Had a hot buffet breakfast in the hotel, the food was reasonable as was the price.
The guide from the Mittens Tours arrived promptly. His name is Herb. I didn't realize that the three outcrops that can be seen from our balcony are called Mittens and they certainly look as such.
The rep from Mittens arrived punctually and after discussing with him, we decided to take the morning tour as decided but add on a tour of the Mystery Valley for the afternoon.
We left the hotel around 9:00, the guide was very pleasant and took us to various scenic places with the right lighting and gave hubby all the time he needed.
We saw very interesting monuments but the Ear of the Wind, the Suns Eye, and Spearhead Mesa were my favorites.
The last place was a shooting location for many of John Waynes movies and the Monument Valley in general was apparently quite a favorite of his
Came back to the hotel around noon, and drove to the small town Goldings across the main highway.
Herb, our guide was very knowledgeable and personable, not to mention a skillful driver through some treacherous terrain that was in our tour route for the afternoon.
He lives a couple of miles down the road in AZ and has a solar powered house for basic amnesties and hopes to put in more panel to add refrigeration, Internet etc.
We got back to the hotel and went for lunch at the lodge in Goldings, which is across the road from Monument. The food was good and the service excellent.
Left for the afternoon trip around 5:30. This route was outside the boundary of the Tribal Park and entirely different in every way. There were many distinct and well preserved petroglyphs together with unusual rock formations. Some of the roads were really bad but our guide Herb deftly and skillfully navigated his Suburban in and out of this area. People still live in parts of this area although going to school for the children is a chore, the nearest clinic is in Kayenta and the hospital in Chinle.
We left to get back to our hotel in time to see the sun set over the valley. Close to the hotel, within the Tribal Park we picked up a tourist from California whose Benz was stuck in sand. Herb dropped us off at the hotel and when we looked about an hour later, the car was gone, so all was well we assumed.
We watched the setting sun light up the landscape from our balcony then went for dinner.
We were a bit apprehensive after last night's experience but didn't feel like driving to Goldings. To our pleasant surprise the food was much better and server very friendly. Interestingly her great grandmother was Irish and we wondered if that's were her personality came from.
After dinner we retired for the night, tired but happy.
Location:The View Hotel.
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