Monument Valley to Grand Canyon

Tuesday 8th September 2009...

Ok, so up at 06:00 to see the sun rise over monument valley, see pic above, it was one of the must see things you need to do, and all from the balcony of our room. I think we took 50 or so pics. After a decent breakfast we pack up and head out into the valley for some off-road action, it was very bumpy and very dusty as you can see, but well worth it, temperature in the mid-seventies already.

So off on the road to the Grand Canyon and the obligatory magnificent scenery. We stopped off in Tuba City for lunch and another 24-pack of water, we are drinking it like fish, but obviously need it in these temperatures ( no offence Debbie ). It is only about 180 miles today and we apparently gain another hour (thank you Jane the sat nav) so we stop off at a place that advertised itself as 'The little Colorado river gorge', it cost 2 bucks for the Dodge so we thought, "hello, is this a con" but no, it was a terrific baby gorge by grand canyon standards and thoroughly impressive to us. The temp is around the 90 mark but we manage a 30 minute stop for pics, pees, and purchases (rings and clay/ horsehair canoes etc) until the dehydration sets in and we are back in the Dodge's air-con.

We pay the $25 entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park and stop at the first viewing point.

It is very hot but worth it for the magnificent views, this is a must do on your 'top 10 things to see' list. So Carol goes souvenir hunting and Jon and I go up the watchtower to see yet more stunning views. The heat drives us back to our air-con so we decide to miss out on the viewing points along the way and head for our hotel. We arrive and check-in to the presidential suite, this is great, it has two bedrooms/bathrooms, a lounge, a fully applianced kitchen, and dining area with tables and chairs. I'm not sure which president stayed here but it is good enough for us. Did I mention that we gained an hour somewhere along the way today, the sat nav gaveus some really early arrival time so that gave us a clue, which was confirmed by all the clocks at the hotel. I don't remember passing any signs indicating a time-zone change but at least we get an extra hour today.

Time to go in search of food. We find a steakhouse called 'Yipee-ei-o' where everything has a western theme, saddles, stetsons etc. We tried the deepfried rattlesnake which is not that different to slightly chewy chicken. Carol had a 10 oz salmon fillet, I had steak and shrimp with a cactus jelly, and Jon had cotton-pickin-chicken and rattlesnake beer.......Yummmmeeee. It was perfect