2008 West Vacation -- Southern Utah and Colorado. Day 11

Day 11, Grand Canyon National Park to Monument Valley, UT

Hurry and leave the Maswik Lodge, we want to be in Monument Valley for the 1pm 1/2-day Monument Valley tour at Gouldings Lodge. (The tour actually didn't start until 4pm, but we didn't know that. :-))

We stopped at a couple of viewpoints on the way out, and they were all pretty much empty. Found a place we had taken pictures in 1997, and took one to see if it looks similar. We then boogied out of the park.

First stop, Cameron, AZ, to get gas at the Shell station. I have enough gas to get to Gouldings Lodge, but gasoline isn't something you take for granted out here. So I fill the tank. Take a walk over to the gift shop, mainly to use the bathroom. They have a HUGE gift shop, we cover maybe 1/3 to 1/2 before we leave. We're in a hurry. And we didn't have to be, but we didn't know that. :-)

Grand Canyon National Park, Day 2

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Stop in the Tuba City McDonalds for a bite to eat. We assume they're making breakfast, it's 9:30 am. So I get a #1, a Egg McMuffin, but much to my surprise, they were actually serving lunch, and got a Big Mac.

The Painted Desert moves by quickly, and we're soon at Kayenta. Turn left on US-163 and about a half-hour later, we're at the Utah border.

US-160 & US-163

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Get to Gouldings, check in, make reservations for the 4pm Monument Valley tour, which leaves us plenty of time to explore the Resort. The room is nice, on the 1st floor, where your car trunk is 6 feet from your door.

The views from the front door as you unload the car are cool, but the views from your balcony are amazing. John Fordian views. They stagger the heights of the hotel rooms so each has an unobstructed view of the Valley.

First things first. Check e-mail. Goulding's wireless is very good, at least where I was. (And I was in the middle of no where.) We are finally out of the water we brought from home, and they have a grocery store here...

Alton Brown Fans: If you've seen the Bonus disc from Feasting on Asphalt (the original), the place where he's at a grocery store, where he bought the mutton, etc. for the Navajo dinner, that's Gouldings Grocery Store. But I didn't know it at the time. Oh bother.

So we drive down to the store, and are amazed at how well stocked it is. I buy a piece of strawberry whipped cream cake that flies out of the refrigerator case into my arms and tells me that I have to buy it or hundreds will die tonight. Okay, maybe that didn't happen, but I still buy it.

Take a tour of the museum, buy some stuff at the Trading Post, and have some lunch at the restaurant. More Navajo Tacos. Chili instead of beans. Still very good, and the tour trucks are open to the air...

Gouldings Lodge, Monument Valley, Utah

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The tour turns out to be about 4 1/2 hours. It's a very good tour, but the dust is terrible. It's not really dust, but very fine sand. The auto lens cover on my G9 started sticking, maybe it'll fix itself. I'm worried for my equipment.

If you ever take this tour, bring along a paper bag to protect your equipment. I figure too much static electricity with a plastic bag. If you think you're going to take video or pictures from the truck while it's moving, think again.

If you've got a 4x4, you might be able to do the 14-mile tour, but I wouldn't try it in a car. Not only is the road not really a road, but there are places that would have bottomed out my car. I suspect it's kept that way on purpose, so you'll be inclined to take one of the Navajo tours. Many extra-charge tours takes you off the 14-mile main loop, to areas still private on the reservation.

Our tour vehicle gets a flat 3/4 of the way through the tour, and if anything the replacement vehicle has a crappier suspension. If possible.

The tour guide was okay, but talked in this monotone, droning voice, which got more irritating the more PC he got. We couldn't hear him in the second vehicle, and I'm not sure anyone was upset.

We get back to the lodge after dark. I wipe my face, and the washcloth turns orange. Jo asks why my face is so dirty, I tell her to do the same, and her washcloth turns orange. She decides she has to wash her hair that night. Socks (where exposed) are orange, shoe laces orange, even Jo's q-tips after she cleans her ears are orange.

Jo checks her e-mail and I lie down for a couple of minutes. Jo later tells me I zonked out for 20 minutes, but I think she's lying. We split that strawberry whipped cream cake we bought at the grocery store, and call it a night.

Yes, the Monument Valley dust sucks. But I wouldn't let it stop me from taking the tour...

Monument Valley, Utah

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End Part 7, Day 11.
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