Posts Tagged ‘Utah’

Bluff, UT to Page, AR via Monument Valley

04:30 is early. The only mitigating factors to waking up at 04:30 is that Monument Valley was waiting for us and that as we’d traveled west our body clocks were really telling us it was 05:30.

Why 04:30? Well dawn was set for just over 6 am and we had a 1/2 hour drive to get to the Valley. The funny thing about this morning was seeing Stacey in action. She isn’t a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. I sometimes refer to her as an early afternoon person, but not this morning. She was a dervish of activity. First out the door and shoving bags into the Jeep like a woman possessed. Today was HER day.

Why monument valley? Well my lovely wife Stacey is a photographyer. The main purpose of this whole trip was to  get Stacey to Monument Valley at dawn so we could get some great shots for our art website www.artoftheozarks.com.

Of course we’re hoping for some great shots from multiple locations but the main thrust is those couple of hours we spent running around the 17 mile loop that meanders around this most spectacular of south west sceneries.

From Monument Valley we headed towards ShipRock and while we managed to get some shots of it. We never could find the road in to get close to it. The disturbing thing about the area was that there was so much poverty there. I haven’t seen such shanty towns since my Navy days travelling South East Asia.

One side of the road had hundreds of cookie cutter prefabbed houses, while just around the corner ther were modern looking stores, shops and gas stations. Adding to the look of desolation is that we were in the desert and there was no grass to be seen. The kids were playing baseball on a sand lot, and still having a ball doing it.

We skipped off in search of Las Vegas and happened to notice a sign for the Navajo National Monument. We had time up our sleeves and it wasn’t far so we decided to check it out. It turns out that the Navajo National Monument has a couple of intact Puebloan  cliff dwellings. They were constructed 800 – 900 years ago in some alcoves deep in a canyon. You can hike down to a viewing platform that gives a great view of the alcoves. We didn’t have a great lens there to get some closeup shots but the ones that we did get show the buildings that were built so long ago. A “big eyes” mounted binoculars there shows the cliff dwellings in excellent detail. It is still amazing that the alcoves protected these building so well for so long.

After the well worth it diversion we headed into Page, Arizona. The rest of the trip in was also spectacular as the road carved it’s way though the mountains and gorgeous sandstone cliffs surrounded us on all sides. Just as the camera was put away, we’d round a curve and a new fantastic vista would have us scrambling to get the camera ready. Hopefully some of these action shots are not too bad and we can get them up for folks to see.

We had every intention in the world of going out ATV’ing, taking photos, or anything to make the most of the day but I ended up taking a “nap” and not really recovering. I needed the sleep. I will say that the Marriot in Page is the best one I’ve stayed at, it was rendered and gorgeous. I think Stacey has a photo of it up at the jeep blog.

Cheers,

Shane

As always photos can be seen at Stacey’s blog www.myfamilyjeep.com or purchased soon at www.artoftheozarks.com

Farmington NM – Bluff UT

Day 3 was on the plan as a “free” day. It was only about 4 hours from Farmington, NM to Bluff, UT. We had an idea of a couple of things to go see while in the area but thought we’d play it a little by ear and see if there is some other cool stuff to tack on.

We’d noticed on our last gas stop the day before in Aztec NM a few signs to some ruins and as that wasn’t all that far away and the home of a Starbucks, decided to give it a look.  Turns our the ruins were amazing, a Pueblo settlement some 900 years old.  The amount of ruins still standing is testament to both how well they were constructed and the care that has been taken to preserve them. It’s a shame that there isn’t more funding for the preservation of these time capsules and that more can’t be done to keep them. There are some sections that they’ve buried to help preserve them as there aren’t enough staff or the money to keep and preserve them.

From Aztec we headed to Hovenweep National Monument via Four corners. What is Four Corners I hear you ask? Well, it’s a funky little place where you can stand in four states at the same time. Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.  We were expecting a sign on the road and a short road to a dusty monument pointing to the spot. What we found was quite different. There were 10’s of people there and a little compound.

We had to pay to get in but in general we don’t mind paying at all. The majority of the fee’s are quite low and the money goes to keeping the monuments in good nick.

Around the edges of the compound were Indian stalls selling all sorts trinkets and jewelry. I ended up getting a couple of arrow head necklaces, one a hand chipped flint and another tiger eye. We also managed to pick up some trinkets for the kids and a bump on my head. Turns out two things were true at this particular stall, the first is that the stones look much more attractive in the sun light and the second one is that the overhang of the roof is 5 ‘ 11″ (I’m 6′ 1″). Not only did I get to see the sparkles of the gold stone in the sun light, I also got to see some stars.

As there was no blood, there was no foul and we carried on.

The trip to four corners was actually a side trip a little out of the way but it was worth it. We ended up having several of those during the trip and each time we found something amazing and spectacular.

Next stop was Hovenweep National Monument. It’s more pueblan ruins, the main differnece being that they are on the edge of a canyon. It’s a self guided exploration trail that’s about 2 miles. It was pushing 100 degrees fahrenheit, but we grabbed some water and headed off. Part of the trek involves going down to the bottom of the canyon and back up the other side. Luckily for us the Ranger let us know that if we were to do the whole thing we should do that side first. Made the rest of the trip much easier.

The ruins were spectacular and in the middle of no where. It’s interesting to see how the buildings were constructed and how they both differed and were similar to the ruins in Aztec.

We enjoyed the air conditioning as we drove to Bluff, Utah,  our jump point for Monument Valley.

Stacey has some photos up at www.myfamilyjeep.com