Last glimpse of Monument Valley

I must really be impressed with this place to devote 3 blogs to it!!

This photo is from the front porch area of the Goulding's original yard.  Could you imagine waking up every day and looking at this out your front yard??  I guess that is why they stayed in the desert, with very little resources, sometimes hostile neighbours, and tried to run a trading post.  When the depression started and things got really tough, they went to Hollywood and convinced the director, John Ford, that this would be a good place to make movies, and that brought new life into this area.

There were too many clouds in the morning to get a good sunrise picture, but the monuments are still impressive from the campground!

Monument Valley

After a very short rain storm, the campground was totally flooded with red water and mud.  It was streaming down the road, flowerbeds and through the campsite!  We decided to wait to set up the trailer and went to the Monument Valley visitor centre, which was about 10 minutes away.  This is a brand new centre, with some good information, a gift shop, and a restaurant with an absolutely amazing view of the valley.  It was a little freaky as there was a lightning storm going on all around us.  The viewing area was outside, but sometimes we could feel the hair on the back of our neck stand up when the lightning cracked - it was that close!!  So we decided to go in and look at the exhibits.  The rock formations on the left and center in the picture with David and the kids are called the Mittens (if you double click on the photo it should enlarge it).  

We had a snack on the patio of the restaurant - this had to be the best view we have EVER had while eating an order of nachos!!!  We could see most of the valley out in front of us, and watch the tiny little cars drive through the dirt road of the valley trail (which we were not able to do of course because of the darn trailer!!)

This area is very sacred to the Navajo Indians, and the calm, quiet beauty of the land is very spiritual in it's own way.  Again, I think we were very lucky to visit there during a rain storm as that added a whole other dimension to the 

landscape.

Anybody seen Forest Gump??

This is the spot from the movie Forest Gump, when Forest decides he is finished running.  It was a little cloudy, so the picture does not do justice to the colours in the rock.  The immensity of the rock formations in Monument Valley are overwhelming!!  We also had the added bonus of coming into the valley and seeing lightning all around the moneuments - of course, try as I might, I did not get any on film, but we were all suitably impressed!!  We were staying at a campsite called Gouldings, which was established in the 1920's as a trading post with the Navaho Indians.  There is a long history of film making in this valley as well.  John Wayne stayed at Gouldings, and there is a whole museum with memorabilia from this era of early western movies. Very cool! 

As we arrived at the campground, it started to rain.  There was a little red trickle of water that started to come down over the rocks, and within minutes there were at least 10 waterfalls pouring over the rock bed.  Our guide on the river raft had told us that since there are no plants on the rocks, whenever it rains (which is very seldom here) the water just cascades off in waterfalls.  It picks up the dust from the rocks, and that is why the water is red.  Even the clouds above the rocks were pink, a reflection from the rock surface.  We just stood under the awning at the camp office and watched it come down.  We were so lucky to be there to see this since it hardly ever happens!!

We were hoping to get some good sunset and sunrise pirctures with the monuments, but between the cloud cover, and no vehicle to drive to the best locations, my photo dreams were a bit squashed.  

Driving the Moki Dugway

We left Moab, and were heading for Monument Valley.  We have cut our stay from two nights to only one so that we can get to Farmington, New Mexico to get the trailer fixed.  David was perusing the map and found a "scenic route".  This turned out to be yet another MacGregor adventure!!!

We had been travelling this particular highway for about an hour when we came across a sign that warned of a gravel road with a 5 mph speed limit and a 10 % grade, for the next 3 miles.  The road was not recommended for over sized or overweight vehicles.  But what does that really mean???  Do we go back and spend an extra two hours to get to our destination, or try a gravel road for a bit.

What we did not realize, however, was that we had been travelling along the top of a mesa, and had come to the edge, and were about to start travelling down a switchback gravel road, with no railing, and a 1000 foot drop (yes, that was a 1000 foot change in elevation!!!!!)

As we started down the road and turned the first curve we saw what we were in for, but by then, how do you turn around in a 50 foot rig??  You don't, you go forward....

It only took about 15 - 20 minutes, but they were probably the most stressful driving we have ever done.  Well, driving by David, and looking over the edge by me.  I think Rianna had her head down for most of it, and Sean would look out and give us a "Holy Crap!!" every once in a while!

When we got to the bottom and looked back up, it was pretty amazing to see what we had just driven!!

We did a little research on the internet, and there are some good sites for this part of the highway.  In particular, a video that a semi driver took while driving down it gives a pretty good feeling of what we went through.  I have tried to attach these at the bottom - or just google Moki Dugway.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Moki_Dugway.jpg

 

http://roadtrips.blogs.com/photos/thanksgiving_2004_roadtri/moki_dugway_3198.jpg

Moab Rainbow

 According to a lovely lady from Moab who worked at the KOA, six inches of rain in Moab means that when it rains, one drop falls every six inches …and then it’s done.  And it only rains 6 or 7 times a year. 

So guess what the MacGregors get?  A rainstorm!    The rainbow afterwards was right outside our door, and too close to fit into one picture.

The desert smells totally different with a little rain, and the red dust becomes red mud!!

 

Rafting on the Colorado River

Today was an awesome, awesome day!!!!  We booked a tour, because we have no vehicle to tour ourselves :( , and chose a white water rafting trip down the Colorado River!  Now, there was not as much white water as we would have liked as the river is fairly low right now, but there were a few rapids - just right for the kids' first experience!!  This river has eroded out a huge valley so we were surrounded by towering mesas and interesting rock formations.  We all spent some time in the river, letting it float us down, along with the boat.

We stopped at an open spot for a picnic lunch, which was really good - even Sean got enough to eat!! 

There were three other kids on the boat (from Germany and Switzerland) and so the guide played a game with them sort of like our surfboard game we play at the lake.  One kid stood up on either end of the raft and he spun it in a circle.  First one to fall in the river was the loser!  

There was not very much wildlife to see (just a heron), but the scenery was 
spectacular, the day was hot, and the water was great!  Our guide was a very personable young man from New York with great arm muscles!!! (David never reads my blogs so I guess I can just say it like it is!!)

This was an fantastic adventure to add to the MacGregor list!

Rianna's Report

Hi,  this is me on Park Avenue!  It is the name of a line of fins in Arches National Park.  This was the second full day in Moab.  After we took this picture we drove to a place called landscape arch, then we did a hour walk round trip to see the arch.  Then we went to Wolfe ranch to see a farm house that had been there since the late 1800's.  Then we walked up a very large, steep hill to see a view point of Delicate Arch.  It is a very famous arch, and is seen on the Utah license plate.  There was a storm coming in and we could see lots of lightning and rain in the distance. 

Arches National Park

It doesn't look like we get to go mountain biking on slickrock trail, but we spent a great afternoon at Arches National Park with the help of a rental car!!  This is a very remote park with no services, but amazing scenery!!  We only did one major hike out to landscape arch, which is one of the longest arches in the world (longer than a football field).  It was around 30 degrees out so we got our exercise on this one!!  The rock formations here are very unique.  There are arches, windows, fins and needles, all caused by erosion over millions of years.  Most of the rock here is really high in iron content, so they are a beautiful shade of red.  The junipers and pines are a brilliant green so contrast nicely against the rock.

The second picture is a window, rather than an arch.  If you look carefully at the size of the people in the picture you

get a good idea of the massive size of some of these rock formations.  

A lovely place for an afternoon drive!!

A special hello to Janie, Brenda and Karen - we knew our blog follower friends would find us!!!

Our front yard!

This lovely view is out the front door of our trailer!  We have one of the end sites in the KOA here in Moab, and the view out across the hills is quite awesome!!  On the other side of the trailer is the "Moab Rim" that you can see in yesterday's blog.  This huge ridge of red cliff goes on for miles.  The temperature here has been a lovely 36 degrees most days, but the nights cool off quite nicely so it is not too hot for sleeping.

We are having some trouble with our "landing gear" right now (the legs that go down at the front of our 5th wheel) so we cannot unhook the truck from the trailer.  That has been a bit of a problem, and we are going to have to take a little trip to New Mexico to get it fixed as they don't carry the parts here.

Marvelous Moab

Salt Lake City

We have travelled along the highwas past Salt Lake City many times, and decided it was time to actually stop and visit.  There is a lovely KOA right in the middle of town, not very far from Temple Square.

I had a little accident with a Jack Knife during our lunch stop in Idaho, (blame my clutziness and Sean's love of knives) but we delayed going to the clinic because the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practices on Thursday evenings, and that experience couldn't be missed.  They were so beautiful to listen to, and it was only a rehersal!!  They have a huge hall in the conference centre with amazing accoustics!
The temple is beautifully lit up at night, and the nearly full moon added to the ambiance.  There were flowers everywhere, and the smell was amazing.  The original Tabernacle where the choir first began is quite impressive as well.

After walking around Temple Square we ventured off to find the hospital.  Two hours, two stitches, and a tetanus shot later, I was all good and back home to the trailer we went!!

Tomorrow is Pioneer Day here, which is a huge Mormon Holiday, and a good reason for us to leave town!!

Moab, here we come!!

On the Road Again!

The MacGregor Family is on the road again, travelling to Moab, Utah, and places beyond.

As we travel south through Montana we have moved from grasslands to really cool mountains.  The Snake River runs through here, and obviously it is a renowned fishing river as we have seen tons of fishing boats and fly fishermen.

The scenery along this valley is very unique, the mountains very sharp, the river slow and lazy.