Majestic

So I know that I have dragged you with me over to Europe with the intention of sharing my journeys there.  However, if you don't mind travelling back with me to the USA just for a little while, I have some fabulous experiences that I think you would enjoy!

I recently made the flight back in order to celebrate a birthday road trip with an Australian friend.  I joined up with her in Los Angeles and from there, we took 6 weeks to drive across the USA to New York following the old Route 66.  We did plenty of detouring along the way, thus the duration, but saw some amazing country that I had not seen while living there.  So if you bear with me, I would like to share just a couple of the stand out highlights with you over the next couple of posts.

So how to describe Monument Valley in southern Utah?  Majestic is probably the closest English world I can find but I have no doubt there are far better words somewhere out there.  In Navajo, Tse' Bii' Ndzisgalii, means valley of the rocks and this amazing place is situated in a valley that lies within the Navajo Nation Reservation.

I think have been blessed to see some incredible landscapes in my life, but Monument Valley would have to be the most spectacular.  From the moment you drive over the rise down into the valley, your breathe truly escapes you.  Its not possible to take a bad photo here.  It is a stunningly beautiful and peaceful place and I can certainly appreciate why filmmakers have practically set up camp here over the years.  More importantly, I understand entirely why the Navajo people are passionate about this place.

We spent a couple of days in the valley, staying at the Monument Valley Tipi Village.  The village promises that you will have "...a Navajo experience that will linger with you a lifetime" and that was certainly true for me.  We bunked down in a tipi and enjoyed an amazing welcome and night under the stars.  A few glasses of wine just topped off the night perfectly!

The village organised a Navajo guided tour for us through the valley and amongst the incredible red rock formations.  Our guide, who's name unfortunately escapes me, explained the history of the valley, the people and the significance of the valley to the Navajo people.

Our tour, which was at sunset, was just perfect.  I couldn't have asked for a better way of enjoying this place.  The Navajo people we met were wonderful and very proud of their land and rightly so.  I could wake up to that sunrise and sip wine to that sunset every day and never tie of the magnificence of the landscape and the massive sky that surrounds you.

In my opinion, The Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is one of those places that should be on your bucket list and perhaps...just perhaps, you should see this place before the big ditch, the Grand Canyon.