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...

Arches National Park

We have spent most of the last week with Luke's daughters and their families.  It has been wonderful, but keeps us going full time :-) Not complaining!  Just no time for blogging.  I'm going to keep the verbiage short and the pictures relative few (really considering all we've seen!)

We started at the Arches Double Arch.

Closer to the double arches...

Time for a little shared snack between  Erin's son Kiran and Bompa

The Balancing Rock

The next morning we took the short hike through Moonflower Canyon.  Great place for Erin's daughter Evelyn to race into.

And even better! A pond at the end of the trail for the kids and Sammy-the-dog to play in

Next a canyon drive. These walls are majorly impressive when you're towards the bottom of the canyon!

Canyon

A major attraction in this canyon is the Birthing Rock panel. 

And a small portion of the rock.  Yulp, that's the birthing happening with  the major white female.

 

Later that evening, a communal dinner in the RV.  All 9 of us fit just fine.

 

 

 

Landscape arch with both Erin and Lisa's families and Luke.  You've probably guessed by now that the weather is not "warm" but it not uncomfortable.

 

 

 

 

We left the crowded civilization of a KOA to move into BLM land.  That is land that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  It is generally open land that has little restrictions.  It is beautiful here, in that Utah way.  Here are 3 of our little community RV's.  Lisa and her friends from the Yukon are here. Friends from Wisconsin had to leave before this shot was taken. There are thousands of acres of BLM land in Utah and CO.  Little groups of 1 to 10 RV'ers are scattered about on the lands. The big draw is dirt biking, ATV running, and dune buggies.

 

 

 

 

Next walk was down Negro Bill Canyon.  Negro Bill was a "half native American, half Negro" who settled this canyon in the late 1800's.  He later made a hasty departure to parts unknown after an Indian uprising, fueled in part by the illegal whiskey he was selling to them...

 

 

 

A cold  yes, C.O.L.D. stream runs through this canyon (as in many canyons).  The kids we are with didn't mind at all, nor did Stout the dog.  All kids and dog were soaked by the time the walk was over.

 

 

One last photo, from the Dead Horse Point State Park.  We stayed here on our first RV trip to Moab.  Named because the First People would round up the wild horses, drive them across the 30 ft wide connection to the point from the mainland, and build a coral of sorts to keep them in.  They would chose the horses they wanted and leave the rest there to die of starvation and dehydration (Moab gets 10 inches of rain per year).  A sad history, but an amazing view, much like the Grand Canyon.

 

 

Erin left Thursday, Lisa leaves today, and we will leave on Tuesday.  Off to see Monument Valley next!