Someone call John Wayne, the valley's crawling with outlaws!

9/15:

Well, not outlaws, tourists. But really, with the fabled beauty of Monument Valley so well known, who wouldn't want to visit? I include myself in the tourists category, of course - I was there to see some amazing sights, and see them I did.

But first, I'd like to share with you all the view I had from my campsite this morning. I accidentally woke up in time for sunrise (something I would never intentionally do unless prompted to by someone else) and it turned out to be a really good thing I did. Here's why:

Yep, these photos taken from the picnic table next to my tent. Unbelievable!

With that good of a start to the day, it could only possibly get better! I headed off to the hotel to meet my tour guide from Navajo Spirit Tours, Will. He was a Navajo born and raised in Monument Valley with lots of relatives still living there. And until he mentioned that, I don't think I thought about the fact that people still actually live in the valley instead of just devoting the whole thing to tourism. Very cool!

We headed off down the dirt track, fortunately stopping at all of the best viewpoints. Will was an EXCELLENT guide. At every stop he had something to tell us about Navajo culture or the landscape or his family. I learned so much on that tour - wish I had taken the longer one that went further into the back country! The landscape was amazing too, of course.

The Three Sisters

"Sun's Eye"

Giant hole right in the top of this sandstone alcove! Great acoustics in here

Petroglyphs depicting a hunt in which sheep and goats were taken down by spear and bow

At one point we stopped by a few market stands that the locals had set up. They were selling jewelry at pretty good prices. But I had my eye on something way cooler - the Point. This was the place where they've filmed and photographed all of the Marlboro ads, and pretty much any southwestern ad with rearing horses and cowboys and cool landscape in the background. And there was a guy there with a horse - and he'd take your picture with you on the horse at the Point! Apparently the horse that they used for all of the ads, Pistol, had retired a month prior at age 30. So they had a new horse instead. Regardless, the horse was very sweet (didn't seem to mind his job at all and just hung out) and the guy took a lot of AWESOME pictures for me!

We moved on from the Point and stopped at some hogons, which are Navajo ceremonial structures. Inside the female hogon a Navajo woman did a yarn spinning demonstration for us - really cool! Then she pointed at me and told me to sit down in front of her, so I did. She did my hair up in the traditional Navajo woman style. I guess I had the longest hair in the group so I turned into the guinea pig. It was a really beautiful style and I have no idea how she got all of my hair into such a small bun, but I was much cooler for it!

From there we continued a little further until we got to an alcove, where Will sang some Navajo songs for us. Unexpected but definitely awesome! I was really impressed by how fearless this guy was and how eager he was to share his culture with a bunch of tourists. Very inspiring.

And then, all too soon, it was time to head back up out of the valley. I can't wait to come back here to see more of the back country sometime - and I have definitely put it pretty high on my priority list. Will told us about some of the other really cool places to see and it sounds like there's quite a lot that remained hidden to our short tour.

At the hotel, I stopped at the gift shop to get my customary Christmas ornament. Then Jane and I headed on to Colorado and Mesa Verde! I've decided that we'll stay there for a few days - it's something I'd really like to see and I wanted to leave more of the Four Corners region for exploration at a later date.

Well, we didn't make it very far before I had to stop at an overlook for a photo shoot. But who can blame me with a landscape like this and a car like Jane?

Yep, this is without a doubt the best looking car I've ever seen.

And of course Jane drew a crowd so we stayed at that overlook for a while chatting with people. I actually almost got stuck trying to leave (very deep loose gravel) so I made quite an exit for everyone - spinning tires, spraying gravel, roaring engine, fishtailing my way onto the road, the whole nine yards. I had a ball with that!

The drive from there was super scenic the whole way (which is probably why it's listed in my US Top Scenic Drives book) and I took the opportunity to take some last pictures of Jane and I leaving the flat southwestern scenery.

Hmm, interesting fold structure!

The Mustang encounters some Mustangs! Only had time to snap this shot as I came around the corner and then zoomed right by. Still, very cool to see as I didn't think I'd see any wild Mustangs on my trip!

Colorado's state sign is kind of boring, but at least it's bigger than Arizona's

Actually just a picture of some really cool clouds

And now the clouds in front of me. Check out that hood reflection! 

Looks like it belongs in a magazine, doesn't it?

We reached Mesa Verde just in time to check in at the campground and pitch the tent before dusk fell. I also had time to book two tours of the cliff dwellings Cliff Palace and Balcony House - both of which are inaccessible except when guided by a ranger. So I'll go see one of those tomorrow and the other one the day afterwards!

Last time I'll see this sight for a while - still a little absurd every time I see that car parked next to a tent

The stars here are beautiful and you can see the Milky Way all laid out above you. So I think I'll go stargaze for a while. It's been a fantastic, incredible day full of great landscapes and great drives. Kelly signing out.