Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon Slot canyons, and more!

Full days playing tourist and long days of driving eastward = no blog.... But I am catching up now and finishing up now. We are currently sitting at the RV dealer where we bought "Birtie" the RV.  A few little things we discovered during our trip to be done and we'll be home probably tomorrow.
 But first!  What beautiful places we saw!

Monument Valley - home of many, many Western movies. Bet you recognize a few of these monuments. 

The overview from Artists Point.

The Mittens

Don't remember this one's name

Monument Valley is on Native American Land, thus the US Park Service emblem, but indicating Navajo Nation.

And here is "The Elephant" --- needs a bit of imagination, I believe.

We also drove through the Valley of the Gods.  Equally beautiful and an equally "challenging" road.

On the way, the drove through Mexican Hat, NM.  Named for the upside down sombrero that sits just outside of town.

I even had a beer with John Wayne!

Next the most magnificent place I think I've ever been.  Didn't think I'd ever see this...The Antelope Slot Canyons.  Deep and narrow and water shaped, the Upper Canyon and Lower Canyon are just amazing.  We saw the Lower one around noon, great for pouring in sun.  It was a bit crowded, but we were able to get some pictures without other tourists.

 

 

Narrow in a few spots...

Up a 10 ft ladder and out the narrow slot, back on top of the canyon.

We were able to get a tour only at 5 pm of the Upper canyon.  This is the "preferred" tour, as the canyon is deeper.  It was much darker at 5, but still amazing.

One last stop in Albuquerque to visit Luke's 96 year old uncle and his cousin.  They remembered that Luke's birthday is soon and had a surprise cake along with a wonderful dinner.

A very nice trip!  But we are looking forward to being home in a day or so.  SO is Smokey...