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| 2001 |
My goal on this trip was to see Monument Valley. (once I found out where it was) After all, what could Doreen say - she wanted to include Mount Rushmore which was 1000 miles out of our way. It was just a matter of logistics to connect from South Dakota thru the Valley to Vegas. My knowledge of Monument Valley was that John Wayne dusters had been filmed there and all Doreen could think of was advertisements with jeeps on the top of huge cliffs. Other than that we knew absolutely nothing about the area. |
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I don't know what the "draw" was for me to get to this territory, but my first sighting of it was a feeling I will never forget. We stopped several time on the approach to Monument Pass to take pictures but there is not a camera in the world that can capture the emotion and awe I felt. It was like coming home.
There is only one main road through Monument Valley. The stretch approaching the Arizona/Utah border from the north gives the most famous image of the valley, a long straight empty road across flat desert heading toward hugh stark red cliffs on the horizon. The highway cuts through the mesas at Monument Pass. |
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Goulding Lodge
Goulding Lodge is in the heart of Monument Valley. The backyard to this lodge is a towering red wall that protects the buildings. It looks like pieces of it could crumble at any moment and crush what lies beneath. A museum is housed in the original Trading Post and home of Harry and 'Mike" Goulding. Mr. and Mrs. Goulding made lifelong friends of the Navajo people. |
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Harry invited movie director John Ford to Monument Valley to view the landscape and the rest is movie making history. Parts of the original set from "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" are on display and the John Wayne cabin is still intact. There is a museum of movie making memorabilia and indian artifacts that can compete with any national museum. Monument Valley is still used today for movie and commercial filming.
Over the years, Monument Valley has been the setting for more Western movies than any other site in the United States. Many movies have footage in Monument Valley, including, just to name a few Thelma & Louise, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Easy Rider, Back to the Future III, Forrest Gump, and Mission Impossible.
We were unable to spend a lot of time in the Valley but resolved to return and explore - as Doreen put it "up close and personal". It was starting to look like we needed several more years of traveling together just to accomplish the "plans" we made on this first trip. |
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| 2002 |
| Our second trip through Monument Valley was just as spectacular as the first. Every time of day, every angle of the sun displays a different colour. We stopped at Goulding Lodge, hoping to get a room but had to continue to Kayenta as the inn was full. We stayed long enough to have supper and tour the museum and John Wayne cabin. |
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| Director John Ford's 1939 film Stagecoach, starring John Wayne, has had an enduring influence in making the Valley famous. After that first experience, Ford returned nine times to shoot Westerns — even when the films were not set in Arizona or Utah. A popular lookout point is named in his honor as "John Ford Point." It was used by Ford in a scene from The Searchers where an American Indian village is attacked. |
| 2003 |
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| Mileage to Monument Valley |
| Cameron, Arizona |
134 |
Page, Arizona |
137 |
| Chinle, Arizona |
150 |
Phoenix, Arizona |
326 |
| Farmington, New Mexico |
169 |
Shiprock, New Mexico |
142 |
| Flagstaff, Arizona |
187 |
Tuba City, Arizona |
112 |
| Gallup, New Mexico |
233 |
Tucson, Arizona |
443 |
| Kayenta, Arizona |
23 |
Window Rock, Arizona |
196 |
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| We still have it on our agenda to take the time to tour the Monument Valley, but not this year. We stopped briefly at Goulding Lodge to eat and wander around. I was still not feeling 100% but the meal was good. We toured through the museum and gift shop where Doreen bought the video "The Duke and The General", a 1971 documentary tribute to John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Then we were off to Valley of the Gods and Hwy 261. |
| 2006 |
Kayenta
Navajo Name: Toh' Di'neesh zhee (water going in different directions)
The community of Kayenta is scenically located just north of junctions Hwy 160 and Hwy 163. Kayenta, founded in 1909 as a trading post, is now the gateway to the Navajo Tribal Park at Monument Valley.
I had wanted to visit the hospital I was in and see if our friendly orderly was still there but we'd wasted too much time at Shonto. Maybe another time. |
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Monument Valley
We stopped once again at Goulding Lodge in Monument Valley to have our supper.
We went into the gift shop and toured around John Wayne's cabin before heading out. We were planning to stop for the night further down the road at Mexican Hat or Bluff.
And, of course, we just had to see Valley of the Gods and Hwy 261. It was starting to feel like home. |
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