We left Cortez and headed towards Moab. Along the way Jamie had found a town called Mexican Hat. We weren’t sure why they called it that till we got there. It is this big rock sitting on top of this eroding canyon and the rock just happens to look like a Mexican hat upside-down. So we got out of the car for a closer look, and you guessed it, we danced around the Mexican Hat!
We then headed onto Monument Valley which is where all the red rocky mesas of eroded canyons with desert all around it. It seriously looked like Indians and cowboys were going to ride up and fight each other at any moment.
After driving through the Wild West we then ventured up this range on a dirt road, it was so scary. You have to go snails pace otherwise you loose traction and go for a HUGE fall off the side. No rail bars for people who fall asleep at the wheel, they just never wake up.
As we were driving up the windy road looking over the valley bellow...well Jamie was looking I was driving and trying to concentrate...this huge truck decides this is the quickest way so he heads on up the dirt road a lot faster then we did. Baring in mind that they drive on the right side of the road which was the closest to the side of the cliff, loony! After surviving the treacherous climb we then headed on bitumen flat road to Natural Bridges National Park. This place was pretty cool with deep Canyons and running rivers though the valley. The water continues to erode the rock and then a hole forms and as the water rises due to rain it erodes higher up and forms BIG holes to make a bridge. Pretty spectacular.
We then headed onto Canyonlands National Park (needle district) which was like driving into another world. We felt like it was Mars and we were the first ones to discover it as there weren’t many people. You have to see it to believe how incredible this place is. We stayed until sunset trying to get some great photos of cactus in the desert on sundown. We then headed to Moab.
The next morning we got up early and had our included b´fast where they had to most AMAZING strawberries ever due to growing them in red dirt! We drove back to Canyonlands but went into the park a different way. We went to the Island in the sky area.
The canyons here had HUGE drop offs and you felt like you wanted to jump off them! It was such a huge vast area of nothing for miles and the canyons were so deep. We went for a small trek above one of the canyons and could see so many different coloured rock and dirt, some dirt was even green in colour.
That night we drove to Panguitch which was a very small ghost town where we were unsure if we should stay or move on to the next town. However it was cheap and comfortable. We didn’t go anywhere for dinner as the pub was closed so it was beer and chips for dinner, so healthy!
The next day we drove to Bryce Canyon which have bright orange canyons. This place was by far our favorite and we spent a few hours there looking at the amazing views of all the dirt eroding and what shapes it made.
We then left Bryce Canyon and headed for flagstaff. We tried to get into Grand Canyon Nth Rim but it was closed for the season so we just kept trucking on to Flagstaff.
We got there and noticed all these Route 66 signs at all the hotels we were getting prices from. Turns out we have driven on Route 66 without knowing because it has been renamed Interstate 44. We checked into this cheap typical American hotel and then went to Sizzler for dinner as we had 10% discount for staying at our hotel. We can tell you now it’s much better at home and you don’t have to tip!
