I've always known about this epic place since I moved to Arizona, but I also knew it wasn't close to me at a 5 hour drive. Now of course I've gone to places much further, but for some reason or other this trip was put off for a long time. Finally a string of events in planned wrong my work week and life week led to two free days off unexpectedly. What do I do I thought?
I lived in New York City for 25 years before I became a traveler, I had a few domestic trips under my belt to close by places but even in New York I didn't get the benefits that I could get today in 25 days of sightseeing and exploring. Since I've left New York I've found out about a good 20 spots I'd love to check out either in the city or in the general area, some of which I vaguely knew of, some of which I had no idea were right under my nose, that being said, that was my inspiration to just kick out to Monument Valley, I took New York City for granted with exploring when I had the chance. I won't be in Arizona forever so I must enjoy all of it's beauty while I still can.
So I got in my car (which I was afraid may not make it) and drove. I decided to break it up since it's at least a 5 hour drive, I didn't wanna drive 10 hours in one day. But I will tell you don't listen to reviews, a 1 day trip is totally possible leaving early and coming back same day. It will just suck driving that much in one day. I stayed overnight at Tuba City which seemed to be the only place relatively close that had a hotel. I paid a whopping $150 to stay at an American chain hotel. Very against my credo as a World Traveler but again it was the only thing I could find in the 2 hour window I had to decide if I was even going to be able to do the trip and again I thought about things I missed in New York because I made excuses.
Now if you don't go last minute as I did, there are some great options on Airbnb to stay in traditional Native American huts that you wake up with the Monument Valley monoliths staring at you. They are a little pricey for no water, but no more than I paid for the American chain hotel if you plan ahead. On a lower budget you have the campgrounds also on site.
You pay a fee to the reservation to enter, if you were REALLY in a rush you can see good stuff from the road for free like the photo above, but I can't imagine being right there and not paying $20 to see this amazing place a little closer. There is a guest center/restaurant and hotel as you enter. Mandatory to either have a coffee before or after you leave on the deck. I was mind blown how many people sat in the restaurant on a good weather day with a totally empty deck.
Now the road, you will read reviews on hiring a guide or not if you don't have 4 wheel drive... I saw plenty of 2 wheel drive cars driving on the dirt road at least at the beginning of the 17 mile trail. So it's doable... but I personally didn't wanna pay for a tow truck to get my car off the reservation, plus remember I said I didn't know if my car was going to make it on the freeway to start as it's getting older!
So what did I do? Well I'm not a big fan of guided tours, as I usually prefer to self tour, and I didn't wanna drive my car on the dirt, so I just walked it. And I mean walk, not hike. It's a very easy walk. I didn't do the full 17 miles as it will be very repetitive and honestly you can just go to the guest center and get a great experience. But it was nice to walk the path and feel the soul of the Native American spirit still alive and well in this amazing and historical place.
Then the good old drive back. A bit boring but I listened to almost the whole U2 catalog round trip as I was going to see my favorite band that very weekend in Las Vegas. Now here I will note, the drive was boring for me, it won't be boring for everyone. I've lived here for 11 years so after extensive research I saw that I had pretty much done everything I could on this drive. For someone who has never been there's a lot of great places to stop on the way, Flagstaff being a mandatory. But if you have been here forever like me, and just wanna see the Monuments, go. It was so worth it!
Choose the continent!!!!
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