After an all-too-short stay in the wonderfully laid back town of Flagstaff we moved north, skirting the eastern tip of the Grand Canyon through the Painted Desert. Life, incredibly, got even more sparse than yesterday as we passed by Indian reservations, sprawling ranches (one with a hand-painted "sheep for sale" sign), and more than a few churches.
Our goal was Monument Valley, a place immortalised in Westerns and various other films down the years. It's a Navajo Tribal Park where pillars of rock jut several hundred feet into the air, a sort-of Grand Canyon in reverse. The scale and sheer improbability of the place is mind boggling.
Rooms in the two hotels here are extortionate, so we opted to sleep under canvas. Unfortunately we're not equipped for desert camping, a discovery made as soon as we tried to push a tent peg into sand and gravel baked hard as concrete. Kicking around in the dust we found several twisted pegs from previous occupants. But some strategic placement of rocks, a bit of elbow grease, and our shelter was up and hopefully won't blow away.
The place we're staying is called Goulding, after Harry Goulding who set up the trading post here. He's something of a hero amongst the Navajo, having got Hollywood to bring several productions out here during the depression era (locals could earn $5 a day, or $8 if they brought their horse). Hannah and I wandered down to the local museum, which doubles as a shrine to John Wayne who shot numerous films (and bad guys) hereabouts. They also filmed Once Upon a Time in the West here - the best Western ever made (tied with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, of course).
Tomorrow we're going to hike as close as we can to the monoliths, and right now I'm off to try to photograph some stars. With no sizeable settlement within miles, the night sky is amazing.
The some colours of the Painted Desert.
Still only the one wife.
One of the first monuments you spot. It's a face!
And a few more.
Camping in very nice surroundings.
Me and The Duke (I've obviously already met The King...)
Lots of choice.
A few well-known names in the museum visitors' book.
The view from our bedroom.
