Toni's Tribute to All Countries, But Mostly America

Five amazing things about extreme southeastern Utah, red-rock country extraordinaire.  1.        Famous Forest Gump Point. 2.        Mexican Hat 3.        Goosenecks State Park where the San Juan River makes an unusual turn upon turn upon turn. 4.        Moki Dugout, an impossible road built into the side of a sheer cliff to take the intrepid motorist up 1100 feet from the valley floor to the top of Cedar Mesa in a tortuous 2-mile twist.   These kinds of dare devil stunts give Aaron indigestion, so he sat this one out, happily eating lunch in his camp chair at the bottom while I made the daring drive up to the top of the mesa.   It made even me nervous a couple of times.   But once on top, the views were as stupendous as the winds. 5.        Valley of the Gods, where we are boondocking under Seven Sailors Mesa...

 Ah, Monument Valley…how many years I’ve looked forward to a tour of Monument Valley.  Since sometime in the mid 1990’s while working at Adventist Medical Center and I pilfered from the food tray of my patient a spiritual-thought card sporting a picture of a sun-drenched mesa within the park, I’ve yearned to visit Monument Valley.  Tucking the card away in my someday bucket-list file, it’s taken me this many years to finally arrive.  Did it meet my expectations?  Well, mostly.  The crowds made it feel more like a minor circus, and the native Americans keep it tightly controlled and poorly managed.  There is only one short hiking trail allowed in all of the park.  Anything else you want to see must be done through a native guide at confiscatory cost.  But it most definitely is outrageously gorgeous country like none other in the world, and it did make me quite giddy to be there.  So all in all, I am most glad we made it to Monument Valley...