob, as seen from the top of my rock
D-O-N and me, on top of the rock
“I was up there”
Ancient heiroglyphics that apparently date back to 1300 A.D.
There was another smaller giant rock that I was able to climb as well. This one led to a hallowed out room that I was able to climb into and get a picture from. I’m such a monkey.
Climbing another rock. The next photo would be taken from inside that whole seen to the immediate right of me.
From my hole in the rock, the stunning view – and Bob – below
The first leg of this tour lasted until about 11:30am, at which time D-O-N dropped us off and drove away, advising us to follow a path after we had looked around amply. We located him eventually to find him cooking our lunch on the grill. The hamburgers were so tasty that I volunteered to eat the extra one. In true cowboy spirit, I even drank a cup of the hot, grilled coffee. I saved my oranges for later.
Some local Navajo cows, roaming free through Mystery Valley
If you’re going to make an arch, this is the way to do it
Some Navajo ruins from about 1300 A.D. Apparently everything is from this period. The sign both protects the artifacts and our souls, which will possibly get stolen by local spirits guarding the area.
Making B-U-R-G-E-R-S with D-O-N
Some delightful burgers and coffee with a good friend in a fabulous place
We had nearly an hour trek into the heart of central Monument Valley, where we’d get to explore some of the more familiar monoliths. We’ll take a look at these next time, along with some screen grabs from the movies that made this area famous.
Monument Valley will continue…
I have to do this one day, playing the same John Wayne music that Bob played. I remember Henry talking about filming The Searchers here, he had some good Duke stories.
Rick Greene
June 26th, 2011