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| Monument Valley is beautiful. |
We slept really well in our cabin and even woke up a little early. We had cereal and oatmeal for breakfast and hit the road by quarter to eight. Our first stop was Monument Valley. None of us had ever been to Monument Valley, though Grandpa Ockey had tried to take Dad when he was a kid. It was just too far and too hot in those days!
From Bluff it was only about an hour drive, and we were in the park by nine o'clock. The drive was really rough and rocky, but it wasn't too busy. We enjoyed the towering rocks. The Mittens were amazing, and we must have taken a few dozen pictures near them. Farther on we enjoyed the Three Sisters. The best stop, though, was John Ford Point. We all posed in front of the most iconic pinnacles in the valley and took a bunch of pictures where John Wayne stood. We continued around the loop and the rocky road didn't even bother us. It was kind of fun bouncing along in the van looking at tall red rock towers. Our final stop at the thumb was a favorite, too.
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| Seth liked the Three Sisters. |
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| Do they always have to stand like they are peeing into the wilderness? |
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| That's better! |
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| Not sure what Dax is doing, but this is a great view. |
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| We absolutely loved Monument Valley. |
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| John Ford's Point was our favorite stop. |
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| This is looking back at John Ford's Point. Mom and Seth were taking selfies out there. |
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| Mom and Dad really enjoyed this part of the trip. |
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| Mark wanted a picture at every spot. He loved it here as much as Mom and Dad. |
There wasn't much to see at the Visitor Center, so we drove down to Chinle an hour and a half south. Chinle is the home of Canyon de Chelly National Monument. There is a long valley with sheer cliffs bordering it. Tourists are not allowed into the valley without a Navajo guide because many members of the tribe still live and farm in the valley. We took the South Rim Drive and stopped at all the viewpoints overlooking the valley. It is so deep and long, and there are ancient pueblo ruins in many cracks on the face of the wall.
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| We thought that Canyon de Chelly was beautiful. |
There's just one place that you can hike down to the valley floor to a ruin called the White House. The trail isn't long, but it is incredibly steep, and we weren't too sure about it. We had to do a hike, though, so we started down. We were amazed that it began with a tunnel through the rock. There were actually two tunnels as the trail hugged the steep cliff all the way to the bottom of the canyon. Once there we walked along the river for awhile before finding out that we were required to cross it. We're experts at that since our Escalante trip, so we took off our shoes and socks and rolled up our pants. Then we waded across.
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| Dax in front of the rock that looked like an arch. It was quite the argument while we hiked. |
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| The water was freezing! |
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| We had to dry our feet before heading back up the trail. |
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| Seth was making fun of the way Mom puts sunscreen on. |
We weren't allowed to go too close to the ruin, but we did see a squirrel chirping atop the wall. There were also lizards and feral goats and horses along the trail. The hike back up didn't even seem too bad. We were amazed that we made it in just over half an hour.
We finished driving the South Rim and really enjoyed the final overlook called Spider Rock. There were great views of the canyon, and a fun trail to wander along by the edge of the canyon.
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| We found some fun rocks for jumping pictures. |
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| Dax doing his fancy jump. |
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| The canyon was so pretty. It is such a hidden gem. |
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| Mark attempting the heel click. |
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| Someone was nice enough to take our picture at the Spider Rock Overlook. |
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| The trail to the overlook wandered through some rocks almost like a slot canyon. |
After the South Rim, the boys were ready to turn in their Junior Ranger booklets. They were surprised that they got a badge, a sticker, a postcard, and an entry form for a contest (they give away a water bottle every week).
We decided to drive the North Rim of the canyon before dinner as there are only a few stops at ruin overlooks. Each overlook required a short walk, so this ended up taking awhile, but we did get to see some really amazing structures. Meanwhile, Mom schooled us on Kit Carson and his blood thirsty raid on the Canyon de Chelly in 1864.
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| We spotted some turkeys down in the canyon. Can you see them? |
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| Everyone was worn out by bedtime, that's for sure! |
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| Dax and Seth got along really well this day. |
We had dinner at a restaurant in the hotel parking lot. After such a long day the boys ate really well. Mom and Dad had Navajo and Mexican food, which left Dad breathing fire after he ordered the hot green chiles. Mostly, the boys just wanted to hurry to our room so they could change into their swimsuits. We let them swim for a half hour, and then Dad took them to the sauna to dry off. When we got back to the room everyone reported the best part of the day. Seth's favorite? "Sitting in the hot room after the pool." Kids!
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| They love the pool. We could just buy a pool pass and save a lot of money. |
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| They are good swimmers now, so we don't worry about them anymore. |
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| They love to jump from the side of the pool. |
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| But splashing is their favorite activity. |
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| Lots and lots of splashing! |
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| None of the boys had ever been in a sauna before. |
