After lunch we drove through Mesa Verde National Park. The park was really beautiful, and despite some traffic because of road construction, it wasn't too crowded (as long as you didn't stop at the museum at the same time as the giant bus filled with tourists). There are some Native American cliff dwellings in the area and a few are easily visited without a hike. We got to see the largest, and it was pretty crazy to think that people had once lived in a place like that.
We stopped by the Four Corners Monument, but didn't feel like paying the six dollars to get in, so we just took a picture of the road sign outside and called it even.
Finally, we made it to Monument Valley, which Charles said is featured in a lot of Westerns and which I recognized a little bit. The sun was setting as we drove through, so the rocks looked as if they were glowing, and although we didn't take this picture, there was a rainbow as well. Monument Valley at Sunset has been my favorite part so far, and I'm glad we had such good timing!
That night, we made it to the Goosenecks State Park campground and set up camp in the dark. The campsite was nice, although the older gentleman who chatted on his cell phone from 10-10:30 was not. The morning view, however, more than made up for our obnoxious neighbor. We watched the sunrise from our tent and then walked out to find that we had been camping next to a thousand foot river canyon. It was beautiful (like everything else, maybe I should check my thesaurus) but pictures of it will have to wait, since I don't really want to steal someone else's.
After Goosenecks, we had breakfast at the only restaurant in the area and headed off in search of the turquoise ring I'd been wanting. We checked into a few stands, but since it was so early, not many were set up yet. We found one that was in the process of being set up by a few kids (obviously setting up the family shop) and got exactly what I was looking for, so the search is over!
After that, we spent most of the day driving. We drove through (and stopped occasionally) the Natural Bridges National Monument, then north through canyon country, then through Glenn Canyon, where we stopped to see Lake Powell, then more canyon country, then the sandstone canyon called the North Wash, then west onto 24 towards Capitol Reef, where it was really windy, then through the Bentonite Hills, then through Capitol Reef, where we stopped to view the petroglyphs. After the break we took highway 12 through Dixie National Forest and through the Grand Staircase National Monument, then west through canyon lands of Escalante, until we stopped in Tropic, Utah near Bryce Canyon National Park.
It was definitely a day filled with driving (I read most of Pet Semetary) but it was fun and as long as we're not tired of it yet, we're going to keep on pushing!
what Cori leaves out is that the canyon country through which we drove was outrageously fantastic. all the rock formations and layers and interesting weathering patterns, and the infinite variety in which they were manifest was more than enough to entertain me all day. The best part though was coming south on highway 12 once we passed out of the Dixie national forest we were up on this skinny north/south ridge and it was the highest point around and there were canyons upon canyons spreading out below us. it was a really impressive landscape of rock where plantlife played a more secondary role. one day i will return to explore it, there is unbelievable offtrail potential for exploration there. and you can look it up online but none of the pictures ive seen do it justice. and we didnt take any cause i knew out little kodak funsaver wouldnt do it justice. but thats ok, it was awesome.
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