Monument Valley

On July 26, we regrettably packed up and left the beautiful Grand Canyon - Dave's favorite place. We took with us a few souvenirs, a new tie tack for Dave (that matched the belt buckle he bought in Durango in 1988) and a lovely bracelet Dave bought for me for my 50th. We headed a bit north to Page, AZ. Stopped to see Glen's Canyon Dam - the third largest in the US and the last dam built. Headed across northern Arizona through the Navajo Nation. Stopped at McDonald's for lunch (Matt was thrilled!) and got gas (only 3.99/gallon - the cheapest gas we'd found yet) ... all business run by Navajo. Drove through Monument Valley and admired the interesting landscape. Arrived in the metropolis of Mexican Hat, UT around 5:30 pm. If you've seen the animated movie, CARS, then you might remember Mexican Hat. All the cars drove through it and, at the east end of the city, there is a rock formation that resembles an upside down sombrero.

Mexican Hat is a dusty hole-in-the-wall with not much there besides a couple of restaurants and a few motels. A month ago we called for a reservation in this area and got one of the last two remaining rooms for miles it seemed. We paid a pretty price for our room ($122) considering it was such a dumpy town, but the room was clean and we were happy to have a place to lay our heads. The motel backed up to red rocks and the San Juan river. The river was quite muddy, so swimming was out of the question. They threw rocks and put their feet in, then headed back to the room for showers.

At dinner, we met a nice couple from Britain. They were finishing their meal and we were just arriving. They returned later in the evening and, after Dave took the boys back to the motel, he came back and we had a great chat with them. We've really enjoyed meeting people from all over the world on this trip.