Sunday, August 9, 2009

Day 16 - 18 June 2009


The campground at the Natural Bridges National Monument is really nice. It is small and has no hook-ups for RVs or trailers, but that is part of the charm. You drive in, park, and you are all set. In the morning you just drive off without having to unhook things. The sites are arranged nicely between juniper trees (they make gin out of the berries, maybe that's why I liked the place). A loop that you can drive or walk leads to viewpoints of the natural bridges or the trails of various lengths that you can walk to view the bridges from close up. The bridges were formed by water rushing up against a wall of rock for many, many (millions) years, finally breaking through and forming a bridge. We drove the loop once more and took a couple of short walks and then were off on our way to Monument Valley.

The lady in the next RV (a Roadtrek, such as we had in British Columbia and one of which we had wanted again this time but none were available - I was jealous!) told us the evening before that on the road to Monument Valley there is a three mile stretch of gravel road which makes a series of switchbacks (tight curves back and forth along the side of the mountain) taking you down about 1,000 feet. She had come up the gravel road and said it was "hairy," but she had made it. My friend tried to talk me out of going down that road, but I insisted that a little gravel road with switchbacks didn't scare me, especially if that lady and her cat made it without "dinging up" her $100,000 Roadtrek. Besides, the long way around would have taken twice as long.

We proceeded down the road and lo and behold, I have traveled "hairier" roads in the Alps, in Vermont, and on Majorca. However, the views of Monument Valley from stopping points on the gravel road were magnificent. Once on the valley floor we followed it until we reached the Arizona sate line. The stone sculptures formed by millions of years of erosion are truly monumental. At every turn in the road there is a different structure, some of which have been given names such as "Mexican Hat" due to their distinctive shapes. In my mind's eye I saw John Wayne and the 7th Cavalry riding through the valley. We opted not to take the tour that takes you to the locations where the movies were shot and where John Wayne supposedly spent the nights while shooting the films. By this time we were saturated with rocks, cliffs, canyons, gorges - you name it - although Monument Valley is grandiose.

Not much else to report, except that we drove north to Moab, Utah, and checked into a campground. When I asked at the campground office where we could buy a bottle of wine for my friend (I didn't mention the whiskey and beer for me) I was told that the state-run liquor store was about four miles away, downtown. Utah has this alcohol restriction (as do other states), putting hurdles in people's path to keep them on the right path (in their view). That's OK, but their recycling laws need updating: There is no deposit on glass bottles of any kind, at most places they are just dumped into the trash. I don't know for sure if they recycle plastic, I didn't see any special containers for that either.

Anyway, we were set now, the KOA people are about to fix the mix up in the site assignments of our neighbors and my friend is cooking dinner. The ground is sandy (its a desert, you know), the sky is clearing and another day, number 16, is ending.

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