Day 13 of 16 – Jeeps or Horseback riding through Monument Valley (Navajo-guided tours)

 

Yup, the sunrise was well worth getting up early for!
On the menu today is horses, jeeps, or nothing at Monument Valley. I chose jeeps since it’s a drive night for me, and the temperature was well over 100 degrees by 10am. Although the horse people say they trotted most of the way, I made the perfect choice. This was more fun than the Raiders of the Lost Ark ride at Disneyland. It wasn’t a jeep but a safari set up over the back of 2 Silverado pickups. 24 of us were grinning ear to ear in the cooling breeze as we took off to see the most amazing views of the Navajo desert nation. The ride was just as bumpy and full of accelerations and turns like the Disney ride, and the symbolism of each rock structure was not lost on us. There were of course 3 separate stops to purchase souvenirs, and one of them sold Indian fry bread, to which I indulged myself with an ice cold soda for $2. At the arch dome called “ear wind”, we were treated to a short performance of indian flute and drum by one of the tour guides while we crouched along the wall in the shade.

Sorry no pictures of the trip through Monument Valley yet since I left my camera phone in the bus charging. I will grab some pics off another person’s camera.

The next stop for us was Lake Powell at Glen Canyon dam for a well-deserved swim, and dinner out. Since I was driving I decided to do takeout fish tacos and hang out in the bus to do the blog. But of course that attracted passengers back to the bus and not much blogging got done until 4am after the drive (wide awake).