If
you're making travel plans for the coming summer and you'd like to see
the American Southwest, there is one place that should be at the top of
your list: Monument Valley in southern Utah (just over the Arizona
border). There is no other place in America that symbolizes the beauty
and mystery of the American West like this extraordinary place.
Monument Valley is actually a and is administered (and lived in) by the Navajo. The Navajo name for the valley is: Tse'Bii'Ndzisgaii.
Monument
Valley presents some of the best landscape photo opportunities in the
world and features "monuments" or rock buttes that rise up between 400
and 1000' high. By the way, the photo here was shot from the rim of the
valley, near the visitor's center--and while that's a beautiful
viewpoint, you have to get down into the valley to see just how
spectacular it really is.There is a 17-mile self-driving tour through
the valley (entry is just $5/person) and the Navajos also offer guided
tours. I've spent several days there at a time and there is always
something new to see, always another view to photograph. It's mind
boggling, to be honest.
Interestingly, quite a number of Navajo
live in the Valley and so when you're there you're not just in a park,
but in their living room, so you also get a sense of the history of the
Navajo people. Considering the way that Native Americans have been
abused in every conceivable way in this country, it's amazing that they
even let us on their land, yet they are incredibly welcoming to
strangers.
There is only one hotel (now) that is close to the park and that is
(a great place to stay, you can see the valley in the distance from
virtually very room), but I'm told that the Navajo are building their
own hotel where the visitor center is. I really hope this doesn't
commercialize the park too much since its remote location has always
kept it somewhat of a secret. Just getting to the valley is a
challenge, by the way, it's a four-hour drive from Flagstaff and it's
25 miles from the nearest town (Kayenta, Arizona). Still, it's a
beautiful drive and worth every effort it takes to see this
extraodrinary landscape.