Monument Valley

After a late start (we didn’t get out of bed until 9 am) we had a nice breakfast in the motel café. We got back on the road towards Kayenta, stopping many times along the way to take photographs of the Monument Valley mesas off in the distance.

We got to Kayenta around lunchtime. Kayenta is a strange town. It only has 3 or 4 major hotels (read “expensive”) and no bed and breakfasts or motels at all. Service at the hotel (Hampton Inn) was poor – they wouldn’t let us check in until after 4 pm and wouldn’t let us leave our bags there either. Being a Hilton Elite member didn’t matter, they just refused to take our bags and told us to come back later. If we do this again, I’d stay in Mexican Hat as it has much more charm and better choices for the budget tourist than Kayenta. Kayenta has the feel of an artificial industrial city built where it is for some unknown purpose. Dull, featureless and devoid of any reason to stop other than being close to Monument Valley. I should also add that there are very few places to eat except the hotel restaurants or a local pizza joint.

We drove back to Monument Valley Park to see the sunset and look at the mesas. Monument Valley is part of the Navajo Nation Parks. A huge hotel complex is under construction there at the moment which meant that the visitors center was mostly closed. However the gift shop was impressive. Lots of high-quality hand-crafted Native jewellery, pottery, carpets and other crafts.

We drove around the rough dirt roads and where overwhelmed by the grandeur of the place. We followed the dusty roads around to each of the different viewpoints and took lots of photos. The crimson rock towers are most famous for appearing in old American Westerns – and as we went around Monument Valley we could envision caravans of chuckwagons and men on horseback making their way through the landscape. The omnipresent red dust just added to the mystique (and has stained my new running shoes!).

We waited until sunset, when we got some fantastic photos of the Mittens as they turned darker and darker in the fading light. It really was a magical end to the day.

So far proto-baby has been doing well. Becoming-a-Mom has nothing unusual to report, just the usual hunger and lower energy. The nausea is decreasing but her sensitivity to odours remains.