Standing on the border of Arizona and Utah lies Monument Valley, and although you may never have visited the area, you are sure to have seen the familiar llandscape in films or on television.
Monument Valley was a favorite setting of famous Western film director John Ford and it was featured it in many of the films he directed including How the West was Won, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande to name but I handful. Even If you' ve never watched a Western in your life you may still have seen Monument Valley featuring in Doctor Who, Forrest Gump, Transformers or The Eiger Sanction. The amazing scenery has been featured in literally hundreds of films and television programs.
Monument Valley experiences extreme climates, hot dry summer days with cool overnight temperatures and cool winters, sometimes with snow. It' s is the elements that have formed this amazing landscape as the sandstone rock has been carved away by wind and water.
Monument Valley belongs to the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation.
When we first visited Monument some 15 or 16 years ago facilities were limited, just a sloping gravel car park with no marked spaces and a very basic visitor centre. How things had changed when we made our last visit in the summer of 2015, there is even hotel situated within Monument Valley! ' The View Hotel' has been sympathetically designed to blend in with its surroundings and its Navajo Nation roots. The view for guests of the hotel is of two of the valley' s most famous monuments, ' The Mittens' , rock formations that literally look like mittens for the right and left hands.
Alongside the hotel is a brand new visitor centre featuring a museum and information area, a restaurant and cafeteria, and a gift shop selling all manner of Native American Indian souvenirs, from inexpensive T shirts and key rings to pieces of artwork and jewelry costing several hundreds of dollars.
Gone is the gravel car park where immediately on parking you would be approached by Native American Indians offering to take you on a private guided jeep tour for x amount of dollars. Instead in its place is a well surfaced car park with marked spaces and booths for you to visit if you want a private tour in an open vehicle or on horseback - a much more professional setup for the 21st century.
Your plans may be to venture no further than the visitor centre from which there are some fabulous vistas and from where you can be sure you will be able to take some great photos. If, however, you would like to go a little further into the park, you have several options.
Read on in part two for details of Monument Valley tours.
Monument Valley was a favorite setting of famous Western film director John Ford and it was featured it in many of the films he directed including How the West was Won, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande to name but I handful. Even If you' ve never watched a Western in your life you may still have seen Monument Valley featuring in Doctor Who, Forrest Gump, Transformers or The Eiger Sanction. The amazing scenery has been featured in literally hundreds of films and television programs.
Monument Valley experiences extreme climates, hot dry summer days with cool overnight temperatures and cool winters, sometimes with snow. It' s is the elements that have formed this amazing landscape as the sandstone rock has been carved away by wind and water.
Monument Valley belongs to the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation.
When we first visited Monument some 15 or 16 years ago facilities were limited, just a sloping gravel car park with no marked spaces and a very basic visitor centre. How things had changed when we made our last visit in the summer of 2015, there is even hotel situated within Monument Valley! ' The View Hotel' has been sympathetically designed to blend in with its surroundings and its Navajo Nation roots. The view for guests of the hotel is of two of the valley' s most famous monuments, ' The Mittens' , rock formations that literally look like mittens for the right and left hands.
Alongside the hotel is a brand new visitor centre featuring a museum and information area, a restaurant and cafeteria, and a gift shop selling all manner of Native American Indian souvenirs, from inexpensive T shirts and key rings to pieces of artwork and jewelry costing several hundreds of dollars.
Gone is the gravel car park where immediately on parking you would be approached by Native American Indians offering to take you on a private guided jeep tour for x amount of dollars. Instead in its place is a well surfaced car park with marked spaces and booths for you to visit if you want a private tour in an open vehicle or on horseback - a much more professional setup for the 21st century.
Your plans may be to venture no further than the visitor centre from which there are some fabulous vistas and from where you can be sure you will be able to take some great photos. If, however, you would like to go a little further into the park, you have several options.
Read on in part two for details of Monument Valley tours.