Salty Dog days at the Marina

Kelly, a friend here at the marina, and I raced against each other in the survival suit race.

Another friend, Linda, managed to catch most of the race in photographs.

Taking my sea sickness pills (M&Ms in a bag)

Spelling out SOS with small rocks

Kelly beat me by 3 seconds!

Valley of the Gods, Utah

Near Gooseneck State Park in Utah is the Valley of the Gods on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.











There is another 17 mile high clearance/4wheel drive road which we opted to take to see sites that are similar to Monument Valley without the crowds and without the movie history.





It was beautiful! The monuments are pretty spectacular and the drive was fun.

A little "off roading" from the off road

Wildflowers are starting to bloom

Goosenecks State Park, Utah

Our friends Ed & Joanne also suggested we stop in to see Goosenecks State Park in Utah since we would be so close to it.

We did and it was fascinating. We viewed the gooseneck formations from above but did not hike down this time. It is amazing what the San Juan River has accomplished over time.

Thank you Ed & Joanne.

Monument Valley

We left Kayenta for Monument Valley. We had planned our entire route home to include Monument Valley as we visited there two years ago in our car and didn't have enough clearance to drive the valley so we returned in our new 4Runner.

Expect to see cowboys on horses going by

'The Eiger Sanction' scene with George Kennedy and

Clint Eastwood while he was training was filmed here

At sunset

Spent the night at Historic Goulding's Lodge where John Wayne, John Ford and other people in the movie business have stayed. Mike Goulding's potato cellar was John Wayne's cabin in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and is open to the public to view (see picture).

Betatakin

From Tuba City we drove to the Navajo National Monument where we took a tour/hike with a park ranger down about 900 feet of sheer bluff - over 700+ steps along with parts of it being a trail. Another mile across the valley floor to the ruins of Betatakin.

It was difficult to find driving instructions to the Visitor Center at the NNM on the internet or on maps.  We called the Visitor Center and asked directions. The road is just past a big conveyor belt and close to the Black County Trading Post. Turn left and go about 9 miles - reminds me of directions out in the country where I grew up!

The alcove is quite large and allowed many families to make their homes here.

Betatakin, or house on a ledge in Navajo, was only lived in for about 30 years in the late 1200s. Except for the center section which was wiped out when rocks fell some time ago the ruins are in excellent condition and part of the reason is the protection from the elements.

It is thought that it might have been continuing droughts that caused the people to move on as they were farmers and hunters and needed the rain to grow their crops and to attract wildlife.

Up until this year you were allowed to walk in the ruins but because of rock falls you are no longer allowed entry in to the ruins. We didn't learn that until we were at the ruins themselves! They were still interesting but we were a little disappointed at the new rule.

Petroglyphs which have various and sundry interpretations by different tribes -  notably the Hopi and the Navajo

The two story building with the small building on the right is the typical home with storage unit, cooking and living areas.

People who know me will know I like photos of textures and this is the top of the alcove. You can see in the lower right corner a small portion of their gallery area which is, if you wish, one floor higher than their living spaces.

Then back up those 700+ steps and trail to go to Kayenta, Arizona, for the night before driving up to Monument Valley.

Delightful Tuba City and Coal Mine Mesa

Our friends remember seeing this
sign when they were moving to
Tuba City - not a tree in sight!

We finally managed to leave Tucson to head back to our boat. Our route this time was planned to allow us to use the 4Runner as much as possible.

Very interesting architecture but a typical souvenir shop now.

Our first stop was in Flagstaff for a night of rest before heading on to Tuba City, Arizona.

Our friends Ed & Joanne encouraged us to visit Tuba City and wanted us to see the Tuba Trading Post in its original building. They gave us wonderful advice about the area and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting and exploring the area.  




We found the home that Ed & Joanne lived in during the  mid 60's with their family while he practiced at the hospital across the street. The home was at Pine St. and Elm St.

They also suggested that we should drive out to Coal Mine Mesa which is about 30 miles or so south.


Coal Mine Mesa is almost a miniature Bryce Canyon with no people. Very interesting. The area is unimproved and full of 4 wheel/high clearance dirt roads with many vistas of the Canyon.

We did not find a trail down as we did in Bryce Canyon but it was beautiful

This was a pretty easy stretch of the road but we had no problems anywhere.

A few wildflowers were blooming and added a lot of color to the mesa.

Note:  Please remember that you can click on any photo to enlarge it.