say... but pounding aggressive "male rain." As we left town Ed plugged his iPod in and we prepared for a dull and very wet drive. Colleen asked if he had "Riders on the Storm" in his music collection because it seemed like the perfect moment, but he does not. She had to listen to Captain Beefheart instead.
As we neared Monument Valley the rain softened, a bit of sun poked through from above and huge chunks of rock poked through from below to punctuate the horizon.
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| Ship Rock |
We arrived at the View Hotel in Monument Valley Tribal Park by early afternoon, well before check-in time, and, happily, our room was ready.
Colleen had mixed feelings about staying at this hotel. For starts, it costs more than we usually like to pay. Add to that, Monument Valley has become a tour bus destination and we all know how much Ed and Colleen like sharing their world with the tour bus crowd. Nothing against folks who see the world that way. We just like to be somewhere else than wherever they are. But, we have to say... The View Hotel is a class act all the way! We are very glad we chose to spend a night here. It is part of a large complex, on tribal land and Navajo owned. The museum, restaurant, outdoor viewing areas and gift shop (featuring high quality Navajo made crafts as well as tourist junk) are all open to the public. The hotel, tastefully decorated with Navajo crafts and photos of the area, is open to guests only. When we stepped into our room... this is the view that greeted us...
As we drove the 17 mile dirt road loop out through the valley the rain began again. And continued. And increased. Soon, what had been a solidly packed dirt road with some bumps and rocks became a sloppy red soup with some mud/water pools deep enough to make major splashes. Our Forester (whose name is >Maio<...which is from a Chinese word for "adventure") performed flawlessly through the gunk, and returned from the adventure proudly wearing a coating of muck.
After a quick dinner on our deck, we could not pull away from this fabulous view as the sunlight faded.
We amused ourselves by watching a string of cars heading out on the road despite the impending darkness, and wondered if their tourist drivers had any clue to the quagmire awaiting them. Well after dark, there were still occasional headlights slowly making their way back to pavement. When we were convinced we had seen the last car, we retired for the night.
As you may have guessed by now, despite being told that wifi is only available in the lobby, it turned out to be not only available in our room but very fast and reliable. Sooo... Surprise... (to us too)... We can put up these few pictures after all. We have just had a delicious buffet breakfast and now we are considering re-visiting the muddy road before check out time at 11:00.
We did make one last drive into the valley. Here are a few more pictures before we leave wifi behind...
We are off to Mesa Verde National Park for two nights. We are not expecting wifi there... but who knows... we might get another happy surprise.
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