We explored the
stupendous scenery of Monument Valley guided by a Navajo Indian in the morning and
followed this with a ‘Terry style’ picnic lunch on the balcony of our room
which must have the most amazing view of
any picnic site so far on this trip [see photographs]. Lunch was followed by a drive to Valley of the Gods, an incredible drive which
competes remarkably well with Monument Valley for spectacular butts – you can
get closer to them – and was finished off by a drive to the Goosenecks State
Park to take in the view.
We learned so much about
the Navajo nation historically and currently and were amazed at how they lived
and live and use the resources of ‘Mother Earth’. Did you know that a Yucca has a root which
provides inter alia soap for washing self and clothes ?
The scenery in Monument
Valley appears even more dramatic than when seen in Western films and our Navajo guide told yarns about
John Ford and John Wayne, Charlton Heston and other film stars; they made
scenes from The Greatest Story Ever Told
and Back to the Future here. We both refused to sit on a horse at John
Ford point, Diana because it was too high and Malc because …….. well who knows?
Driving through the
Valley of the Gods was eerie, only because we only saw three cars, all going
the other way as we entered the valley
and from that point we were totally alone for over one hour. The road proved very rough and hilly but Malc
was in his element getting to the top of inclines and finding which way the
road went down. Gigantic stones littered
the land where they had fallen from the huge stone butts and messe’s and there
was more of this than in Monument Valley.
Goosenecks State Park
took us to an overlook point which was staggeringly deep; a series of deep cut bends
in the rocks formed by the river and wind which was a taste of what to expect
in the Grand Canyon which we will visit later in May. We found it difficult to
take in all the wonderful scenery and were exhausted following an amazing day
of discovery.
We went to bed early but
were woken up by the telephone ringing; the reception wanting us to go down and
give them our credit card as they had been unable to take payment for our final
evening meal. What a pain, Malc drew the
short straw had to get dressed and go down to try to sort it out. Why it wouldn’t wait until the morning we do
not know.
We spoke to the Manager
in the morning and she apologised; Randy apparently had not been working there
long and hadn’t dealt with it very well.
Gouldings had [worryingly] lost the details of our card, which we gave
two days previously when we arrived. We
received an apology and were provided with a free breakfast for the
inconvenience. Still worried about our
card details and will now need to contact our Bank to ensure that there will be
no unauthorised spending on it. Diana
was told by the Manager to only dwell on the good memories and to forget this
experience; it was dismissed as a minor incident not worth thinking about [insisting
that a customer get out of bed after 10 pm at night to sort the bill and the
disappearance of our credit card details, really!] These sorts of incidents play havoc with the
memories and are difficult to leave behind.
We did however enjoy our albeit brief stay at
Gouldings Lodge and the meals we had there - although no-one in the USA seems to understand the word ‘small’
re portions. The Stagecoach dining room staff
were lovely, our room was very comfortable and the view amazing. Malc was in John Wayne heaven and insisted we
play cowboy songs on the ipod whilst driving with which he joined in enthusiastically.
He can’t wait to watch again those ‘great’
John Wayne films [boxed set] which Helen
bought him one Christmas – thanks Helen!!
