After 2 nights of staying at Canyon de Chelly (Wednesday and Thursday nights), on Friday we packed up again and drove to visit the Hopi Indian Reservation. Our information sources told us we would need a native guide, but we had been unable to reach anyone by phone or email, so we headed to the cultural center. We were able to arrange to drive to a city on "second mesa" (there are 3 mesas in the area) and a native guide met us there. From the base of the mesa we drove up a steep road and parked. We then had a walking tour of the tiny village build on top of the mesa. It was fascinating on many levels, although we did get a sense that they are hoping to make as much money off tourists as possible - $60 for the privilege of driving to the top of the mesa with a 45 minute mediocre walking tour, then a clear request for tips (the last 5 minutes of the tour spent explaining what she plans to do with her tip from us) and then "crafts" displayed by hovering locals at every turn (starting at $30 for a small carved piece of wood). That said, we gave a large tip and bought a piece of wood!
Next stop was Monument Valley. We got there right around lunch time, so we treated ourselves to a restaurant lunch at the visitor's center. It's quite a tour bus destination with a huge gift shop and lots of tourists. It is possible to do a 17 mile drive around the sandstone towers, but we decided to skip it since we had a great view from lunch already and it was already mid-afternoon.
So we drove on to the Valley of the Gods. Another valley with sandstone spires, but in this valley they all have large rocks on top of slender spires with funny names like "lady in a bathtub" and "Santa Claus". We drove the dirt road through it, looking for a campsite. We were worried initially because it was Friday night and it seemed like all of Arizona was camping there already! But towards the end of the road we found a perfect campsite in a little alcove; a little close to the road, but otherwise nicely sheltered and right under the "Rooster" spire.
We camped here for 2 nights. On Saturday we went off-roading and explored River House Ruin (see post below). In the afternoon we found a coffee shop (a rare occurrence) with ice cream for Lenny and even wifi, where we hung out for a while, till Hanna hugged the dog at the next table too hard and stood on its tail; then we made a quick getaway. Back to the tent site at Valley of the Gods Saturday night for another pleasant night of camping. Lenny finally understood why marshmallows are better roasted... but is too lazy to do it himself, so he demands perfectly cooked ones from Robert!
Sunday morning we took our time exploring around camp in the morning and then drove to Natural Bridges National Park where we did a fantastic 2 hour canyon hike with petroglyphs and cave dwellings (pictures soon). Lenny is becoming a strong hiker, but still insisted on being carried downhill (on my back in the Ergo baby carrier), then scrambled back up a 500ft cliff with no complaints!
After that excitement, it was about 5pm and both kids fell asleep in the car as we drove to Moab. We arrived here around 6:45 and picked up a much needed takeout pizza before finding our rental house. Now we are all clean, mostly asleep, and looking forward to 5 nights here for some mountain biking, canyon hiking, and more!
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