Monument Valley

The next stop on our Southwest road trip was Monument Valley. This area near the four corners includes a Navajo national park, beautiful sweeping vistas... and not much else. We arrived in early evening and made a quick dinner with supplies from Gouldings grocery before settling in to our lodging. We got a cabin at The View, inside the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. The cabin was small, but the selling point was the phenomenal view. We had an unobstructed view over the valley, perfect for both sunrise and sunset. Highly recommended and worth the cost! We did a little bit of stargazing before going to bed, and woke up early to watch the sunrise.

Classic view of monument valley, including "the mittens."

Cabins perched above the valley.

Here comes sunset.

Brilliant colors across the mittens as the sun set behind us.

And a brilliant sunrise.

The view from our cabin was unmatched.

Classic desert southwest vistas.

In the morning we entered the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park loop drive, which started just a few hundred feet from our cabin. It's a dirt road that takes about an hour or two and has several great viewpoints. They were limiting the number of cars due to COVID, but since we started right when it open we got in with no wait. The scenic road has amazing views and lets you get closer to some of the rock formations.

Sunrise from the loop trail.

Great views all around.

Our trusty rental car.

We left Thomas here holding up a boulder.

Classic Southwest scenery.

Tiny Paul on a ledge.

The rest of the day was a meandering road trip all the way to Moab, Utah, passing through a variety of desert landscapes. Just a short distance to the north we passed through "Forrest Gump point," a part of Highway 163 where the famous running scene was filmed. It's known for views of the long straight highway dipping across the desert toward the monuments. Further down the road was Mexican Hat, a tiny town (population: 31) perched alongside the San Juan River.

You'll tell us if a car is coming, right?

Hasta luego, Monument Valley!

Mexican Hat has seen better days, but the buildings look cool perched above the river.

We continued north to Goosenecks state park, a small park with several overlooks of giant bends in the San Juan River set deep in a winding river gorge. There's not much else to do here, but it's worth the stop for the views alone. A bit further down the road we made a quick stop at the Sand Island petroglyphs, then had a late lunch at Patio Diner in Blanding.

The Goosenecks viewpoint overlooks a couple of huge "entrenched meanders"

Double goosenecks!

Some of the petroglyphs at Sand Island

Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!

Monument Valley was just a stop on the way to Moab and the National Parks there, but we're really glad we spent a bit of extra time here. The pandemic has really impacted operations at restaurants and hotels in the Navajo nation, so make sure you plan ahead (especially for food) if you're thinking of staying here a bit. Next stop... Arches and Canyonlands!