Monument Valley, On Our Way!

Visions of John Wayne movies, that is what the mention of Monument Valley conjures up in my mind! I was raised watching all of those Westerns! Monument Valley was in so many of them. Well today we drive the 17 mile loop road to see the Valley and it did not disappoint! It only took 1 hour to drive the scenic loop and normally it costs $10.00 each to go into it but the ticket booths were closed so we got in for free! Sweet deal! Lucky for us that the weather had been dry so we were able to drive it in our car! When it rains it would be very rutted and very slippery and we would have had to pay for a tour! We are staying in the Goulding Lodge which is right across the highway from the Navajo Owned and run Monument Valley! The Goulding Lodge has motel rooms all with views, a restaurant, an indoor swimming pool, a museum with the original house and furnishings of the Goulding family that started a trading post on this site in 1924! They have a small theater which shows a John Wayne movie every night that was filmed in Monument  Valley! It is such a very pretty place and again very close to Monument Valley! From our room we can see several monuments from our patio! We had dinner in the restaurant and it was tasty!