There's injuns in them thar hills

Today was pretty much one item on the agenda, visiting Monument Valley itself. The day started very early, well at dawn, to see the sun rise. All the rooms in the hotel looked out onto the valley so we were all well positioned. The sun was a bit slow coming up, there was some cloud around, and we were looking straight out to where it was coming up. Even so, it was pretty spectacular. Watching the light slowly come up and change the colours from muted to bright was inspirational. Photography was hard as we looking at the sun and the light was changing by the minute so we had to keep a careful eye on the exposures. A small selection of the best are shown below.

 

After a light breakfast (in America, as if!!) we were off again, this time travelling to Lake Powell but on the way stopping to explore Monument Valley. First stop was the visitor centre, which had some pretty spectacular views on its own (as well as Prairie falcon and great-tailed grackle) and a well-visited souvenir shop. Then we got back into the cars to drive off down the 15 mile scenic route. Basically this is a circular route round most of the best viewpoints, one-way after about 2 or 3 miles. It took us an hour or so for the first section, mainly because of photo opportunities and local Navajo traders selling their wares. They also supplied us with a weather forecast of "coming storm will wash away the road" so we turned around. This was where Yoss and I had some fun as the road was now uphill and soft sand, so keep the power on and don't worry about the wheel spin (and scream if you want to go faster). Basically we were all for turning around and going again but got voted down. So, off to our next stop - Lake Powell.