We woke up this morning to a nice warm tent heated up by the desert sun. That was a welcome change after yet another bitter cold night, also courtesy of the Utah desert! We made the most of that bit of heat and enjoyed a sleep in till 9:30 followed by a nice cooked breakfast then the usual pack up and we hit the road.
Our ‘white mans’ teepee in the Monument Valley Teepee village.
The first section of the road was spectacular. Monument Valley however short it might be is worth the detour. The whole area is on Navajo land and pretty much undeveloped. You can drive hundreds of miles without seeing a shop, restaurant or serious house!
One of many photo stops along the Monument Valley road
Once out of Monument Valley the road turned to a more plain straight and very windy desert road with little features. I guess the rock formations are still pretty nice but after Sedona, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Capitol reef, it takes a little more to impress us! I guess we have been spoiled (in the rock department anyways)
Along the way to our next destination we stopped at 4 corners. This is the only place in the USA where 4 states come together in 1 point. After a Navajo taco we joined the few tourist that were there in the photo shoot standing in 4 states at once. We also checked out the local Navajo art some of which was really quite spectacular. It was great talking to some of the natives explaining how they are still passing on the knowledge and tradition to the younger generation. The monument itself is pretty simple and we didn’t linger too long there.
Zoe ordering our Navajo tacos.
4 corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet
Next stop along the way was the Colorado visitor centre where we picked up the local state map for our future plans. At first glance it looks like there are a lot of fun roads over here!
A bit of road planning over a couple of Irish coffees.
We moved on to find our campsite at the Mesa Verde National Park. No too many people camping here (can’t blame them in this weather!) we pitched our tent and spent a few hours looking at maps, warming up with a cup of hot chocolate, write the blog and doing some chores. The sun was getting low and with that the temperatures started to drop… time to seek refuge in warmer places for the coming hours. We are now in town where we had a long meal (again over maps and guides) stretching our welcome out as long as we can before braving the cold night of south Colorado.
-TA
Indeed, but only from the photographs, you’ve seen much more impressive rocks and canyons!
So even today nobody is really interested in Navajo country economy?
Sure the windwall was worth the extra $$.
See you tomorrow, baci for now!
This means a new section of your route ?
I’m sure you have many surprises for us in stow :-)… can’t wait !
Rest, eat, drink and sleep well, you’ll gone need it.
xxx Mum