THE Trip, Monument Valley Utah, The Tour

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

(Note:  this post is heavily graphics loaded.  I hope you can stick around long enough for the photos and slide show to load, and that you will enjoy the post.  If not, hope to see ya here at Reflections some time soon.)

It is not what Man and I usually do, but, the tour of Monument Valley hosted by Gouldings (and others) came highly recommended by our RVing friends, so, that is exactly what Man and I did, signed up, paid up, and off we went.  Worth every penny we paid.  On the tour you get taken into areas of the valley that you would not see if you self drive.  The Navajo guide explains history, geology, names the monuments, sharing their culture with you.

The weather took a turn for the worst overnight, it was chilly, and dank, and rain threatened.  Heavy dark rain clouds hung over us all day, and near the end of our 3 plus hour tour, it did indeed rain.

Before the slide show (ya, got one again here at Reflections) I would show you a few special photos, first these three "holes".  I do not remember what geological name these may have, sorry, but, aren't they special??

Below, the hole is at the very top, this is called the Big Hogan, you can find the Wikipedia definition of Hogan here, and this structure does not fit the description, but, you can see that this HUGE rock with a hole in the "ceiling" could be considered a home.

Below, this hole goes through the entire depth of the stone, front to back.

Below, this photo does NOT begin to portray the size of this structure and of the hole.  The sand dune to reach it was huge as well.

The photo below will give you a bit of an idea of the scope and size of these structures.  Look close, way behind the van, yep, there he is, Man!!  He has on a hat and a dark red jacket.  Holding up the walls of the beautiful red rock of Monument Valley.

Looking close at this photo as well, you might see a pony and a rider:

Now, I'll admit I did some serious cropping on this photo, cause there were some ugly trash cans on the bottom right, but, I did want to share this wonderful view of the Valley, so, I cropped!   LOL

And, now, the slide show:



I leave you with a panoramic of some of the stunning formations at Monument Valley.

* Our visit to Monument Valley was on April 23, 2011.

** Finally remembered, those holes, were called "windows" when we were in Moab area.
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